For a whole comic book reading generation, The Joker was nothing more than a simple Batman villain with a clown gimmick. His Silver Age adventures concerned such decidedly soft capers as attempting to make his own Joker-themed utility belt and setting up a Crime-of-the-Month Club. Cesar Romero’s take on the character in the 1960s Batman television show brought this version to life. It was all very slight and fun. It was also nothing like the character that had been originally conceived. In his original appearance in 1940’s Batman #1, the Joker had been a homicidal maniac, more than willing to sacrifice lives for his desires. Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams brought this version of the character back.
O’Neil and Adams knew how to work together as they’d had a famous run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. In Batman #251, the very first page shocked readers with a Joker more grotesque and maniacal than most of them had ever read before. This was a Joker that could unnerve readers. Adams’ style meant than this Joker was also more physically realistic than any of the previous version. This is the Joker that has been in the DCU ever since.
From Batman (Vol. 1) #251 (1973)
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“Love that Joker!”
Holy God. Great stuff
This really reminds me of Doug Mahnke’s work on The Mask for Dark Horse. Especially The Mask Returns
Yep, one of the best Joker stories ever. Love that issue. Every Batman story O’Neil and Adams did back then was magic.
Ah, the mid to late-200s: a time when done-in-ones featured some really bizarre capers, editors showed they cared about readers by inviting them to solve the cases before the last page, murderous Bat villains commiting inventive crimes (sometimes eye-rolling, but still inventive), and cool deathtraps were still portrayed on the covers. Great reads and art all around.
i’m grateful adams and o’neil had the balls to set in motion the evolution of the joker to make him what he is: an intelligent and evil psychopath who can go tit for tat with the dark knight.
i hate the portrayal of him being just a silly clown who can’t go toe to toe with batman and gets knocked out with one punch.
i think writers like morrison and azzarello have continued the evolution and taken the character to the next level.
the joker should be horrifying, not laughable.
Ah Neal Adams how I love your art. I’m an avid collector of his work and this issue was great and when he teamed with Denny O’neil those comics were magic and gold!…. His new work (although great) can’t hold up to his older comics…For my money though he was the greatest comic artist of all time!
great stuff. Love seeing lettering fully integrated into the art.
I don’t get why these 70s guys aren’t more revered.
Maybe this is a bad tool for measurement, but I LOVE my Jim Aparo Black & White Batman statue. Of the 3 I own, its my favorite.
But compare the value and demand for the Adams and Aparo statues versus, say, the Jim Lee and Mignola statues… its almost like they are worthless.
But that’s fine by me though, means I got mine on the cheap.
If you got more than 3 or more Batman B&W statues, and not a single one is Adams’ or Aparo’s, then you’re a poser. LOL.
I got two, David Mazzuchellis and Lee Bermejo, got em both on the cheap but Adams and Aparo are on my list, I really want the Bob Kane version and the newest one, Darwyn Cooke.
Lol, I only have two so I better get Adams or Aparo next 😉
Awesome.
Love and always mention that this classic creative team is who brought Batman and The Joker back to Bob Kanes original depiction or at least, made em dark again when people talk about Frank Millers The Dark Knight, sure that helped and drew a ton of attention to the wealth of darkness to be had but he didn’t do it 1st.
Nice. Lots more of these please, Josh.