The imperfect beginning

There was a time when a comic book villain appeared in just a single issue. Those were the ‘40s, back when the Joker first appeared. Those were the times when the Dark Knight was dark indeed, acting as judge, jury, and executioner. The ‘40s were the decade when Batman simply capped a fool and then ran away from the crime scene.

Such was the case of the Clown Prince of Crime, who made an entrance into the comic book world by using his signature toxin. Because the writers believed that a returning villain would make Batman boring, they decided that the best way to end the story was to have the enemy stabbed in the heart.

No, Batman wasn’t the one to do it – it was all just an accident (although the Dark Knight was still supposed to run away from the police, as if he did it). That was the way a hero dealt with a villain.

Fortunately, we were spared from that fate of going through life without having the Jester of Genocide in our comic books. Whitney Ellsworth (who at that time was the chief editor with DC) decided that this was too interesting a character to die. So the final page didn’t show the Joker dying – the readers were supposed to believe that he met his end, only to be surprised in the next issue that he survived the accident.

Close call, DC! Very close!

The Jester of Genocide

And then, after the great comeback, everything changed and the Joker that we all know was born (or born again), with more and more intricate plans to take out the Batman. For him, stepping on the Dark Knight’s toes is an art – and the art is killing!

The Jester of Genocide isn’t essentially set on ruling Gotham, or the Earth, or the Universe. Killing is just a pastime for him and he doesn’t shy away from doing even the most atrocious of all things (at one time he let a room full of babies die after killing the woman caring for them, and another time he ate the entire population of China). Of course, these are atrocious acts to everyone else, but not to him.

His mind and his reasons are so hard to guess at that even the most fearful villains stay out of his way – as Emperor Joker, he gleefully killed and resurrected Lex Luthor, over and over again. The word is that when villains want to scare each other they tell Joker stories.