I really wants to hear your thoughts on which Joker storylines you like best, it only seems appropriate because Death of the Family has just began and I think that soon enough it will be one of the most liked Joker storylines.

Death in the Family is good, Last Laugh, Killing Joke (this is one shot), maybe Hush, Clown At Midnight...

My favorite Joker story is definitely The Killing Joke.

For me, I prefer "The Man Who Laughs" over the "The Killing Joke". In TMWL, Joker gets revenge and causes havoc in Gotham. In TKJ, Joker makes Gordon's life hell and tries to get him to snap. Both stories are rather short though.

Batman & Robin Vol 2 and 3 are amazing, and slightly less recognized than giant stories like The Killing Joke or The Man Who Laughs. Granted, they're still wildly popular books. Joker plays a smaller role in Batman & Robin in the sense that he isn't the schemer of the main story, but his presence is classic, and he really adds a lot. Great, mild twist on the character.

Aside from the obvious Arkham Asylum, Killing Joke, and The Man Who Laughs... Joker (despite being the biggest villain in the comic world) doesn't have a ton of incredible lead-villain stuff. He gets thrown into books a lot, and then writers just kind of coast on the fact that just by having The Joker on a page, it's automatically more interesting... it's a bummer. Joker is interesting, but not amazing. The Long Halloween has some good moments, but they're cameos. Death in the Family is trash (canonically significant trash, but trash nonetheless). Mad Love is great, and so are Arkham Asylum, and Arkham City. But those aren't books.

You may also want to look for "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" (Batman #251, September 1973) by Dennis O'Neil, and "The Laughing Fish" and "Sign of the Joker!" (Detective Comics #475/476, February/March 1978), by Steve Englehart.

Detective Comics #826 by Paul Dini and Don Kramer, included in the Batman: Detective TPB.

Death in the Family.

The killing joke, hands down.

The first Joker story I ever read was Death in the Family. It will always hold a space on my bookshelf.

Best Joker story arc is when Joker marries Nightwing.

Another good one is when he attacks the US House of Representatives.

Soft Targets was pretty nice.
BB

@Black_Claw said:

The killing joke, hands down.

QFT.

@Red_Jack said:

Best Joker story arc is when Joker marries Nightwing.

Another good one is when he attacks the US House of Representatives.

When was that?

@Red_Jack said:

Best Joker story arc is when Joker marries Nightwing.

Another good one is when he attacks the US House of Representatives.

Both those stories are hack jobs. The one where Joker underwent a sex-change surgery to seduce Batman was much more imaginative. I also liked the one where Batgirl was eight months pregnant, and the end, a little white faced baby cut itself out of her uterus screaming, "Here's Jokey!"

The Killing Joke

@PsychoKnights:

Are you guys being serious?

Batman #1 from the 1940 series

@Funrush said:

@Black_Claw said:

The killing joke, hands down.

QFT.

@Red_Jack said:

Best Joker story arc is when Joker marries Nightwing.

Another good one is when he attacks the US House of Representatives.

When was that?

Joker attacks the US House of Representatives because he thought they were a bigger bunch of clowns than himself.

Callista Gingrich was the worst victim of his attack, poor woman.

http://sywbanp.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/callista.gif

She got the joker juice.

Morrisons Batman run(the Clown at Midnight,RIP,Batman and Robin)

The Man Who Laughs

The Killing Joke

Lovers and Mad Men

The Dark Knight Returns

There were also some nice stories written by Alan Grant back in the day.

But I do agree with the user who stated that while the Joker may have some exceptionally excellent stories he has also had horrifically bad ones to his credit too.Death in the Family,Last Laugh etc are 2 examples of this.

Snyders Death of the Family will definitely end up being recognized,now lets hope it does'nt end up like Death in the Family.

Killing Joke and Man Who Laughs are obvious. So is Death in the Family. My personal favorite is the Joker graphic novel by Azzarello. But for some awesome lesser known, try Detective Comics #826 - Slayride, Batman #251 - Joker's Five-Way Revenge, and for a really unknown try Batman Confidential #22-25 - Do You Understand These Rights.

For some more light-hearted, classic Joker fare

'Joker's Wild' is Joker vs. Tim Drake solo - Batman out of town.

'Devil's Advocate - he's sentenced to death for a crime he may not have comitted,

'Cutting Room Floor' - He tries to make a movie of killing Batman - love his reaction when he realizes it's not the real Batman (Jean Paul Valley).

'The demon Laughs' - team up with Ras Al Gul,

'Going Sane' - he does, for a while, when he believes he killed Batman

'Trust' - Continues from Batman 826 with 833/834 - Zatanna is his target

'Gotham Emergency' - Batman rushes him to the emergency room

'Cacophany' - he goes to war against Maxie Zeus for using his Joket gas to produce a popular narcotic.

See, the starring roles are there, the just aren't as famous.

The best Joker story arcs are the ones where he really does come across the pinnacle of what we all expect him to be like.

I imagine trying to write a story with Joker is not an easy feat. Every writer should bring their A game. Joker is meant to be very unpredictable and violent, yet camp, aloof, happy and obsessed with Batman.

Alan Moore's portrayal of Joker in "The Killing Joke" was damn near perfect. Also, the Joker in the Judge Dredd crossover "Die Laughing" was brilliantly done.

Joker is well executed in The Man Who Laughs and is really seriously portrayed as a genuinely threatening villain. It's a perfect mix of insanity and ingenious planning. Joker should be almost impossible to analyse to the point where one should question whether he has any sort of humanity.

I really didn't like him in the original Death in The Family. I thought the way he was portrayed in that was crap. Makes it more disappointing when it's such a poignant chapter in the whole Batman chronology. I also didn't like the way he talks to Hush in one of the comics I read recently. I can't remember which one but it had Prometheus siding with Hush and Riddler running scared until he comes across Poison Ivy and she belittles him at the end. I thought the way Joker was portrayed was lame and there was too much winking to the reader when he says all that "This town aint big enough for the both of us."

But then again, I'm one of the minority of readers who doesn't like Hush as a Batman villain.

@JoeEddie said:

@PsychoKnights:

Are you guys being serious?

Haven't you ever heard of "Batman and the Snipe Hunt" or "Joker: May the Farce Be with You?"

@jbfrancis said:

For some more light-hearted, classic Joker fare

'Joker's Wild' is Joker vs. Tim Drake solo - Batman out of town.

'Devil's Advocate - he's sentenced to death for a crime he may not have comitted,

'Cutting Room Floor' - He tries to make a movie of killing Batman - love his reaction when he realizes it's not the real Batman (Jean Paul Valley).

'The demon Laughs' - team up with Ras Al Gul,

'Going Sane' - he does, for a while, when he believes he killed Batman

'Trust' - Continues from Batman 826 with 833/834 - Zatanna is his target

'Gotham Emergency' - Batman rushes him to the emergency room

'Cacophany' - he goes to war against Maxie Zeus for using his Joket gas to produce a popular narcotic.

See, the starring roles are there, the just aren't as famous.

I'm familiar with two of these series, and I thought I would throw in my two cents.

"Joker's Wild" is pretty good, but it is the weakest of the three Robin miniseries. You will find it under Robin II.

I did not much care for "Cutting Room Floor." Seemed like a fairly generic story to me.

My favorite portrayal of Joker is throughout No Man's Land. Comical yet scary.

MY FAV JOKER STORIES ARE

1. The Man Who Laughs
2. Detective Comics #826
3. Joker
4. Issue #833,Issue #834
5. Killing Joke

Killing Joke and Death in the Family. I never liked Jason as Robin anyway :P.

@russia599: I would add these stories :

• Batman adventure vol. 2 issue 3 : My Boyfriend's Back => http://www.comicvine.com/batman-adventures-3-my-boyfriends-back-breathing-r/4000-159228/
• a fan story : The deal => http://moonheadpress.blogspot.fr/2013/11/the-deal.html
• 90's newspaper strips 4th story : the Trial of the Joker => http://about-faces.livejournal.com/33524.html