Editing Joker (character) (section)

===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"/>