The Batman In Canada

Here's another one of those free giveaway comics that we look at from time to time.

This issue was sponsored jointly by Canadian department store chain Zellers and ABC Canada (the foundation to support literacy in Canada). As you could probably guess, the underlying message here is that it's important to read. So after you finish reading this comic, GO READ A BOOK!

by Len Wein, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson
from BATMAN "A WORD TO THE WISE", 1992




*

FAMOUS FIRST APPEARANCE: The Joker

Even if you've never read a comic in your entire life, there's a handful of characters that it's impossible for you not to recognize. The Joker is definitely one of them.
Growing up watching the old Adam West TV series, a lot of us got the idea that the Joker was just some wacky guy with a twisted sense of humor that lived to play practical jokes on the dynamic duo. The Batman cartoons from the 70s didn't do much to change that image, either. What surprises me is that the character was much darker and malevolent in his first appearance.
Think I'm kidding? This story has four murders in it.

from THE GREATEST JOKER STORIES EVER TOLD (ISBN: 0930289-36-6) 1988
originally from BATMAN #1, Spring 1940














*

THE JOKER

The Joker is another one of those characters that needs little or nothing in the way of an introduction. Even people who don't read comics have seen him on TV, in movies and cartoons, and at toy stores. Although people generally associate the character as Batman's villain, in this story he matches wits with another famous detective.

from THE JOKER #6,April 1975

Click on the first page to read the whole story.


*