Joker

The Joker is a comic book series published by DC Comics starring the supervillain the Joker. It ran for nine issues from May–June 1975 to September–October 1976, with a tenth previously unpublished issue released in October 2019. In 2021, it was relaunched as part of DC's Infinite Frontier relaunch following Dark Nights: Death Metal conclusion. Publication history Dennis O'Neil, who wrote the first issue of the series, recounted that "I stopped by Julie [Schwartz, Batman editor]'s office, and he said, 'We're going to do a Joker book'. I know that alarms went off, I could sense the problems that such a thing would entail...but it was a job". The series was launched in May 1975 by O'Neil and artist Irv Novick. In order to have him work as a protagonist, writers on the series toned down the Joker's insanity and to adhere to the Comics Code Authority, each issue would end with the Joker being apprehended, only to have escaped at the beginning of the next issue (the exceptions were issue #4, where the Joker seemingly falls to his death in a whirlpool in the ocean, only to return in the next issue as if nothing had happened and with no explanation as to how he survived; issue #5, which ends with the Joker being chased by police; issue #8, where the Joker returns to Arkham Asylum voluntarily; and issue #10, which ended on a cliffhanger that was never continued). Batman did not appear in the series. 2020s Following The Joker War and Dark Nights: Death Metal, James Tynion IV teamed up with Gulliem March to produce a new series, also titled The Joker, that debuted on March 2, 2021. The Joker series lasted a total of 15 issues, ending on July 5, 2022. On October of the same year a new series titled The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing debuted, this time written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Carmine Di Giandomenico.