Our intrepid heroes start their second year off with puns, and lots of 'em. Current books reviewed: Red Robin 8, Streets of Gotham 8, Batgirl 6, and Batman 695. In the Casefile: Batman 247-8 and Detective Comics 428-9. Which movies would be better with Bat-Villains replacing the actors? How often can Jonathan sidetrack the show? Can Batman defeat Magneto? Can you find the hidden Sopranos reference? All this and more will be revealed!

The band o' the week is Journey, with their Greatest Hits.

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The Black Casefile 2: Batman's Great Mystery, part 1 of 11. From The Adventures of Superman radio show.

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Joker, Batman’s arch-nemesis, is a psychotically insane criminal who has tormented Gotham City since his first appearance in Batman #1, back in 1940. At times portrayed as being nothing more than an over-the-top prankster, his most enduring characterization is that of a man hellbent on causing chaos and destruction. He differs from the rest of Batman’s rouges gallery in that his only motivation is to destroy Batman--not to kill him, necessarily, but to break his will and mind and ruin him.

Joker was created by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and Bill Finger to be a larger-than-life nemesis for Batman. (At the time, Batman and Robin were mainly battling common criminals.) Jerry Robinson came up with the concept and name for the character, Robinson and Kane designed his appearance, and Bill Finger outlined the Joker’s characterization.

Joker’s appearance was based on that of actor Conrad Veidt in the film The Man Who Laughs, which was based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. The story of The Man Who Laughs deals with a man, Gwynplaine, whose face is disfigured into a permanent mad grin after his father offends King James II. At the end of the book, Gwynplaine drowns himself. While Joker’s creators do not come out and say it, there was clearly some of The Man Who Laugh’s plot incorporated into the character’s origin.

There has never been a definitive origin story for Joker. There are four major stories concerning his origin, and there are elements common to all of them, but Joker himself has said that “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!” The common elements are that Joker was a small-time criminal named Jack, possibly Jack Napier, who also employed the alias and costume of Red Hood. After an encounter with Batman during a robbery at a chemical plant, he is disfigured by falling into a vat of chemicals. His skin turns white, his hair green, and his mouth is stretched into a permanent grin.

Over the years, Joker has been one of the main sources of trouble for Batman. He is responsible for murdering Jason Todd (A Death in the Family), crippling and molesting Batgirl/Barabara Gordon (The Killing Joke), murdering Commissioner Gordon’s second wife, Sarah (No Man’s Land), and also played a major role in unhinging Batman during the events of Batman RIP. Apart from all of that, he is also responsible for some of the more bizarre plots in Batman comics, such as his attempt to copyright fish by using chemicals to turn them into “Joker fish,” even running for political office at one point.

He is typically characterized as being extremely emotionally volatile, capable of killing even his own henchmen at the drop of a hat. He usually dresses in a purple suit or tuxedo with an acid-shooting flower in the lapel. Traditionally he employed a variety of clown-themed weapons and gadgets--including “Joker gas/toxin” which causes the victim to laugh uncontrollably until they die, and causes a permanent smile like Joker’s own--though this has fallen by the wayside, for the most part. Recently he mutilated his face with a scalpel to give him an appearance similar to Heath Ledger’s portrayal in The Dark Knight. Since No Man’s Land, he is usually accompanied by Harley Quinn, who was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum before falling in love with “Mr. J.”

Joker has not been seen since the final issues of Batman RIP.

Essential Joker reads:
The Killing Joke
A Death in the Family
The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told

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Our intrepid heroes celebrate their first year broadcasting the radia by calling some people to chat! They review every Bat-book from December (Red Robin 7, Detective Comics 860, Batman 694, Gotham City Sirens 7, Streets of Gotham 7, Batgirl 5), Batman 245-6, and Detective Comics 426-7; and in Beat Down by Batman, Batman takes on Iron Man. Along the way, they settle once and for all the lion vs. tiger debate, continue last episode's conversation about Top Gun, bore Jonathan with plenty of college football talk, and discuss Rob's odyssey to Texas.

The band o' the week is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with their album Fever to Tell.

Thanks for listening over the last year or so, we really appreciate it. Here's to another!

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The second installment in our Batman for Beginners feature, this time revealing to you which stories you should read, or at least familiarize yourself with, to get the basic backstory of what's been happening in the last 75 years or so.

Year One: the modern, and currently canon, retelling of Batman’s origin. Sets up the more sinister Gotham City and the darker tone of Batman comics in the modern age.
Batman 404-407

The Long Halloween & Dark Victory: two distinct stories that make up an epic whole. Long Halloween deals with a serial killer who murders on holidays, the beginning of the end for the Mafia in Gotham, and the origin of Two-Face, as well as the criminals of Gotham beginning the transition from common crooks to supervillains and psychos. Dark Victory completes the downfall of the Mafia, but also touches upon the origin of Dick Grayson.The mob family in the stories, the Falcones, is the same as is being used in the current Batman arc.

Robin Year One: a modern (and significantly improved) retelling of the origin of Dick Grayson.

The Killing Joke: a one-shot story in which Joker tries to show Batman that, under the right circumstances, any man will do insane things. This is also where Joker cripples the then-Batgirl, Barbara Gordon.

A Death in the Family: Jason Todd runs away from Wayne Manor to track down his mother; meanwhile, Batman discovers that Joker has obtained a nuke and is going to sell it to terrorists. Batman tracks Joker to Lebanon, where he rejoins Jason and, after stopping Joker's plan, helps him track down his mother. The story culminates in Joker brutally murdering Jason and his mother. Fun fact! The fate of Jason was left unresolved at the end of 427, and DC set up a 1-900 number that readers could call to vote for whether or not he should die. The death votes won by a very slim margin of only around 70 out of over 10,000 cast.
Batman 426-429

A Lonely Place of Dying: Tim Drake becomes the third Robin, after he and Dick Grayson convince Batman of the importance of having a Robin to balance out the darkness of Batman.
Batman 426-429, 440-442; The New Titans 60-61

Knightfall: Azrael becomes Batman after Bane breaks Bruce’s back; Bruce heals and retrains, while AzBat slowly goes insane and out of control; eventually Bruce defeats Azrael and Nightwing becomes Batman for a short time while Bruce finishes recuperating. vol. 1 | vol. 2 | vol. 3
Batman 491-515; Detective Comics 660-682; Showcase '93 7-8; Showcase '94 10; Shadow of the Bat 16-35; Robin 1-14; Catwoman 6, 12-13; Legends of the Dark Knight 59-63; Justice League Task Force 5-6

No Man’s Land: after the events of Contagion, Legacy, and Cataclysm, Gotham is determined by the US government to be uninhabitable. Those left behind face a city-wide gang war and horrible living conditions. Eventually the government’s decision is reversed and Gotham is rebuilt. Introduces Cassandra Cain, the third Batgirl, and Harley Quinn; also sets up Lex Luthor’s successful run for the presidency.
No Man's Land 0-1; Batman 563-574; Detective Comics 730-741; Batman Chronicles 16-18; Legends of the Dark Knight 116-126; Shadow of the Bat 83-94; Catwoman 72-77; Robin 67-73; Nightwing 35-39; Azrael 50-61; JLA 32; Young Justice Special 1; Hitman 37-46; Harley Quinn OGN

Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive: Bruce Wayne is framed for the murder of his girlfriend, Vesper Fairchild. He is unable to give an alibi to the police, because it would mean revealing his secret identity as Batman. He eventually breaks out of prison and abandons his life as Bruce Wayne, causing his allies to question both his innocence and sanity. vol. 1 | vol. 2 | vol. 3
The 10-Cent Adventure; Batman 599-603, 605; Detective Comics 766-772; Batgirl 24, 27, 29; Nightwing 65-66, 68-69; Gotham Knights 25-26, 28, 30-31; Robin 98-99; Birds of Prey 40-41, 43

Hush: a childhood friend of Bruce’s returns, and new villain appears in Gotham with motives similar to Bane’s at the beginning of Knightfall. Batman reveals his identity to Catwoman, and they begin a full-on relationship for the first time; also sets up the return of Jason Todd.
Batman 608-619

War Games: Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, briefly the 4th Robin, and the current Batgirl) unwittingly sparks a gang war using a contingency plan she stole from Batman. Several supporting characters, including Stephanie, are killed, Tim Drake resumes his role as Robin, the Black Mask returns, and Oracle’s clocktower is destroyed. vol. 1 | vol. 2 | vol. 3
The 12-Cent Adventure; Batman 631-634; Detective Comics 797-800; Legends of the Dark Knight 182-184; Gotham Knights 56-58; Robin 129-131; Nightwing 96-98; Catwoman 34-36; Batgirl 55-57

Under the Hood: the return of Jason Todd, as the Red Hood.  vol. 1 | vol. 2
Batman 635-650, Annual 1

Batman RIP, Last Rites, & Final Crisis: the events of Batman & Son, Three Ghosts of Batman, Club of Heroes, and The Black Hand culminate in RIP, in which a group calling itself The Black Glove sets out to psychologically destroy Batman, and nearly succeed. RIP leads right into Final Crisis, in which Darkseid’s lackeys kidnap Batman in order to use his physical and mental profile to create an army of perfect clones based on the “perfect” man. Batman escapes and kills Darkseid, though he is struck by the Omega Sanction, which sends him into the timestream, leading into...
Batman 676-681; Final Crisis 1-2; Batman 682-683; Final Crisis 5-7

Battle for the Cowl: the three Robins all don Batman costumes and attempt to take over the role, after seeing what not having a Batman is doing to Gotham City. Dick emerges as “the” Batman, Damien becomes Robin, Jason Todd is seemingly killed, and Tim becomes Red Robin. Also as a result, Arkham Asylum is destroyed, Cassandra Cain quits, and Stephanie Brown becomes Batgirl.
Battle for the Cowl 1-3

The Dark Knight Returns: an out-of-continuity story, but one that is very important both to the way Batman is written in the modern era, and to comic books in general. This story, along with Watchmen, basically redefined how comic book stories are told, and kicked off the modern era of comic book storytelling. It's set in the future, where Batman is old, Robin is dead, and superheroes are outlawed. The only one still around is Superman, who's a government puppet. Batman has been missing for many years, and resurfaces to get things back in hand in Gotham.

Joker's Asylum: the quickest way to get into the minds of some of Batman's main villains. Joker introduces and narrates one-shot stories about himself, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Two-Face.
Joker's Asylum 1-5

Not necessary reads, but some fun/informative/just plain good collections to help flesh things out:
The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told
The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told vol. 1 | vol. 2
Batgirl Year One
Harley & Ivy
Joker

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