The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

[Nathan Petrelli]

Is this any good? It got released on the 11th of this month (June), but I'm reading around about a book called The Joker: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told which was printed last year, whats the difference between the both?

THE JOKER: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD

Written and illustrated by various; Cover by Alex Ross

Witness the Joker's greatest feats of criminal merriment and sordid crimes against the denizens of Gotham in stories from BATMAN #1, 66, 73, 110, 321, and 613, DETECTIVE COMICS #332, 475, 613, BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE VOL. 2, BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN #4 and BATMAN ADVENTURES ANNUAL #1!

DC Universe | 192pg. | Color | Softcover | $19.99 US

On Sale June 11, 2008

 

[The Joker]

It's different to the first edition of the one they released because some of the old school Joker stories from the 40's/50's/60's are not in this one. One of the parts of The Laughing Fish story from the 70's is missing.

They've included more of the modern days ones like his issue in Hush, his Xmas issue in The Long Halloween, and Dini's Detective Comics issue set at Xmas where he abducts Robin.

 

[Nathan Petrelli]

Thanks.

Which one would you consider to buy first?

 

[CrimsonMist]

Is this any good? It got released on the 11th of this month (June), but I'm reading around about a book called The Joker: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told which was printed last year, whats the difference between the both?

THE JOKER: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD

Written and illustrated by various; Cover by Alex Ross

Witness the Joker's greatest feats of criminal merriment and sordid crimes against the denizens of Gotham in stories from BATMAN #1, 66, 73, 110, 321, and 613, DETECTIVE COMICS #332, 475, 613, BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE VOL. 2, BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN #4 and BATMAN ADVENTURES ANNUAL #1!

DC Universe | 192pg. | Color | Softcover | $19.99 US

On Sale June 11, 2008

Batman #66? Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that the "*****" issue? If so, everyone must buy it for that issue alone.

 

[Drz]

So theres 2 Joker: Greatest Stories ever told or?

 

[Dirt Like Me]

Yeah, there's one that came out way back, to coincide with the 1989 movie.

 

[The Joker]

Thanks.

Which one would you consider to buy first?

I guess it depends on your preference for more serious toned stories, or the light hearted ones from the golden age.

If you prefer the more serious Joker stories, then get this new one. Both of them are solid purchases, anyway.

 

[TinkTonks]

I guess it depends on your preference for more serious toned stories, or the light hearted ones from the golden age.

If you prefer the more serious Joker stories, then get this new one. Both of them are solid purchases, anyway.

Thanks ever so much for clearing that up! I was wondering what the deal was with that new one.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Which one would you consider to buy first?

Neither of them. In my opinion "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told" books do not really contain the greatest Joker stories ever told, their just random collections of various, mostly truly mediocre stories with the Joker. Many of the stories rang from the ridiculous to the goofy. The '50s and the '60s stories are all extremely silly, and in my opinion, completely out of character. Neither of them contain The Killing Joke, the Dark Knight Returns story "Hunt The Dark Knight" featuring the Joker, or Arkham Asylum. And while the second "Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told" book contains Laughing Fish, it's without the second part - Sign of the Joker, plus it doesn't even include Joker's Five-Way Revenge.
If you don't already have them, I recommend getting The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight Returns, Batman Chronicles volume one (containing the Joker's first two appearances ever), Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams volume three (containing Joker's Five-Way Revenge and the rare Joker story, Stacked Cards), and Strange Apparitions (with Laughing Fish and Sign of the Joker). Those are, to me, the greatest Joker stories ever told without the mediocre Joker stuff. That's my two cents.

 

[Nepenthes]

Nathan you'll only feel ripped off if you buy Greatest Jokers, as he says ^ they're mostly not that great

The standouts from the collection - Slay Ride, Laughing Fish, Black and White- all belong in collections that a good enough to be bought in their own right. Dini's Baman: Detective tpb, Strange Apparitions, these are no misses. The Joker story in Black&White is a awesome but it's only eight pages and can be read online

 

[Two-Face]

Is this any good? It got released on the 11th of this month (June), but I'm reading around about a book called The Joker: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told which was printed last year, whats the difference between the both?

THE JOKER: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD

Written and illustrated by various; Cover by Alex Ross

Witness the Joker's greatest feats of criminal merriment and sordid crimes against the denizens of Gotham in stories from BATMAN #1, 66, 73, 110, 321, and 613, DETECTIVE COMICS #332, 475, 613, BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE VOL. 2, BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN #4 and BATMAN ADVENTURES ANNUAL #1!

DC Universe | 192pg. | Color | Softcover | $19.99 US

On Sale June 11, 2008

Great cover, Ross' Joker reminds me of Jack Nicholson.

 

[The Joker]

Yeah, it definitely doesn't deserve to be called his greatest stories ever told, as neither of them contain his greatest acts of evil, like crippling Barbara, killing Jason Todd, and shooting Jim Gordon's wife during No Man's Land!

 

[The Guard]

I have the original. It's fantastic. Contains stories from BATMAN #1, the Origin of The Red Hood, THE JOKER'S FIVE WAY REVENGE, THE LAUGHING FISH, DREADFUL BIRTHDAY DEAR JOKER and a number of other fantastic Batman/Joker's stories.

 

[Nepenthes]

fantastic in a 1950's funnybook kind of way. they're a novelty more than anything else

 

[The Guard]

They are stories that present the absolute core of the characters. I suppose if you insist on hating everything that came before 1986 you might not like them.

 

[Armored Avenger]

I like the Bolland cover for the first Greatest Joker stories better than the new Ross cover.

 

[mongoose-mania]

I haven't heard about this one yet... I have the first one with Bolland's cover art and those stories, well... yeah....

 

[Joker]

I'm probably gonna pick it up when I get some cash, just for the new cover...I already have the original.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

I like the Bolland cover for the first Greatest Joker stories better than the new Ross cover.

http://brianbollandgallery.com/art/the_greatest_joker_stories_ever_told__1988____tpb.jpg
That one's just phenomenal right?

 

[Nepenthes]

They are stories that present the absolute core of the characters. I suppose if you insist on hating everything that came before 1986 you might not like them.

bwah ha ha

 

[deathfromabove]

They are stories that present the absolute core of the characters. I suppose if you insist on hating everything that came before 1986 you might not like them.

i agree. golden age is great as is the best from the silver age, the eighties , the nineties, the toons, the films... its shocks me how hesitant some are to embrace the characters entire 68 year history.

the joker is an icon for a reason.

 

[Joker]

I agree, actually. The golden age stuff is actually some of my favorite Joker stories. Especially his first appearance. And yeah, with the advent of the comics code, he became more of a harmless trickster in his limited appearances, but they were still fine stories for the time. And the reason that this doesn't have Death in the Family, Killing Joke, etc. should be obvious from a buisness stand point. They can charge $20 for any of those stories ALONE, so why would they waste that by putting them into a $25 trade with a ton of other stories?

 

[Nepenthes]

Embrace the old books, what the hell does that mean? I'm not disowning the old stories at all. The ideas in them are fantastic and of course they bought us to where we are today. I'm just pointing out the obvious in that the modern craft, complexity, weight of meaning and story in comics today is not even CLOSE to to the general standard of the 50's or even 70's. Why is that somehow forsaking the old books? One has to be careful about glorifying some mythical past here. One thing I think is the height of pretentious and shallow thinking (and I'm not directly accusing anyone here) is when people rail against the cynical or mature realism that ruined the simple fun of comics blah blah blah, as if they'd STILL be reading the old funny books if DKR and it's ilk never happened. Yeah, right. (with DKR being the common the fall guy for this movement, as if it wasn't already underway). Without that inevitable upping of the standard none of us would be here, a miserable percentage of us would be comic fans at all let alone bat-fans and the industry would have stopped existing as soon as the last of the children of the 70's grew up. So when the Guard says the old books present "the absolute core" of the characters and that I must hate everything before '86 I just have to laugh. I'd use the word template instead of core. It's not hard to throw up an archetype and trust that kids will feel it's power, that's the inherent value of an archetype, it's the very definition, something simple yet universal and strong. And that's essentially all the funny book characters are, archetypes with flimsily sketched out 'characters' that are in reality just simplistic origins, gimmicks, one-liners and stock personalities. Yes that's right, stock personalties. They're written for children as disposable entertainment. Is the best of the 50's really just as great as the best of the 80's? It's just a bit rich to imply that because I claim the old books are a novelty that I'm incapable of appreciating a cultural past.

.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

At 192 pages it seems rather flimsy compared to the original which was close to 300 pages for under $20.00.

 

[Evil Twin]

I agree, actually. The golden age stuff is actually some of my favorite Joker stories. Especially his first appearance. And yeah, with the advent of the comics code, he became more of a harmless trickster in his limited appearances, but they were still fine stories for the time. And the reason that this doesn't have Death in the Family, Killing Joke, etc. should be obvious from a buisness stand point. They can charge $20 for any of those stories ALONE, so why would they waste that by putting them into a $25 trade with a ton of other stories?

Heck, Death in the Family isn't actually "good". Significant, yes, but Jim Aparo saves that whole mess of a story.

Batman's whole history isn't defined by darkness and edginess. Why shouldn't good, representative elements of the lighter years be included? Heck, Dick Sprang was a terrific artist. There are many days where I'll take a clever prankster Joker story over "I've got to stop the Joker before he kills even more people! Again!" The Joker has arguably become less imaginative over time.