In honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Joker, we're doing a countdown of your favorite Joker stories of all-time.
You all voted, now here are the results of what you chose as the 75 Greatest Joker Stories! Click here for a master list of all 75 stories.
Enjoy!
25. "Batman R.I.P." (2008's Batman #676-681)
While it does not really come into focus until later in the story, Batman R.I.P. ultimately serves as a way to show how much cooler Joker is than most generic villains, as the Joker ends up part of the Black Glove (the mysterious evil organization who have devoted their recent undertakings to taking Batman out) but by the end of the story, he tears it apart himself, just because who the heck are these people to think that Joker would be a part of THEIR group?
Artist Tony Daniel (with inker Sandu Florea) had some notable visual work with the Joker in this story, particularly in Batman #680, where he reveals that Joker now has a forked tongue...
The Joker was not a major focus of R.I.P., but he was served well by it.
24. "Christmas/New Year's Eve" (1996-97's Batman: The Long Halloween #3-4)
Similarly, Joker is not a huge focus within The Long Halloween, but he is given two spotlight issues back-to-back, Christmas and New Year's and writer Jeph Loeb really came up with some awesome visual sequences for artist Tim Sale to rock out with, particularly this tremendous flying scene on New Year's Eve...
Sale is such a dynamic artist.
23. "Catch as Catscan/The Last Laugh" (1986's Detective Comics #569-570)
In this two-parter, Mike W. Barr, Alan Davis and Paul Neary have the Joker return Catwoman to villainy because, well, it is more fun for him that way!
Wow, Alan Davis sure is amazing, isn't he?
Go to the next page for #22-21!
22. "Death Has the Last Laugh" (1973's The Brave and the Bold #111)
Bob Haney's Batman was such a blast. He was ALL over the place, characterization-wise, but in a fun way. In this issue, Batman opens the story wanting to basically murder the Joker after seeing his latest victims. But then, as the story goes on, he begins to believe that the Joker is being framed, so in a twist, he teams up with Joker to track down the REAL killer...
Commissioner Gordon double-crosses Batman for some weird reason in the story, as well. It is a beautiful mess. Jim Aparo's artwork is brilliant on this issue.
21. "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker" (1980's Batman #321)
Len Wein, Walter Simonson and Dick Giordano delivered this wonderful one-off story that features the Joker deciding to celebrate his birthday in the best possible way for himself...
I believe Wein and Simonson were the first people to do that "Bang" gag. It's an awesome gag.