The Joker (comic book)

Joker
Cover of The Joker #1 (May 1975). Art by Dick Giordano
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Bi-monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	May 1975-October 1976
Number of issues	9
Main character(s)	The Joker
Creative team
Writer(s)	Elliot S. Maggin, Dennis O'Neil, Martin Pasko
Penciller(s)	Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López, Irv Novick
Inker(s)	Tex Blaisdell, Vince Colletta, José Luis García-López, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
Creator(s)	Bob Kane Bill Finger

The Joker is a comic book series published by DC Comics starring the super-villain the Joker. It ran nine issues from May 1975 until October 1976.

Dennis O'Neil, who wrote the first issue of the series, recounted that "I stopped by Julie [Schwartz, Batman editor]’s office, and he said, ‘We’re going to do a Joker book.’ I know that alarms went off, I could sense the problems that such a thing would entail … but it was a job.” The series was launched in May 1975 by O'Neil and artist Irv Novick. In order to have him work as a protagonist, writers on the series toned down the Joker's insanity and to adhere to the Comics Code Authority, each issue would end with the Joker being apprehended, only to escape at the beginning of the next issue. Batman did not appear in the series, and the Joker was forbidden to murder anyone in the pages of his own magazine

When a villain named Senor Alvarez breaks Batman's enemy Two-Face out of Arkham Asylum and insults the Joker as "not a superior criminal", the Joker breaks out of Arkham and decides to get revenge and prove he is a "superior" criminal.

The Joker teams up with a villain called Willie the Weeper who has a habit of crying and laughing when he sees others cry to help him steal platinum after Willie the Weeper breaks him out.

After a battle with the Joker, the Creeper gets amnesia and is persuaded he is the Joker's ally.

The Joker falls in love with DC hero Green Arrow's girlfriend Dinah Lance and gives her a choice: Marry the Joker or die.

The Joker competes with Justice League foes the Royal Flush Gang for a valuable painting done by the late Thaddeus Wilde.

When the Joker hits an actor playing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes on his head with a pipe, the actor believes he is Holmes and that the Joker is Holmes's archenemy Professor Moriarty and goes "stalking" the Joker.