The following story and photos are from Giant Panda King's book,
Gotham 1919-1939 by Russall S. Beattie, available from www.giantpandaking.com.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Clowns are a sore subject in Gotham City. It’s not just because of their long history
of scaring people more than amusing them. It’s not just because they can be annoying.
If you ask anyone in Gotham, they will tell you why: The Joker.
The origins of this man are still a mystery to this day.
Some speculate that he was a soldier that fought in World War I. There are some
references - in accounts of the Great War - to a specific regiment that fought in the trenches.
They would face gas attacks regularly, and were constantly wearing gas masks.
This regiment in particular wore painted-red has masks and became known as the Red Hood Regiment.
Some speculate that the Joker may have been one of these men, disfigured and driven insane
by the gas after a mask malfunction. There is no evidence to back this up, but it is one of
the most popular theories. Another theory alleges that the Joker may have been a circus performer,
either in a sideshow or as a clown; that he was driven mad by the abuse he experienced there.
Still more theories paint him as a mobster, a petty criminal turned monster,
or a mythological figure that had achieved immortality.
Many speculated that he was linked to Dada and Surrealist movements due to his chaotic nature.
Whatever the case, these theories prove nothing except that no one knows what caused the creation
of the Joker. What everyone agrees on was that he was the psychological reflection
of a country trying to hide the horrors of war; trying to hide them behind a grim smile. The Joker
made his first appearance in Gotham in 1923. He went on a murdering spree that baffled the police.
His movements were very hard to predict; they were seemingly randomly chosen victims.
The Joker did not appear to be driven by a desire for financial gain or power.
Chaos was his weapon of choice. The police could not determine who he was, offering a reward for
any information as to the Joker’s past, or leading to his capture. He murdered four people that the
police were aware of, though it is heavily suspected that he murdered countless more.
Many kidnappings and disappearances were loosely linked to the clown.
Naturally, the Joker’s evasion of the police drew the attention of the Bat-Man. The masked vigilante
tracked down and apprehended the Joker with the aid of the GCPD. During the Joker’s trial,
newspapers capitalized on the criminal, calling him “Gotham’s first costumed gangster.”
The jury had the option to send the Joker either to Blackgate Federal Penitentiary
or to Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The Joker’s defense psychiatrist presented
his opinion that the Joker suffered from schizophrenia and perhaps a bipolar disorder,
which swayed the jury to delay the sentencing and send him to Arkham. Those diagnoses have
since been disproven, as no one has ever been able to accurately diagnose the Joker.
Some speculate that he was just evil, using insanity as a shield to hide behind.
What made the Joker’s actions even more deplorable was his adding to the stigma in those days that
those with mental illness were inherently inclined to be more evil or prone to it. The Joker made
people more inclined towards complacency in Gotham, allowing for the abuses that
occurred behind the doors of Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The Joker, time and time again,
made a game of what new psychological diagnosis he could gain with each psychiatry session he had.
In Arkham, the Joker quickly earned a reputation as its most manipulative,
cunning, and devious inmate. Professor Hugo Strange, the warden of Arkham at the time,
put Joker on a strict “off-limits” notice to his employees. Only Strange and a handful
of psychiatrists and cleaning staff were allowed access to the Joker’s cell block.
One such employee that had access was Harleen Quinzel, a member of the custodial staff at the
asylum. The Joker saw an opportunity to escape, and manipulated her into believing she was in
love with him. She broke him out of Arkham and the two went on a cross-country crime spree. Harleen
was now dubbed Harley Quinn, and she was head over heels for the clown. The two remained at large for
some time, eventually ending up back in Gotham where their murder and robbery spree continued.
The Joker had corrupted Harley, and hers would not be the last life he affected.
In a revenge scheme against Commissioner James Gordon for aiding in his arrest,
the Joker visited the home of Barbara Gordon, shooting and paralyzing her from the waist down.
Barbara was never able to don the Batgirl uniform again,
but she eventually rejoined the crusade against crime as Oracle.
Jason Todd, the second Robin, was another of the Bat-Man's allies to gain the ire of the Joker.
Jason's tenure as Robin was full of troubles. He used excessive force and had questionable judgment
at best. The Bat-Man saw this, and, in 1928, forced him to stay behind during an investigation
into the Joker’s location. Jason disobeyed Bruce’s mandate and went out investigating on his own.
He tracked the Joker to an old warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham; the clown’s latest
base of operations. Grossly underprepared, the Joker savagely beat Jason with a crowbar.
By the time the Bat-Man discovered his partner’s location, all that remained at the warehouse was
Jason’s tattered, bloody uniform. The Joker was later charged with the murder of the second Robin.
The Bat-Man, already enraged at the Joker for paralyzing Barbara,
became even more violent and brutal during the days that followed.
The Joker reveled in the fact that he had pushed the Bat to the edge.
The Bat-Man spent a number of years trying to catch the Joker, but the clown managed to evade
arrest for many years to come. The Joker still had a major role to play in the chaos to come.
Many more crimes would be attributed to him throughout the years.
As time went on, his sadistic nature increased as well. His crimes became more and more horrendous.
If the Bat was one side of a coin, Joker was the other. This fact is what made the Bat-Man an
even more controversial figure; many wondered how soon it would be before he crossed the same lines
that the Joker had. This was a key factor in the eventual protests against vigilantes years later.
Gotham had spent years being terrorized by the Clown Prince of Crime, as he was dubbed
by the Gotham Gazette. Most people couldn’t care less if he was locked up and forgotten.
No one could even remotely suspect that he would be a key part in ending the conflict
to come. On the cusp of the battle known as Gotham’s Shadow War, many lines became blurred,
and the Bat-Man would have to rely on unlikely allies in order to succeed.