15 Greatest Joker Comics Of All Time
The clown prince's best.
Over 75 years, The Joker has shown that his main appeal lies in his flexibility. What other comic book villain is more shapeable, more reinvent-able? You can do almost anything with The Clown Prince Of Crime and he’ll still be recognizably himself.
Make him a prankster, a killer, a cross-dresser, an anarchist, or a junkie. Make him insane, supersane, or just differently sane. He’s that great embodiment of the Shapeshifter archetype. His form is being formless, and he can bewilder the hero (and the reader) at every turn.
Even so, you can only stretch Joker’s putty-like characteristics so far before he comes apart. How many pranks can he pull without losing his edge? How sadistic can he get before he stops making us laugh? (And Joker should make us laugh, albeit with discomfort.) How many tattoos can he sport until his trademark elegance is cancelled out?
With that in mind, there are some Joker comics in which he excels more than others, and singling them out is thus even more valuable. In every case, the creators put forth their own take on The Mogul of Mountebanks while staying true to the spirit of the character.
Now there may be some surprises on this list - perhaps even some upheavals - but it's all in the anarchic spirit of the character...
15. The Return Of The Joker
To be frank, “A Death in the Family" is over-rated and undeserving of the highest praise. There’s a certain torture porn vibe around The Joker beating Robin to death (especially just months after he paralyzed and assaulted Barbara Gordon) that just doesn’t do it for me.
It always felt like less of an organic character development and more of an editorial intervention to boost sales. Probably because that's precisely what it was.
In contract, this little two-parter from Marv Wolfman and Jim Aparo represents a story that’s very much a response to Joker’s dark turn at the end of the ‘80s. These comics are about him trying to “find the joke again” after his brutal attacks on sidekicks.
It’s as if The Joker himself, suffering from gunshot wounds and doubt, rejects the empty and violent direction he’d been taken. And it's a brilliant arc.