Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 24, 2016 | 12 comments

There are so many better stories …

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UPDATED 8/23/17: Warner Bros. evidently has a Joker origin movie in the works, with Martin Scorsese in line to produce. I could have gone my entire life without a Joker movie and been fine with it but Scorsese’s involvement at least makes me take notice. (Assuming this all actually happens.)

Anyway, I’m really hopeful that the filmmakers don’t take their cues from The Killing Joke. The temptation will be great, obviously, but there are so many better Joker stories to choose from for inspiration (origin stories or not).

I wrote this piece a while back as The Killing Joke animated flick was hitting, but it springs to mind again with this latest news. So, once again, here are 13 JOKER STORIES BETTER THAN THE KILLING JOKE:

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So The Killing Joke animated feature is going to be making its debut this week on the big screen and will be available for digital download.

I have no plans to see it. I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m not a fan of Alan Moore’s sexually sadistic piece of storytelling (click here to read why — if you dare). And I’ve been pretty put off by the way people are so amped up that it’s earned its R rating (click here — again, if you dare).

But I don’t like to tear down as much as I like to build up. When I first wrote that piece on The Killing Joke last year, I suggested five alternatives. Now that the film is coming out to much hype, however, I’ve decided to go all in and offer 13 Joker Stories That Are Better Than The Killing Joke.

Some of them are dark and twisted. Others, less so. Some are from comics, others from the screen. All are entertaining and all will leave you more satisfied than Moore’s graphic novel.

Oh, and if you have a favorite you don’t see here, just add it in the comments or in whichever social-media thread you found this.

In no particular order:

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Dark Knight Returns #3 (1986). Frank Miller’s vision of the Joker is one of the darkest to see print and this chapter of his magnum opus is the miniseries’ high point. The Joker isn’t just sinister — he’s terrifyingly dangerous.

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Batman #251 (1973). The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge, by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, famously returned the Joker to his homicidal roots. It also happens to be a cracking good tale, with a classic cover, spectacular art, dramatic pacing and excellent sick humor.

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Detective Comics #475-476 (1977-78). The Laughing Fish, by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers is a cornerstone Batman story that has influenced writers and artists in the decades since. Side note: That the entire Englehart-Rogers run (bookended by chapters including contributions from Walt Simonson and Len Wein) remains out of print is a crime against comics.

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The Dark Knight (2008). Now people will say, “Well, Heath Ledger was inspired by The Killing Joke.” To which I say: So what? I’m not against the notion of a stone-cold Joker who’s also a maniacal anarchist.

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Gotham Central #12-15 (2003-04). Soft Targets, by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano, is probably the best Joker story of the last 15-20 years and shows how average Gotham cops have to deal with a monster of the Joker’s scope. It also greatly influenced The Dark Knight. This is collected in the trade, Gotham Central, Book Two: Jokers and Madmen.

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Batman #1 (1940). The very first two Joker stories — by Bill Finger, Bob Kane (signed, anyway) and Jerry Robinson — remain among the best, and major elements survive to this day. That Joker was a nasty piece of work.

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Batman #0 (2012). Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo reimagine the Joker’s beginnings (to a degree) as head of the Red Hood Gang. The Joker’s never identified in the text, but it’s abundantly clear that the psycho leading the gang is the man who would come to terrorize Gotham in a much different way for years to come.

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Detective Comics #168 (1951). Speaking of the Red Hood, check out the original story by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz and George Roussos, which has been reprinted many times over.

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Batman (1989). Jack Nicholson vamps it up and steals the show as the Clown Prince of Crime in Tim Burton’s film starring Michael Keaton. (Though Nicholson gets top billing.) The Joker becomes increasingly over the top during the course of the film, but rarely is he more downright frightening than when we first see him.

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Batman #8 (1941-42). This early story by Bill Finger, Bob Kane (ostensibly) and Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, was reprinted in 1975’s Limited Collectors’ Edition C-37 and shows the Joker to be utterly without mercy. I mean, check out this little deadly move he pulls. I think of this whenever I’m driving down a twisty-turny highway at night. Good lord.

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Batman #321 (1980). Len Wein and Walt Simonson take a typically silly Joker premise — it’s his birthday and so he captures Batman and his allies as a gift to himself — and make it mirthfully malevolent.

The Joker also pulls one of his signature psychotic moves:

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Pop Goes the Joker/Flop Goes the Joker (1967). Cesar Romero’s Joker wasn’t a killer, but he was riotous nonetheless. This is not just one of the best Batman ’66 episodes starring the Joker (click here to check out some others) this might be Romero’s finest performance.

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Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000). This story is almost as unsettling as The Killing Joke itself but doesn’t cross the line. Of all the stories connected to Batman: The Animated Series, this is one of the best — and the best featuring the Joker.