With Joker: Folie à Deux rolling into theaters next, the time seems right to dive into Batman's most famous nemesis, the Joker, with a trio of stories highlighting different, pre-Dark Knight Returns iterations of the Clown Prince of Crime!

First up is "The Man Who Wrote the Joker's Jokes" from 1951's Batman #67, in which everyone's favorite mass murderer seeks a gag writer!

Then, in 1976's The Joker #7, a scientific accident gifts the Joker with Lex Luthor's intellect, and Luthor with the Joker's madness!

Last but not least, we switch gears with 1978's "The Laughing Fish" and "Sign of the Joker," from Detective Comics #475-476, featuring one of the Ace of Knaves' most bizarre schemes yet!

Can the Grand Mogul of Mountebanks win the day against Batman, Lex Luthor, and the Gotham City Copyright Commission? And do these stories have what it takes to win over the crowd at that Ha-Hacienda known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· "With no legs, the frog becomes deaf!"

· The Origin of The Comics Canon!

· Bruce Willis goofs on Curt

· Detective Comics #473: The Malay Penguin

· Rebel Ridge

· Batman and Bill

· The Immortal Hulk Vol. 1: All Weather Turns to Storm

· Please consider making a donation to The Hero Initiative

Join us in two weeks as we get ready for spooky season with a look at Tatsuki Fujimoto's popular manga Chainsaw Man!

Until then:Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! Send us an email! Hit us up on Facebook, Bluesky or The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter!

And as always, thanks for listening!