The Joker has a truly rich history in comics, popping up countless times to ruin lives around the DC universe. Over the past 75 years, writers and artists have spun hundreds of stories around this troubling and intoxicating character. So why do people talk about only a handful of discussed-to-death storylines, just a single squares worth in the massive crazy quilt of Jokers existence? Comics like The Killing Joke, Mad Love, Arkham Asylum, and The Dark Knight Returns are all rewarding, but surely theres a bigger world out there for fans that want to soak up all things Clown Prince. Lets go beyond his iconic appearances from recent years, like the fork-tongued butcher served up in R.I.P., the degenerate punk of Joker, or the jilted court jester of the New 52. Lets also bypass the foundation-laying classics his first appearance in 1940, his origin reveal in 1951s The Man Behind the Red Hood, or the dark 1970s tales The Jokers Five-Way Revenge and The Laughing Fish. The following are amazing but overlooked gems, well worth the digging required to find them. By the nature of this list, Ive surely left out a lot of comics, so make sure to leave what I missed in the comments. Now join me, would you, and plunge into the bubbling green depths
