10 Terrifying Joker Stories You Never Read

The Joker.

Everyone interprets that name differently, feels a slightly different shudder, evokes contrasting connotations of dread... but the net result is the same: fear.

We all recoiled in horror when he paralysed Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke, and held our collective breath when, after murdering an entire talk show crowd, he proceeded to snap his own neck in The Dark Knight Returns.

But what of his lesser-known exploits, those horrifying stories you may not have read?

The Joker is undoubtedly Batman’s greatest, most detested foe - one with no super, meta, nor supernatural powers to speak of, but whose notoriety and legend are born of his complete lack of human emotion. However, there is still a sense of the familiar with the character, owing to the fact that he's by far the most prolific villain in DC's comics.

This is what makes those lesser-known tales featuring the Clown Prince of Crime so special, as it rekindles those terrifying first memories every fan had the first time they encountered the character. Hidden gems by any other name.

Here, then, are ten of the most deplorable, most terrifying Joker stories you've never read...

Taking its lead from Heath Ledgers' portrayal of the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight movie, opting for a Chelsea smile and make up over a chemical-induced rictus grin, this heightened sense of realism only served to magnify the palpable sense of fear within this graphic novel’s pages.

Inexplicably released from Arkham Asylum and keen to rebuild his criminal empire, the Joker, with help from his loyal driver Johnny Frost, sets out in search of - who else - Harlye Quinn, this now moonlighting as a dancer in a seedy club.

Encountering real life versions of Waylon Jones/Killer Croc, Harvey Dent, the Riddler and more in this dark and disturbing graphic novel, the Joker’s acts of murder and butchery are terrible, heightened by the ultra realism of Lee Bermejo’s incredible art work.

In perhaps the most iconic sequence in the book, Joker takes one of his former lieutenants, Monty, backstage at the club Harley dances at, skins him alive, shoves the flayed yet still breathing man onto the stage, then slaps a dollar onto his skinned ass as he falls on his face dead under the stage lights.

This occurs early as the Joker looks to send a message to all would-be usurpers, and sets a brutal tone for the rest of this classic book.