BATMAN AND THE JOKER. TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER. KIND OF LIKE CHOCOLATE
AND PEANUT BUTTER IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE DEATHLY ALLERGIC TO PEANUT BUTTER. OVER THE PAST 75
YEARS, THEY HAVE DONE BATTLE COUNTLESS TIMES AND DEVELOPED A WEIRDLY CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP
UPON ONE ANOTHER, AND THAT HAS GENERATED SOME AMAZING STORIES. NOW THOUGH, REPORTS ARE COMING
IN THAT MARK HAMILL, A.K.A. THE GREATEST ACTOR TO EVER PLAY THE JOKER, WILL BE REPRISING
HIS ROLE AS THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME IN AN ADAPTATION OF ALAN MOORE AND BRIAN BOLLAND’S
SEMINAL THE KILLING JOKE. NOW FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T KNOW, THE KILLING JOKE IS
A CLASSIC 1988 COMIC THAT IS WIDELY REGARDED AS THE SINGLE GREATEST JOKER STORY EVER TOLD.
FROM THE JOKER’S HORRIFIC ASSAULT ON BARBARA GORDON WHICH LEAVES HER PARALYZED TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
TERROR HE INFLICTS ON JIM GORDON AND THE DARK KNIGHT, IT IS A GRITTY, POWERFUL PIECE OF FICTION.
BUT WE’RE NOT HERE TODAY TO TALK ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE KILLING JOKE;
THAT MUCH IS SELF-EVIDENT. THIS BOOK RULES! NO, WE’RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE
OTHER INCREDIBLE JOKER STORIES THAT YOU NEED TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE.
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY. A PERFECT ENCAPSULATION OF THE SHEER BRUTALITY AND UNBRIDLED CHAOS
OF WHICH THE JOKER IS CAPABLE, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY IS PROBABLY THE SECOND BEST KNOWN
JOKER STORY OUT THERE. THE BOOK FINDS THE JOKER ATTEMPTING TO SELL A NUCLEAR WEAPON
TO A BUNCH OF MIDDLE EASTERN TERRORISTS, ONLY TO CROSS PATHS WITH JASON TODD, A.K.A. THE
SECOND ROBIN, WHO IS SEARCHING FOR HIS BIOLOGICAL MOTHER. THE FACT THAT THE COMIC ENDS WITH
-- SPOILER ALERT -- THE JOKER BEATING JASON BLOODY WITH A CROWBAR BEFORE A TICKING TIME
BOMB KILLS BOTH JASON AND HIS MOTHER IS BAD ENOUGH. WHAT MAKES THIS STORY PACK TEN TIMES
THE PUNCH IS THAT ROBIN’S FATE WAS DECIDED BY THE READERS WHO CALLED INTO AN 900 NUMBER.
THE FINAL TALLY? 5,271 PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM TO LIVE, BUT 5,343 SICK BASTARDS OUT THERE
SENTENCED THIS POOR GUY TO DIE. YOU SICK BASTARDS.
THE JOKER'S FIVE-WAY REVENGE. FOR A SINGLE ISSUE FROM 1973, THIS SURE MADE ONE HELL OF
AN IMPRESSION. WITH THE JOKER TRYING TO KILL 5 OF HIS HENCHMEN WITH WHOM HE IS DISPLEASED,
BATMAN IS FORCED TO DEFEND THE CRIMINALS THAT HE WOULD NORMALLY SEEK TO THROTTLE, MAIM,
AND OTHERWISE SWEEP OFF THE STREET. THE STORY IS A LANDMARK NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT SHOWS HOW
THE JOKER WANTONLY DISREGARDS EVEN HIS OWN ALLIES, BUT ALSO BECAUSE THE JOKER ACTUALLY
BESTS BATMAN IN THE END, BUT HE REALIZES THAT HE BEAT BATMAN BY LUCK AND NOT THROUGH HIS
OWN CLEVER MACHINATIONS, SO HE LETS THE DARK KNIGHT LIVE BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE
AN EMPTY VICTORY. AND THUS WE START TO GET THE FEELING THAT THESE TWO NEED EACH OTHER
ON A DEEP, VISCERAL LEVEL. SOFT TARGETS. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE AMAZING
GOTHAM CENTRAL KICKS OFF WITH A DEADLY RACE AGAINST TIME. ALL ACROSS GOTHAM CITY, THE
JOKER HAS SET UP SNIPER RIFLES WITH CAMERAS ATTACHED TO THEM, EACH ONE TICKING AWAY ON
A TIMER, POINTED AT A HIGH-PROFILE TARGET WHO WILL BE ASSASSINATED LIVE ON THE INTERNET
WHEN THE CLOCK HITS ZERO. AS THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR.. DON’T SAY IT! DON’T SING IT!
AS THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR AND THE BATMAN SEEMINGLY IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, ONLY THE
GCPD CAN SAVE THE DAY. WHAT MAKES THIS STORY SING IS THAT IT NOT ONLY ILLUMINATES HOW WICKEDLY
INTELLIGENT THE JOKER MUST BE TO ORCHESTRATE CHAOS ON THIS MASSIVE OF A SCALE, BUT ALSO
HOW DEPENDENT THE CITY OF GOTHAM HAS BECOME ON BATMAN TO SAVE THEIR SKINS. HONESTLY IT'S
NO WONDER THIS STORY WAS A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S THE DARK KNIGHT. NOT
DEPICTED IN THIS STORY: HOCKEY PADS.
MAD LOVE. AND THE AWARD FOR UNHEALTHIEST RELATIONSHIP GOES TO...THE JOKER AND HARLEY QUINN. AND
YOU CAN FIND OUT EXACTLY HOW THEY FELL IN LOVE IN THE EISNER AWARD-WINNING 1994 ONE-SHOT
BATMAN ADVENTURES: MAD LOVE. IN THE ISSUE, WE SEE HARLEY QUINN FALLING HEAD OVER HEELS
FOR THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME WHILE TREATING HIM AT ARKHAM ASYLUM. IN ORDER TO IMPRESS HIM,
SHE TURNS TO A LIFE OF CRIME. YOU KNOW, THAT OLD CHESTNUT, NOT A RED FLAG THERE. YEARS
LATER THOUGH, HARLEY MAY BE JOKER'S SIDEKICK, BUT ALL IS NOT PEACHES AND CREAM IN PARADISE.
LIKE ANY SMITTEN SUPERVILLAINOUS SIDEKICK, HARLEY TRIES TO REKINDLE THE JOKER’S AFFECTIONS
BY TRYING TO KILL BATMAN. WHAT? WERE YOU EXPECTING AN EDIBLE ARRANGEMENT? UNFORTUNATELY, THIS
JUST MAKES THE JOKER ANGRIER AND HE SEVERELY INJURES HER. AND JUST WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE THE
SPELL IS BROKEN FOR HARLEY, THE JOKER SENDS HER A GET-WELL SOON CARD, WHICH MAKES HER
FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN, RESETTING THE DEEPLY DISTURBING CYCLE. YOU MIGHT SAY THINGS
ARE COMPLICATED, BUT THIS ISN’T FACEBOOK. THIS IS GOTHAM.
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. SET SHORTLY AFTER THE EVENTS OF BATMAN: YEAR ONE, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
IS A MODERN RETELLING OF BATMAN'S FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE JOKER. A MYSTERIOUS LUNATIC IS STALKING
THE STREETS OF GOTHAM, LEAVING A TRAIL OF BODIES PLASTERED WITH GRUESOME RICTUS GRINS
ON THEIR FACE. OF COURSE, IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL GOTHAM’S WEALTHIEST SON, BRUCE
WAYNE, FINDS HIMSELF IN THE JOKER’S SIGHTS. AND BONUS FACT: THE NAME OF THIS STORY IS
INSPIRED BY THE 1928 SILENT FILM OF THE SAME NAME, BASED ON THE VICTOR HUGO NOVEL. THE
FILM’S STAR, CONRAD VEIDT, IS SAID TO BE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR INFLUENCING THE LOOK
OF THE JOKER. SO YOU CAN JUST IMAGINE WHAT A DREAMBOAT HE WAS.
GOING SANE. BATMAN AND THE JOKER ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN. THEY ARE YIN AND YANG. SO
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE IS REMOVED FROM THE EQUATION? THAT'S WHAT WAS EXPLORED IN 2008'S
GOING SANE. THE FOUR-ISSUE STORY FOLLOWED THE JOKER AFTER HE KILLS THE DARK KNIGHT.
WHAT HAPPENS? WHY, HE TURNS INTO A NORMAL, PERFECTLY SANE INDIVIDUAL, GOING BY THE NAME
JOSEPH KERR AND GETTING PLASTIC SURGERY TO LOOK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. HE EVEN BLOCKS
OUT HIS CRIME-LADEN PAST AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH A NORMAL HUMAN WOMAN. BUT NOTHING LASTS
FOREVER AS WE LEARN WHEN BATMAN SEEMINGLY RETURNS FROM THE DEAD. IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR
THE REASON WHY THIS IS THE SEMINAL RIVALRY IN SUPERHERO FICTION, LOOK NO FURTHER.
OR DO LOOK FURTHER! WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE JOKER STORIES? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS
BELOW AND WHILE YOU’RE THERE GIVE ME A LAUGHABLY LARGE THUMBS UP. [CHUCKLE] HUGE.
THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY’S SHOW. JOIN ME NEXT TIME WHEN I DIVE INTO TO THE STORY OF AN UNLUCKY-IN-LOVE
WEREWOLF WHO MAKES SACCHARINE MIXTAPES FOR A STONED SEAN PENN IN FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT
HIGH FIDELITEEN WOLF. UNTIL NEXT TIME, KEEP ON DIGGIN’.