Starring... the Joker!

 I've written a couple posts under the title The Joker Infinitum about the ubiquitous appearances of DC's biggest super villain, the Joker War in Batman and DC's Black Label series The Three Jokers. 

I suggested that maybe after the end of these two projects, maybe DC should give the Crown Prince of Crime a break for awhile.

However, given all the pressures being put upon DC by their new AT&T corporate masters, I don't see DC leaving their most popular villain on the shelf for very long. Hell, they might give the Joker his own series.

Well, they did it before.

In 1975, DC was throwing a lot of things at the wall to see what might stick. One of those was an ongoing series starring the Joker.

How do you do a solo series starring a psychotic murder clown?

Well, for nearly a year and a half, editor Julius Schwartz and his writers figured out... something.  

The Joker#1 by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano established one template, having the Joker cross paths with another super villain, in this case Two-face.

Quite frankly, a battle with Two-Face should have occurred in issue #2. Below is an interior page from Joker#1.  

Another option for the Joker series was giving our Crime Clown different heroes to fight. Issue #3 pitted our strange, green haired laughing villain against a strange, green haired laughing hero. Created by Steve Dikto (Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and more), the Creeper was ostensibly a good guy but with his bizarre appearance and his propensity for maniacal laughter, he was frequently misconstrued for being a villain.  

The Joker#4 sends our laughing larcenist to Star City where he goes up against Green Arrow. There, the Joker steals the Star City Star that hangs from the Star City Bridge that leads into (wait for it!) Star City. 

And the Joker falls madly in love with Dinah Lance so naturally he kidnaps her. 

Here are some interior pages from Joker#4 by Elliot S! Maggin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Vince Colletta. 

After an issue running up against the playing card theme criminal gang known as the Royal Flush Gang, the Joker went up against the World's Greatest Detective. 

No, not Batman! Sherlock Holmes!  

During rehearsal for a play about the Sherlock Holmes, the actor playing the title character gets bonked on the noggin and thinks he really is the master detective himself. 

Meanwhile, the Joker is in town up to stuff 'n' junk and "Sherlock Holmes" is determined to stop him.

Here's a bit of interior story and art by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Tex Blaisdell.

Irv Novick was my favorite Joker artist. His take on the Joker with the elongated chin and those perpetually arched eye brows made for an especially creepy Joker.

The Joker#7-#9 followed the formula of the Malevolent Madman encountering other villains include Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor.  

Here is the splash page from issue #9 of the Joker crossing Catwoman's path. 

The end of Joker#9 breathlessly announced that in issue #10, the Joker would meet his greatest challenge, taking on the Justice League of America.

But Joker#10 was never published. Word was there was a completed story out there somewhere, already drawn and ready to go, with a completed cover and everything. 

All this material remained a mystery for 43 years until it finally saw print in a Joker Bronze Age Omnibus that came out in 2019. 

Here is the cover art for Joker#10 complete with 1976 era cover dress. 

And here is the splash page from that story.  

The art is credited to just Irv Novick but looks like Vince Colletta did the inking. 

The story itself is straight up bonkers! 

The doctors at Arkham have decided to give the Joker a lobotomy to straight up put an end to his insane murder stuff. The Joker does not want to have a lobotomy and is willing to sell his soul to get out of this.

The devil shows up willing to make a deal.  

For some reason, the Devil looks like Elton John.

Anyway, the Joker gets to work killing the Justice League. Here are some pages about that.

The Joker pranks Wonder Woman into hanging herself with her own magic lasso? Whoa! That is sick! 

Here's the thing, the story for Joker#10 does not end. The last page includes a surprise appearance by... the Joker's father.

I mean, what the hell? 

We will never know what pesky plan writer Marty Pasko had for comes next. There is no Joker#11 lying in a drawer somewhere to tell that tale.  

So that is an overview of the crazy oddity of the Joker's own comic book from 1975 and 1976.  

It is not quite the innocent time now as it was back in the 1970s. The Joker today is portrayed as even more unhinged from reality and with a cruel, sadistic streak that was not permitted in the days of books with the Comics Code Authority approval seal. 

The Joker's own comic book from the 1970s was a wild and wonky ride, a mad race to take something that shouldn't work and somehow make it work.