The Joker

I'm going to be totally, 100% real with you for a second here, people: I have read a lot of comic books about the Joker. I mean, that's kind of inevitable when you dedicate yourself to becoming the World's Foremost Batmanologist, but still, it's a pretty large number of comics, which is why I took special note of the Joker-themed sale that Comixology has running right now. I mean, as easy as it might be to grab the most famous Joker stories, there are a lot of buried treasures in there too. So with that in mind, here's my guide to a handful of Joker stories that you might have missed. Even if you're reading this in some dim and distant future (after the sale ends on March 9), they're still worth digging up in back issue bins!

The 1966 Batman television show was one of the most successful and influential adaptations of comic books to mass media of all time. Over the course of three seasons and 120 episodes, the series became a cultural force with its unique combination of tongue-in-cheek humor, thrilling superhero adventure and celebrity guest stars, and shaped the way the public would view the Caped Crusader for the next five decades. Now, in the midst of a well-deserved renaissance of the show, ComicsAlliance is proud to present The Batman '66 Episode Guide, an in-depth examination of every single adventure, arch-criminal and deathtrap cliffhanger of the series. This week, the Joker launches his most convoluted plan yet: Poisoning the minds of America's youth... at Dick Grayson's high school!

I enjoy both photographs and reminders that our time on this Earth is fleeting and that we will all one day leave our lives, becoming as ephemeral as memories and ghosts, so naturally I like Snapchat a lot. If you're not familiar with it, it's a program that sends pictures to your friends that automatically delete after ten seconds or so, and is used mostly to take pictures of your Pokémon. That's what I do with it, anyway. Recently, they've taken to sending subscribers ads, and last Friday, one for McDonald's popped up, with the premise that McDonald's is so good that even long-standing arch-enemies will put aside their differences and be friends -- something that they chose to illustrate by having the Joker present a smiling Batman with a balloon animal. Folks, I have read my share of Batman comics and let me tell you: No matter what you may have heard from McDonald's, that balloon is definitely filled with poison gas.

The 1966 Batman television show was one of the most successful and influential adaptations of comic books to mass media of all time. Over the course of three seasons and 120 episodes, the series became a cultural force with its unique combination of tongue-in-cheek humor, thrilling superhero adventure and celebrity guest stars, and shaped the way the public would view the Caped Crusader for the next five decades. Now, in the midst of a well-deserved renaissance of the show, ComicsAlliance is proud to present The Batman '66 Episode Guide, an in-depth examination of every single adventure, arch-criminal and deathtrap cliffhanger of the series. This week, the Joker launches an unstoppable crimewave that hits below the belt!

With long runs on hit titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Sleeper, Fatale, Criminal and more, writer Ed Brubaker has cemented his position as one of the most prominent writers in American comics, and he got his start with superheroes with Batman. After being brought in from the world of crime comics to write the Batman comics in 2000, Brubaker rose to prominence with his work on Gotham City's heroes, including cowriting the seminal Gotham Central, relaunching Catwoman with a critically acclaimed and influential new direction, and retelling the first encounter between Batman and the Joker. This week, ComicsAlliance is taking a look back at Brubaker's tenure on the Dark Knight with an in-depth interview, and today, we continue our discussion of his work on Detective Comics and focus on two of his most well-known projects: Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Gotham Central.

Look, we all know James Franco is a weird guy. He has practically made a career out of being a weird guy. But it's still sort of astonishingly strange how the actor and director came together with a group of friends (at least, they seem to be friends) to mash up the famous dinner scene from Beetlejuice with Batman. The video is part of Franco's "Making a Scene" series on Aol Originals, where Franco and pals spin a wheel twice, two movie titles come up, and they have to throw them together. They've all been quirky and funny, but this one is probably the oddest of the bunch.

If there's one thing we've learned from our years on the Internet, it's that there's no aspect of comics that can't be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of ten. And since there's no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we're taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. This week, we're kicking off October's spoooooky celebrations with a list of five comic book villains who are actually, genuinely terrifying. Check it out, but beware -- it gets scary!

To say that Greg Rucka had a profound impact on DC Comics in the 21st Century is underselling things quite a bit. After arriving on the scene in the late '90s, he became one of the few writers to have written all three of DC's biggest characters, with critically acclaimed runs on Action Comics and Wonder Woman. It was on Batman, however, where he made his biggest impact, as one of the writers for the year-long No Man's Land crossover, the relaunched "New Gotham" era of Detective Comics, and cowriter of the enduringly influential Gotham Central. In part one of our in-depth interview, Rucka discussed his arrival in Gotham with the popular "No Man's Land" megaseries. In part two, the writer detailed his involvement in the "New Gotham" revamp of 2000, including the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive saga, the introduction of Sasha Bordeaux, and the difficult transition from longtime Batman group editor Dennis O'Neil to Bob Schreck. Today we finish our three-part interview series with a look at Gotham Central, the book that focused on the non-superhero police detectives of Gotham City. Rucka speaks at length about how looking at Batman from the outside changes how the character works, the nature of collaboration with series co-writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark, and how the book produced one of the greatest Joker stories of all time.

To say that Greg Rucka had a profound impact on DC Comics in the 21st Century is underselling things quite a bit. After arriving on the scene in the late '90s, he became one of the few writers to have written all three of DC's biggest characters, with critically acclaimed runs on Action Comics and Wonder Woman. It was on Batman, however, where he made his biggest impact, as one of the writers for the year-long No Man's Land crossover, the relaunched "New Gotham" era of Detective Comics, and cowriter of the enduringly influential Gotham Central. Today, we begin an in-depth look back at Rucka's tenure on the Dark Knight, starting with No Man's Land, both the comic and its surprisingly popular novelization, in which Gotham City becomes a dark dystopia following a cataclysmic earthquake; his feelings about the core idea of Batman; and his frustrations on seeing the Joker show up in the pages of Superman.

When Gotham Bay is plagued by a mysterious toxin, boatloads of fish are turning up with a grotesque disfigurement: The trademarked Joker perma-smile. Batman -- working alone again -- is energized to be back on the Joker's trail, and soon learns that a binary compound of the toxin can affect humans, too. Written by Paul Dini and based on comic book stories by Dennis O'Neil and Steve Englehart, this episode of Batman: The Animated Series packs the kind of action and adventure the show is known for. How can you not love a shark wrestling scene?