Editing Joker (character) (section)

==Creation and development==
===Concept===
{{multiple image|total_width=350
| direction = horizontal
| footer = (''left'') [[Jerry Robinson]]'s 1940 concept sketch of the Joker. (''right'') Actor [[Conrad Veidt]] in character as Gwynplaine in ''[[The Man Who Laughs (1928 film)|The Man Who Laughs]]'' (1928). Veidt's grinning visage inspired the Joker design.
| image1 = Jerry-Robinson-Joker-Sketch-Card.jpg
| alt1 = Sketch of a playing card with a grinning Joker
| image2 = The Man Who Laughs - Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine.jpg
| alt2 = A young man looks away from the camera with a stretched-wide smile
}}

[[Bill Finger]], [[Bob Kane]], and [[Jerry Robinson]] are credited with creating the Joker, but their accounts of the character's conception differ, each providing his own version of events. Finger's, Kane's, and Robinson's versions acknowledge that Finger showed them an image of actor [[Conrad Veidt]] in character as Gwynplaine (a man whose mouth is disfigured into a perpetual grin) in the 1928 film ''[[The Man Who Laughs (1928 film)|The Man Who Laughs]]'' as an inspiration for the Joker's appearance, and Robinson produced a sketch of a [[Joker (playing card)|joker playing card]].<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="Creation1"/>

Robinson stated that it was his 1940 card sketch that served as the character's concept, and Finger associated that image with Veidt in the film.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/> Kane hired the 17-year-old Robinson as an assistant in 1939, after he saw Robinson in a white jacket decorated with his own illustrations.<ref name="Creation4"/> Beginning as a [[letterer]] and background inker, Robinson quickly became primary artist for the newly created ''[[Batman (comic book)|Batman]]'' comic book series. In a 1975 interview in ''[[The Amazing World of DC Comics]]'', Robinson said he wanted a supreme arch-villain who could test Batman, not a typical crime lord or gangster designed to be easily disposed of. He wanted an exotic, enduring character as an ongoing source of conflict for Batman, designing a diabolically sinister, but clownish, villain.<ref name="Creation5"/><ref name="Origin3"/>{{sfn|Tollin|1975|pp=2–3}} Robinson was intrigued by villains; he believed that some characters are made up of contradictions, leading to the Joker's sense of humor. He said that the name came first, followed by an image of a playing card from a deck he often had at hand: "I wanted somebody visually exciting. I wanted somebody that would make an indelible impression, would be bizarre, would be memorable like the [[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame|Hunchback of Notre Dame]] or any other villains that had unique physical characters."<ref name="Creation8"/> He told Finger about his concept by telephone, later providing sketches of the character and images of what would become his Joker playing-card design. Finger thought the concept was incomplete, providing the image of Veidt with a ghastly, permanent [[Risus sardonicus|rictus grin]].<ref name="Creation5"/>

Kane countered that Robinson's sketch was produced only after Finger had already shown the Gwynplaine image to Kane, and that it was only used as a card design belonging to the Joker in his early appearances.<ref name="Creation1"/> Finger said that he was also inspired by the [[Steeplechase Face]], an image in [[Steeplechase Park]] at [[Coney Island]] that resembled a Joker's head, which he sketched and later shared with future editorial director [[Carmine Infantino]].<ref name="Creation2"/> In a 1994 interview with journalist [[Frank Lovece]], Kane stated his position:

{{blockquote|Bill Finger and I created the Joker. Bill was the writer. Jerry Robinson came to me with a playing card of the Joker. That's the way I sum it up. [The Joker] looks like Conrad Veidt&nbsp;– you know, the actor in ''The Man Who Laughs'', [the 1928 movie based on the novel] by [[Victor Hugo]].&nbsp;... Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker.' Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it, but he'll always say he created it till he dies. He brought in a playing card, which we used for a couple of issues for him [the Joker] to use as his playing card.<ref name="Creation101"/><ref name="KaneLovece"/>|sign=|source=}}

Robinson credited himself, Finger, and Kane for the Joker's creation. He said he created the character as Batman's larger-than-life nemesis when extra stories were quickly needed for ''Batman'' #1, and he received credit for the story in a college course:<ref name="Creation102"/>

{{blockquote|In that first meeting when I showed them that sketch of the Joker, Bill said it reminded him of Conrad Veidt in ''The Man Who Laughs''. That was the first mention of it&nbsp;... He can be credited and Bob himself, we all played a role in it. The concept was mine. Bill finished that first script from my outline of the persona and what should happen in the first story. He wrote the script of that, so he really was co-creator, and Bob and I did the visuals, so Bob was also.<ref name="Creation103"/>}}

Finger provided his own account in 1966:
{{blockquote|I got a call from Bob Kane.... He had a new villain. When I arrived he was holding a playing card. Apparently Jerry Robinson or Bob, I don't recall who, looked at the card and they had an idea for a character ... the Joker. Bob made a rough sketch of it. At first it didn't look much like the Joker. It looked more like a clown. But I remembered that Grosset & Dunlap formerly issued very cheap editions of classics by [[Alexandre Dumas]] and Victor Hugo ... The volume I had was ''The Man Who Laughs'' — his face had been permanently operated on so that he will always have this perpetual grin. And it looked absolutely weird. I cut the picture out of the book and gave it to Bob, who drew the profile and gave it a more sinister aspect. Then he worked on the face; made him look a little [[clown]]-like, which accounted for his white face, red lips, green hair. And that was the Joker!<ref name="Batmania 14"/>}}

Although Kane adamantly refused to share credit for many of his characters, and refuted Robinson's claim for the rest of his life, many comic historians credit Robinson with the Joker's creation and Finger with the character's development.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="Creation1"/><ref name="Creation4"/><ref name="Creation2"/> By 2011, Finger, Kane, and Robinson had died, leaving the story unresolved.<ref name="Creation5"/><ref name="Creation2"/><ref name="GoldenAge6"/>

===Golden Age===
[[File:Comic Book - The Joker (1940).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Comic book panel of the grinning Joker|From the Joker's debut in ''[[Batman (comic book)|Batman]]'' #1 (April 25, 1940)]]
The Joker debuted in ''Batman'' #1 (April 1940) as the eponymous character's first villain, about a year after Batman's debut in ''[[Detective Comics]]'' #27 (May 1939). The Joker initially appeared as a [[serial killer]] and jewel thief, modeled after a joker playing card with a mirthless grin, who killed his victims with "Joker venom," a toxin that left their faces smiling grotesquely.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=21}} The character was intended to be killed in his second appearance in ''Batman'' #1, after being stabbed in the heart. Finger wanted the Joker to die because of his concern that recurring villains would make Batman appear inept, but was overruled by then-editor [[Whitney Ellsworth]]; a hastily drawn panel, indicating that the Joker was still alive, was added to the comic.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="GoldenAge1"/><ref name="GoldenAge3"/> The Joker went on to appear in nine of ''Batman''{{'}}s first 12 issues.<ref name="GoldenAge2"/>

The character's regular appearances quickly defined him as the archenemy of Batman and [[Robin (character)|Robin]]; he killed dozens of people, and even derailed a train.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleisher |first1=Michael L. |title=The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1: Batman |date=1976 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |location=New York City|isbn=0-02-538700-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco01flei/page/234/mode/2up |access-date=29 March 2020 |pages=234–250}}</ref> By issue #13, Kane's work on the [[Print syndication|syndicated]] ''Batman'' newspaper strip left him little time for the comic book; artist [[Dick Sprang]] assumed his duties, and editor [[Jack Schiff]] collaborated with Finger on stories. Around the same time, DC Comics found it easier to market its stories to children without the more mature [[Pulp magazine|pulp]] elements that had originated many superhero comics. During this period, the first changes in the Joker began to appear, portraying him as a wacky but harmless prankster; in one story, the Joker kidnaps Robin and Batman pays the ransom by check, meaning that the Joker cannot cash it without being arrested.{{sfn|Manning|2011|pp=24, 27|ps=. <q>Not coincidentally, DC found it easier to market their comics to kids without the salacious overtones of the pulp magazines from which many superhero comics had sprung.</q>}} Comic book writer [[Mark Waid]] suggests that the 1942 story "The Joker Walks the Last Mile" was the beginning point for the character's transformation into a more goofy incarnation, a period that [[Grant Morrison]] considered to have lasted the following 30 years.{{sfn|Weiner|Peaslee|2015|p=36}}

The 1942 cover of ''Detective Comics'' #69, known as "Double Guns" (with the Joker emerging from a [[genie]]'s lamp, aiming two guns at Batman and Robin), is considered one of the greatest superhero comic covers of the Golden Age and is the only image from that era of the character using traditional guns. Robinson said that other contemporary villains used guns, and the creative team wanted the Joker—as Batman's adversary—to be more resourceful.<ref name="DoubleGuns"/><ref name="DoubleGunsDeux"/>

===Silver Age===
The Joker was one of the few popular villains continuing to appear regularly in Batman comics from the Golden Age into the Silver Age, as the series continued during the rise in popularity of mystery and romance comics. In 1951, Finger wrote an [[origin story]] for the Joker in ''Detective Comics'' #168, which introduced the characteristic of him formerly being the criminal [[Red Hood]], and his disfigurement the result of a fall into a chemical vat.<ref name="SilverAge1"/>

By 1954, the [[Comics Code Authority]] had been established in response to increasing public disapproval of comic book content. The backlash was inspired by [[Frederic Wertham]], who hypothesized that mass media (especially comic books) was responsible for the rise in [[juvenile delinquency]], violence and [[homosexuality]], particularly in young males. Parents forbade their children from reading comic books, and there were several mass burnings.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/> The Comics Code banned gore, innuendo and excessive violence, stripping Batman of his menace and transforming the Joker into a goofy, thieving trickster without his original homicidal tendencies.<ref name="GoldenAge1"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=171}}

The character appeared less frequently after 1964, when [[Julius Schwartz]] (who disliked the Joker) became editor of the Batman comics.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="GoldenAge1"/><ref name="GoldenAge5"/> The character risked becoming an obscure figure of the preceding era until this goofy prankster version of the character was adapted into the 1966 television series ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'', in which he was played by [[Cesar Romero]].<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="GoldenAge1"/> The show's popularity compelled Schwartz to keep the comics in a similar vein. As the show's popularity waned, however, so did that of the ''Batman'' comics.<ref name="ImpactCBR"/><ref name="GoldenAge5"/> After the TV series ended in 1969, the increase in public visibility had not stopped the comic's sales decline; editorial director [[Carmine Infantino]] resolved to turn things around, moving stories away from child-friendly adventures.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=173|ps=. <q>Because the surge in public visibility hadn't helped stop Batman's comic book slide, editorial director Carmine Infantino vowed to turn things around&nbsp;... and moved even further away from schoolboy-friendly adventures.</q>}} The Silver Age introduced several of the Joker's defining character traits: lethal [[joy buzzer]]s, acid-squirting flowers, trick guns, and goofy, elaborate crimes.<ref name="Personality2"/><ref name="JokerGadgets"/>

===Bronze Age===
[[File:Comic Book - Batman 251 Cover (1973).jpg|thumb|upright|alt="Batman" cover, with the Joker holding an ace of spades with Batman on it|Cover of ''Batman'' #251 (September 1973) featuring "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge", which returned the Joker to his homicidal roots. Art by Neal Adams.]]
In 1973, after a four-year disappearance,<ref name="ImpactCBR"/> the Joker was revived (and revised) by writer [[Dennis O'Neil]] and artist [[Neal Adams]]. Beginning with ''Batman'' #251's "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge", the character returns to his roots as a homicidal maniac who matches wits with Batman.<ref name="ImpactCBR2"/><ref name="BronzeAge6"/> This story began a trend in which the Joker was used, sparingly, as a central character.<ref name="BronzeAge10"/> O'Neil said his idea was "simply to take it back to where it started. I went to the DC library and read some of the early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Finger were after."<ref name="BronzeAge8"/> O'Neil's 1973 run introduced the idea of the Joker being legally insane, to explain why the character is sent to [[Arkham Asylum]] (introduced by O'Neil in 1974 as Arkham Hospital) instead of to prison.<ref name="BronzeAge20"/> Adams modified the Joker's appearance, changing his more average figure by extending his jaw and making him taller and leaner.<ref name="BronzeAge9"/>

DC Comics was a hotbed of experimentation during the 1970s, and in 1975 the character became the first villain to feature as the title character in a comic book series, ''[[The Joker (comic book)|The Joker]]''.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=176}} The series followed the character's interactions with other supervillains, and the first issue was written by O'Neil.<ref name="1975JokerComic"/> Stories balanced between emphasizing the Joker's criminality and making him a likable protagonist whom readers could support. Although he murdered thugs and civilians, he never fought Batman; this made ''The Joker'' a series in which the character's villainy prevailed over rival villains, instead of a struggle between good and evil.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=177}} Because the Comics Code Authority mandated punishment for villains, each issue ended with the Joker being apprehended, limiting the scope of each story. The series never found an audience, and ''The Joker'' was canceled after nine issues (despite a "next issue" advertisement for an appearance by the [[Justice League]]).<ref name="1975JokerComic"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=177}}{{sfn|Duncan Smith|2013|p=380}} The complete series became difficult to obtain over time, often commanding high prices from collectors. In 2013, DC Comics reissued the series as a [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]].{{sfn|Weiner|Peaslee|2015|p=XVI}}

When [[Jenette Kahn]] became DC editor in 1976, she redeveloped the company's struggling titles; during her tenure, the Joker would become one of DC's most popular characters.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=177}} While O'Neil and Adams' work was critically acclaimed, writer [[Steve Englehart]] and [[penciller]] [[Marshall Rogers]]'s eight-issue run in ''Detective Comics'' #471–476 (August 1977–April 1978) defined the Joker for decades to come<ref name="ImpactCBR2"/> with stories emphasizing the character's insanity. In "The Laughing Fish", the Joker disfigures fish with a rictus grin resembling his own (expecting [[copyright]] protection), and is unable to understand that copyrighting a [[natural resource]] is legally impossible.<ref name="BronzeAge6"/><ref name="BronzeAge20"/><ref name="Bio101"/><ref name="BronzeAge7"/> Englehart's and Rogers' work on the series influenced the 1989 film ''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'', and was adapted for 1992's ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''.<ref name="BronzeAge20"/><ref name="BronzeAge4"/> Rogers expanded on Adams' character design, drawing the Joker with a fedora and trench coat.<ref name="BronzeAge9"/> Englehart outlined how he understood the character by saying that the Joker "was this very crazy, scary character. I really wanted to get back to the idea of Batman fighting insane murderers at 3 a.m. under the full moon, as the clouds scuttled by."<ref name="GoldenAge1"/>

==={{anchor|Modern age}}Modern Age===
Years after the end of the 1966 television series, sales of ''Batman'' continued to fall and the title was nearly cancelled. Although the 1970s restored the Joker as Batman's insane, lethal archenemy, it was during the 1980s that the ''Batman'' series started to turn around and the Joker came into his own as part of the "Dark Age" of comics, with mature tales of death and destruction. The shift was criticized for moving away from tamer superheroes (and villains), but comic audiences were no longer primarily children.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=182}}<ref name="ImpactCBR2"/> Several months after ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' launched the era by killing off Silver Age icons such as the [[Flash (DC Comics character)|Flash]] and [[Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)|Supergirl]] and undoing decades of continuity,<ref>{{harvnb|Manning|2011|p=183}} <q>DC birthed the Dark Age with the twelve-part Crisis on Infinite Earths. Not only did the series kill off Silver Age icons the Flash and Supergirl, it cleared out decades of continuity bramble...</q></ref> [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' (1986) re-imagined Batman as an older, retired hero<ref name="ModernAge2"/> and the Joker as a lipstick-wearing celebrity<ref name="BronzeAge9"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=183}} who cannot function without his foe.<ref name="ModernAge4"/> The late 1980s saw the Joker exert a significant impact on Batman and his supporting cast. In the 1988–89 story arc "[[Batman: A Death in the Family|A Death in the Family]]", the Joker murders Batman's sidekick (the second Robin, [[Jason Todd]]). Todd was unpopular with fans; rather than modify his character, DC opted to let them vote for his fate and a 72-vote plurality had the Joker brutally beat Todd with a crowbar and trap him in a room with a bomb, killing him. This story altered the Batman universe: instead of killing anonymous bystanders, the Joker murdered a core character; this had a lasting effect on future stories.<ref name="ModernAge5"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=108}} Written at the height of tensions between the United States and Iran, the story's conclusion had Iranian leader [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] appoint the Joker his country's ambassador to the United Nations (allowing him to temporarily escape justice).<ref name="InfoDoG1"/>

[[Alan Moore]] and [[Brian Bolland]]'s 1988 graphic novel ''[[Batman: The Killing Joke|The Killing Joke]]'' expands on the Joker's origins, describing the character as a failed comedian who adopts the identity of the Red Hood to support his pregnant wife.<ref name="SilverAge1"/><ref>Greenberger and Manning, p. 38: "Offering keen insight into both the minds of the Joker and Batman, this special is considered by most Batman fans to be the definitive Joker story of all time."</ref> Unlike ''The Dark Knight Returns'', ''The Killing Joke'' takes place in mainstream continuity.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=188}} The novel is described by critics as one of the greatest Joker stories ever written, influencing later comic stories (including the forced retirement of then-[[Barbara Gordon|Batgirl]], Barbara Gordon, after she is paralyzed by the Joker) and films such as 1989's ''Batman'' and 2008's ''[[The Dark Knight]]''.<ref name="ModernAge10"/><ref name="ModernAge11"/><ref name="ModernAgeCBR"/> Grant Morrison's 1989 ''[[Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth]]'' explores the psychoses of Batman, the Joker and other rogues in the [[Arkham Asylum|eponymous facility]].<ref name="ModernAge12"/><ref name="ModernAge13"/>

The 1992 animated series introduced the Joker's female sidekick: [[Harley Quinn]], a psychiatrist who falls for—and ends up in an abusive relationship with—the Joker, becoming his [[supervillain]] accomplice. The character was popular, and was adapted into the comics as the Joker's romantic interest in 1999.<ref name="ModernAge15"/> In the same year, [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]] and [[Norm Breyfogle]]'s comic book ''[[Anarky (comic book)|Anarky]]'' concluded with the revelation that [[Anarky|the titular character]] was the Joker's son. Breyfogle conceived the idea as a means to expand on Anarky's characterization, but O'Neil (by then the editor for the ''Batman'' series of books) was opposed to it, and only allowed it to be written under protest, and with a promise that the revelation would eventually be revealed incorrect. However, the ''Anarky'' series was cancelled before the rebuttal could be published.<ref name="Anarky"/> The Joker's first major storyline in [[The New 52]], DC Comics' 2011 reboot of story continuity, was 2012's "[[Death of the Family]]" by writer [[Scott Snyder]] and artist [[Greg Capullo]]. The story arc explores the [[Symbiosis|symbiotic relationship]] between the Joker and Batman, and sees the villain shatter the trust between Batman and his adopted family.<ref name="GoldenAge2"/><ref name="ModernAge14"/> Capullo's Joker design replaced his traditional outfit with a [[utilitarian]], messy, and disheveled appearance to convey that the character was on a mission; his face (surgically removed in 2011's ''Detective Comics'' (vol. 2) #1) was reattached with belts, wires, and hooks, and he was outfitted with mechanics overalls.<ref name="ModernAgeDOTF"/> The Joker's face was restored in Snyder's and Capullo's "[[Batman: Endgame|Endgame]]" (2014), the concluding chapter to "Death of the Family".<ref name="NewsaramaEndgame"/><ref name="Guardian"/>

The conclusion of the 2020 "[[Joker War]]" storyline by writer [[James Tynion IV]] and artist Jorge Jiménez sees the Joker leave Gotham after Batman chooses to let him die.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Polo |first1=Susana |title=The Joker War is over, but it changed Gotham City |url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/6/21504314/batman-joker-war-ending-death-dc-comics-harley-quinn-punchline |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |access-date=December 18, 2020 |date=October 6, 2020}}</ref> This led to a second ongoing ''Joker'' series, beginning in March 2021 with Tynion writing and Guillem March providing art.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Holub |first1=Christian |title=The Joker is getting his own monthly comic from DC |url=https://ew.com/books/the-joker-comic-dc/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=December 18, 2020 |date=December 15, 2020}}</ref>