Customer Reviews

Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (DC Comics)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here the Joker in the Batman comics gets his own book, which would suit his enormous vanity down to a T. Fans are divided as to whether the "Dark Knight" noir side of the Batman is the only acceptable face to the comic, and in general the lighthearted camp approach of the 1960s TV show is mocked and derided today. Everyone's looking for angst, particularly in their cartoon super-heroes. And so the Joker, with his chalk-white face and his manic grin, is no longer in, though even the zaniest of the late 1950s strips portrayed him as a man mentally torn between madness and street smarts. Fans of the dark approach like the way in which, by the 1970s, the Joker was actually killing people, often in horrible ways, in place of the surprise "laughing gas" tricks and comic crimes he resorted to back in the day. Both tribes of fans will find plenty to like in this book.

It's interesting to note how literate they must have assumed their audience to be back in the 40s and 50s. One story has the Joker adopting disguises--the costumes of famous characters of comedy--to commit his crimes in. I'm not talking Lucy and Ricky here, but Mr. Micawber from David Copperfield, Pagliacci, Pickwick, and Falstaff (who invades a performance of HAMLET and makes a spectacle of himself with his lines from Henry V.) Try that one out on today's comic readers!

The most negligible story here is "Crime-of-the-Month Club" from 1957, in which The Joker tries to sell thugs his own "brilliantly conceived" caper plans for crimes, each one for some reason obviously tied in with particular months (April fools, June brides), in an auction pyramid scheme with some foreshadowing of the EBay of the present day. It's fluff, and it's not even good fluff. On the other end of the spectrum is the epic, Sergio Leone inspired "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" from 1973, in which the Joker dispatches, one by one, five of his goons with terrifying power and real dementia, while the Batman runs always a step or two behind. It's grim, and some like them grim. I myself prefer the stories which pair the Joker with the blonde sex bomb "Sparrow," and the spooky transformations of "Clay-Face" from earlier on in the Joker's long career. One story that didn't make it into the book, though the editors were tempted, is the one that paired Batman and the Joker with none other than Jerry Lewis. Seems to me he would have been a great movie Joker, probably better than Jack Nicholson. Nicholson has his famous "killer smile," but Jerry had the real killer mind....

Mike Gold and Mark Wald supply notes that are pretty informative and the comics look good (except for their color registers). I dock the book a notch only because it's actually too much of a good thing, for after a while you get tired of the Joker, and maybe 18 or 19 stories in a row was pushing it.

This book looked great. Great cover, great concept - the Joker's best stories since his inception in 1940. Sadly, the kind yet insane people at DC Comics chose the strangest selection ever considering this was supposed to be the greatest stories EVER told. Included at the back of the book is a section by Mark Waid, who describes other Joker stories which didn't make the cut. Most of them actually sound better than the ones included, such as "The Last Laugh", in which the Joker erects a giant monument - of himself, naturally - in Gotham Harbour, and an issue in which he forces Batman into a boxing match with spiked gloves on. Sounds interesting, right?

Sadly, some genius decided that including numerous, interchangable, and mind-numbing stories from the 50s and 60s was more important in terms of page allocation. Each story is indistinguishable from the next, and none are especially interesting.

Two early highlights are from the early 1940s, when Bob Kane was still drawing Batman. These stories take place in a Gotham that consists of spooky haunted houses, with the Joker lunging out of the shadows to spook the bejesus out of you. Clowns are scary that way. One weird moment, however, is in "The Case of the Joker's Crime Circus", in which the writers make a point about introducing a midget called "Tino" to the reader, as if setting up a major plot point for later on. After Tino's eloquent introduction courtesy the Joker ("THIS IS TINO!"), he vanishes completely. Way to go, guys.

Things pick up, after 165 pages, with 1973's "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge". Regarded as one of the single best stand-alone Batman issues, it features a Denny O'Neil story and inventive Neal Adams art. The Joker sets about murdering his ex-gang members, coincidentally in the exact order Batman chooses to track them down in. The Joker is taking babysteps back to being threatening after the creative hell that was the 50s and 60s, and Batman is as heroic and compassionate as ever. The shark tank sequence is frankly awesome, but the ending is strange... after Batman catches the Joker, he leads him off by the scruff of his neck, and the Joker calmly complies. The Joker is supposed to be a homicidal, intelligent dynamo of evil, not a five-year-old kid. Still, this is cool.

The absolute high point is the double-whammy of "The Laughing Fish"/"The Sign of the Joker", by Steve Englehart. Despite some baffling-to-novices subplots, the result of its being from the middle of Englehart's run on Detective Comics, this is bloody beautiful. The Joker here is a murderer, a bully, creative, intelligent and, best of all, actually funny. Batman, also in top form, is run through the wringer to stop him. The art by Marshall Rogers is truly top-drawer stuff, but it's recommended you buy instead "Strange Apparitions", which collects Englehart's complete run.

There are only 3 other post-1970 stories, which range from fair to appalling. In "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker", an otherwise acceptable story from 1980, the colouring is garish and disgusting. Which brings me to my next gripe: the original colours of these stories has been jettisioned for no discernible reason, and is instead coloured by contemporary (as of 1989) colourists. This is unnoticeable in most cases, but it's disappointing that the original colours weren't retained, in order to keep the stories as they were. The colours for the aforementioned story, though, are simply unforgivable. The Joker's suit at one stage appears to be bright blue. Nice one, Julianna Ferriter, whoever you are. May you never work in comics again.

This suffers badly from a baffling, terrible selection of stories, with really on three "great" ones in the whole bunch, two of which are really part of the same story. There were many, many other interesting selections which could have been made. The 1980s is sorely underrepresented, especially considering this collection was produced in 1989, and the most recent story contained within is from 1980. A three-part story from 1983 in which the Joker attempts to take over Guatemala, as detailed in the notes section, is a damn sight more interesting and worthy of inclusion than the umpteenth 50s story involving the Joker dressing up as Old King Cole or whatever the hell else he did back then. Sadly, their excuse is that they "didn't have enough space". Yes, you did, DC Comics. You just squandered it badly.

That said... it's OK. The best stories drag the rating up a star or two. The rest are either cute or intolerable. How intolerable? In "The Great Clayface-Joker Feud", Clayface escapes our heroes by morphing into a mystical flying sphinx. Loser.

These stories are from all differant eras of the joker.The original and evil joker, the 50s and 60s joker who would only try to outwit the dynamic duo with silly gimmics (to many times does the crime involve robbing places thats first letters will spell his name)and lastly the 70s and 80s joker who is a perfect blend of the two and is the joker we know now. WARNING.these stories are NOT for children which an earlier reviewer stated.

I loved this book. The beggining comics are genius. The later ones can be crude I wouldn't advise this book for children under 10.But if your looking for the best this is it! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

I've always been a fan of the Joker ever since Jack Nicolson's portrayal as the character and what I had seen in the animated series. After reading this collection, I fell in love with this CRAZY CLOWN even more. Also if you are just a fan of Batman the older comics that appear in the this comic collection are great! I loved every minute of it from the artwork to the storylines!

Like "The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told," the "Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told" chronicle the history of one of comic book history's most enduring characters. In this case, however, it is a villain who is portrayed.
The Joker has changed radically from age to age, much like the Batman. In the thirties and early 40's, the Joker is a diabolical thief and killer; often outsmarting everyone in Gotham.
In the 50's and 60's, however, the Joker refrains from killing people, and makes his primary task in crime to humiliate Batman and Robin. In some ways this compromises the almost satanic degree of evil that the Joker is capable of in his more contemporary incarnations. In other ways, it makes for a more engaging storyline as the primary focus is on a battle of wits and not of wills.
And of course the story of the "Laughing Fish" is just a classic criminal plot. The Joker in the seventies became a compilation of attributes (mastermind, killer, eloquent rival) of his character from the different preceding eras, and is probably my favorite Joker of all.
The book exceeded my expectations, which were good ones!

While not the biggest fan of the fifties and sixties Batman (heck, I'll take the psychotic, occasionally-shoots-criminals-like-the-shadow original batman over that), I found some of those in here actually entertaining and it was useful to have a good history of the character over time. Nonetheless, the parts that made this truly worth reading were the beginning, with the original Joker killing people for fun (yes, he was stealing gems as well, but he frequently disabled everyone else in the room nonlethally and then killed the gem's owner out of sadism) and the later Joker, closer to his roots, that started appearing in the Joker's Five Way Revenge.
Those two alone made the book worth having and it's occasionally good to look at the time in between, since we don't want to forget the past entirely (what else will remind us how much the Comics Code Authority hobbled everyone?).

Upon cracking open The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told, I was looking forward to some of the most definitive and classic Joker stories of all time. I mean, the title says it all, right? Plus The Joker is the best Batman villain ever created, and arguably, the most recognizable villain in comic books. But a few stories into it, I was still waiting to get to the good stuff.

It starts off with some of the earliest Joker appearances by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in the early 40's and then progresses chronologically from there. In the beginning the essence of the Joker is there. Killing thoughtlessly, mostly just for a sick laugh. The early stories and artwork are pretty simple and represent the early stages of comic books well. And then along comes Dick Sprang.

I know it's not because of a lack of trying or talent necessarily, but I really can't bring myself to like Dick Sprang's version of Batman, Robin, or the Joker. The 50's stories in this collection, as well as the 60's are all extremely silly, and in my opinion, completely out of character. I couldn't stand the non-stop one-liners, one after another. Plus Batman and Robin smile and laugh so much in these it starts to get irritating. Adam West is good at playing a campy Batman and I think he's hilarious. But sometimes Batman needs to be serious too. It seems like the writers chose to ignore Batman's tragic origin and instead play Batman and Robin like a couple of heroes who fight crime for fun and adventure, not because they swore to stop the same thing from happening to other families.

Some of the blame rests on the Comics Code, which not only made it so the Joker no longer killed, but made it a requirement that each story would end with the Joker (and I'm sure every other villain for that matter) getting locked up by the end. Most of these stories include the Joker coming up with silly crimes and schemes and trying to outwit Batman and Robin. There are a few defining moments, like when Superman teams up with Batman against the Joker and Lex Luthor. There's another one with Clayface and the Joker having a public feud, trying to out do each other at every turn, which turns out to be more of a Clayface story in the end.

And then on to the best part. I don't know what happened between 1966 and 1973, but that's when we get back to the Batman and Joker we've gotten to know more recently. A lot of fans and critics like to give Frank Miller credit for bringing Batman back to his dark roots and making him "cool" again with The Dark Knight Returns. But I think people are overlooking the contributions of Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Julius Schwartz. The Joker's Five-Way Revenge really is on of the greatest Joker stories of all time. It's dark and brooding and reminds me of why I became a fan in the first place. From this point on the rest of the book is fantastic, just like I hoped it would be when I first picked it up. We are even treated to a Batman-less story from one of the Joker's own comic books where he takes on The Creeper. They also were thoughtful enough to include The Laughing Fish, one of my personal favorites considering Paul Dini later adapted it for Batman the Animated Series. There is almost a complete absence of Robin at this point and a lot more Commissioner Gordon, which was a smart decision. Robin is good a good sidekick, but every single story before the 70's seemed to include him and it's nice to see Batman fighting solo.

I also found it very interesting to see what has been carried on of the Joker's personality over the years. For example, in the last story, the Joker shoots at one of his own thugs with a BANG! flag gun, and after the shock is over and the thug believes his boss was just kidding around, Joker then pulls the trigger a second time and the "fake" gun spears him. This very much reminded me of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. I also liked the fact that they borrowed elements in The Laughing Fish from previous Joker stories contained in this volume, like when the Joker announces on t.v. who he will kill at precisely what hour and ends it with, "The Joker has spoken", from Batman vs. The Joker, as well as the acid squirting police badge from when the Joker created his own Joker utility belt to defeat Batman with (another story I could have skipped).

Overall it's a good read for Batman and Joker fans alike. Anyone looking for some in depth history into the Joker of the 50's and 60's, look no further. I just wish it had included a few more stories later in Batman's career from the 70's and 80's and passed over a few of the earlier ones. Honestly, how the editors chose to include The Crazy Crime Clown over The Joker's Millions is beyond me. I would still recommend this, but if you're not a fan of the campy, happy Batman, flip over to The Joker's Five-Way Revenge and read on. You won't be disappointed.

Love the character of The Joker? Want detailed information on his long-lasting career in comic books? Want stories from various era's of his existence, ranging from the oldest to the more recent (oldest being 1940's and more recent being 1980's, by the way)? Well, instead of rushing to this year's Batman convention to chit-chat with a fellow devoted Joker-nerd, and instead of buying dozens of separate comic books, pick up The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told. It's all you need! With some commentaries by the writers, plus a superb collection of fully illustrated comic book stories (which are the majority of the book), this is the perfect buy. A must-own!

This is again one of those collections that proves 'old' comics (from the 40's-60's) don't neccesarilly have to be corny. The stories in this collection about the best (for me) Batman villain there is are all pretty enjoyable and some of them even very surprising as in aspects of storytelling and outcome. There some great stuff in here (also some mediocre, but can't win them all) with even some work of the great Neal Adams, the man who redefined the look of the Joker. Everyone who likes Batman comics will probably like this collection. A welcome addition to my collection at the very least.