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Post by dbutler69 on Sept 14, 2016 9:03:23 GMT -5
I thought #1 was the best issue of the series, but I thought #2 was pretty good. This series did have some good humor, anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2016 21:39:47 GMT -5
A Gold Star For The Joker by Elliot S! Maggin, JL Garcia Lopez & Vince Colletta.
As Dinah Lance enters her florist shop a bus stops in front of it. The bus driver buys 11 roses. He says 'These 11 beauties held next to you surely make a lovely dozen'. He then gives them to Dinah & leaves wrecking cars before he leaves the wrecked bus at the bus terminal. He then runs away & removes his disguise to reveal that he is the Joker & he is smitten with Dinah! The Joker then makes phony police dispatches to occupy Green Arrow. He thinks about Dinah 'I realized the only solution would be to marry her...or kill her'. He then kidnaps Dinah.
Green Arrow realizes the police calls were faked & comes upon one of the Joker's victims who has the grin of the laughing death. He then goes to the police station where he hears the Joker is on the Archway Bridge. The Joker is attempting to steal the star off the bridge. GA operates in Star City at this time. Dinah calls Joker crazy. He responds 'Crazy is exactly what I am. My legal residence is a home for the criminally insane'. GA attempts to stop him but Joker escapes.
Star City then replaces the star on the bridge but wait! The Joker has booby trapped this star with his laughing death gas which will kill anyone who drives beneath it. GA arrives to free Dinah & starts fighting with the Joker. At one point Dinah walks across a rope over the bridge to get away & the Joker cuts it! GA pulls off an impossible shot & catches the rope with an arrow & second rope saving Dinah. The Joker says ' That's mad! Insane! Nobody can shoot an arrow into the wind that accurately! It's crazy'. He stumbles & falls off the bridge into the river below.
4/5 |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2016 21:52:10 GMT -5
This is two solid issues in a row!
Elliot S! Maggin who was writing GA at this time really nailed the Joker. I had to include some of the Joker's dialog in my review because I liked it so much. Maggin really had a neat idea with the Joker falling in love with Dinah & the way his twisted mind thinks. It was so well done. And instead of the Joker being captured he used a tradition of the Joker seemingly falling to his death at the end. DC must have liked it too since Maggin also scripted #7-9.
As far as the art...I wish DC had picked a different inker for JL Garcia Lopez pencils. JL Garcia Lopez was/is a dynamic artist but Colletta's inks made his art look "stiff".
And on a personal note I used that line with 11 roses on my wife on our one year anniversary & she loved it! I never told her I swiped that line from a comic book! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 19:12:52 GMT -5
The Joker Goes Wilde by Martin Pasko, Irv Novick & Tex Blaisdell.
The Joker blows up a night watchmen at a warehouse with a whoopee cushion. He steals a box of practical joke novelties. He then sees in the news paper a display of Thaddeus Wilde's art. He then shows up in disguise as Wilde's grandson. But the Royal Flush gang is also going to steal the priceless artwork. The Joker ends up winning against the RFG & gets back into his disguise as Wilde's grandson. He lies to his henchmen & claims he really is Wilde's grandson. He tells them his face was disfigured by his tempermental grandfather.
Then he puts an ad in the paper challenging the RFG to steal the paintings. But the Joker ends up defeating them & capturing them for the police. After the Joker & his henchmen get away but without the artwork the Joker tells them he lied about being Wilde's grandson. Instead the night watchmen at the warehouse was really Wilde's grandson. The Joker killed him to get his diary which was in the novelties box. The diary revealed the location of Wilde's fortune. The last panel shows a police car chasing the Joker.
2/5 |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 19:20:35 GMT -5
After 2 good issues this one slipped a bit in quality. I liked seeing DC try to get around the CCA by having the Joker kill someone violently. They also don't actually show the Joker being captured by the police in the last panel. I also liked the Joker's lie to the henchmen about being Wilde's grandson. The story also mentions Joker's apparent death last issue & the RFG's last fight with the JLA (JLA #43). But I was never a fan of the RFG so that lowered my enjoyment of the story.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 15, 2016 20:19:06 GMT -5
The Joker #5 was the first time I ever saw the Royal Flush Gang. I love them! Their first appearance is one of my favorite early issues of JLA.
I was going to say it's one of my favorite issues of The Joker. But sometimes it seems like EVERY ISSUE is one of my favorite issues.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 20:27:01 GMT -5
The Joker #5 was the first time I ever saw the Royal Flush Gang. I love them! Their first appearance is one of my favorite early issues of JLA. I was going to say it's one of my favorite issues of The Joker. But sometimes it seems like EVERY ISSUE is one of my favorite issues. I don't know why but the RFG never interested me. I thought this issue had some great moments but it was my least favorite issue in this series. My favorites are the issues with Luthor, Sherlock Holmes & the Creeper. |
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Post by foxley on Sept 16, 2016 1:20:58 GMT -5
A Gold Star For The Joker by Elliot S! Maggin, JL Garcia Lopez & Vince Colletta. As Dinah Lance enters her florist shop a bus stops in front of it. The bus driver buys 11 roses. He says 'These 11 beauties held next to you surely make a lovely dozen'. He then gives them to Dinah & leaves wrecking cars before he leaves the wrecked bus at the bus terminal. He then runs away & removes his disguise to reveal that he is the Joker & he is smitten with Dinah! The Joker then makes phony police dispatches to occupy Green Arrow. He thinks about Dinah 'I realized the only solution would be to marry her...or kill her'. He then kidnaps Dinah. Green Arrow realizes the police calls were faked & comes upon one of the Joker's victims who has the grin of the laughing death. He then goes to the police station where he hears the Joker is on the Archway Bridge. The Joker is attempting to steal the star off the bridge. GA operates in Star City at this time. Dinah calls Joker crazy. He responds 'Crazy is exactly what I am. My legal residence is a home for the criminally insane'. GA attempts to stop him but Joker escapes. Star City then replaces the star on the bridge but wait! The Joker has booby trapped this star with his laughing death gas which will kill anyone who drives beneath it. GA arrives to free Dinah & starts fighting with the Joker. At one point Dinah walks across a rope over the bridge to get away & the Joker cuts it! GA pulls off an impossible shot & catches the rope with an arrow & second rope saving Dinah. The Joker says ' That's mad! Insane! Nobody can shoot an arrow into the wind that accurately! It's crazy'. He stumbles & falls off the bridge into the river below. This story would get referenced obliquely in The Brave and the Bold #141. Dinah Lance is saved when from an explosion when the killer knocks her away from a victim who is about to explode. Batman deduces that the killer is someone who is smitten with Dinah which, combined the killer's distinctive laugh, allows him to identify the killer as the Joker. As this is the only story I know of where the Joker was shown to be smitten with Dinah, I figure this has to be the tale it is referencing. |
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 16, 2016 6:31:22 GMT -5
After 2 good issues this one slipped a bit in quality. I liked seeing DC try to get around the CCA by having the Joker kill someone violently. They also don't actually show the Joker being captured by the police in the last panel. I also liked the Joker's lie to the henchmen about being Wilde's grandson. The story also mentions Joker's apparent death last issue & the RFG's last fight with the JLA (JLA #43). But I was never a fan of the RFG so that lowered my enjoyment of the story. I wasn't particularly intersted in the original RFG (the clubs), but liked the second group recruited by Hector Hammond (the spades), who were more fleshed out as characters, I felt. Years later, the two gangs fought in a four part story in JLA Classified, which was a neat twist, I thought. |
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Post by Action Ace on Sept 16, 2016 15:47:10 GMT -5
I love the Royal Flush Gang. My first encounter was the 100 issues ago feature in JLA #143 which gave a brief retelling of issue #43 where the Royal Flash Gang was stopped by...The Joker! More like A Joker...Snapper Carr!  I wonder if that picture got up to the JLA satellite after the events of JLA #77 when Snapper betrayed the team to the Clown Prince of Crime? |
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 16, 2016 20:57:34 GMT -5
I have the digital version of JLA #43! It's HILARIOUS! An awful lot of Silver Age JLA seems like a comic book wasteland to me, but there's a few issues here and there that really click with me. I ordered #60 (Queen Bee! Batgirl!) off eBay and I should be getting it in a few days.
Queen Bee would have made a great guest-villain in THE JOKER!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 22:03:59 GMT -5
Sherlock Stalks The Joker by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick & Tex Blaisdell.
Clive Sigerson is rehearsing a scene for a theater production of Sherlock Holmes. The actor playing Moriarty is actually the Joker in disguise. Clive is hit twice in the head by the Joker before the Joker escapes. The only thing the Joker stole was a portrait of the actress playing Irene Adler. However as Clive's head clears he thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. He goes off to investigate the Joker who he thinks is Moriarty. A stagehand (whose name happens to be Watson is told to follow him & Clive/Holmes agrees.
At the Joker's hideout the Joker confesses he wants to humble the great Sherlock Holmes but he is a fictional character. So the Joker decides to recreate Holmes' cases but this time the villain will win! Clive finds the Joker at a golf course where they tangle but the Joker gets away stealing a flag from the 4th hole (The Sign of the Four). Later at the waterfront Clive/Holmes stops the Joker as he steals part of the boat called The Baskervilles (The Hound of the Baskervilles). Clive/Holmes ends up stopping & capturing the Joker.
5/5. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 22:21:23 GMT -5
I LOVED this issue. I have always been a BIG fan of Sherlock Holmes. I have an nice hardback edition of the Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It contains every Holmes story written by Doyle. Holmes is one of the best fictional characters ever created. When I saw the cover I was wondering how they would pull it off. I thought Denny O'Neil did a great job with having Clive think he was Holmes by a head injury. He also was obviously a fan or did his research to have the Joker pull off recreating his cases. He even captured the "voice" of Holmes well with Clive's dialog.
I also thought Novick did a great job as usual. He captured the way Holmes looked in the movies & TV.
I just thought this was an unique idea that was executed perfectly.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 17, 2016 6:40:07 GMT -5
The Joker #5 was the first time I ever saw the Royal Flush Gang. I love them! Their first appearance is one of my favorite early issues of JLA. I was going to say it's one of my favorite issues of The Joker. But sometimes it seems like EVERY ISSUE is one of my favorite issues. Me too! I always thought the Joker should take over the Royal Flush gang and use it for his henchmen.... it just fits so well! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2016 9:57:40 GMT -5
 Luthor You're Driving Me Sane by Elliot S! Maggin, Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin. In a movie theater a documentary on the Joker & Luthor is shown. Both happen to be in the audience & meet outside. They go to a local burger place for lunch! The police arrive & they both escape. The Joker follows Luthor to his lab where Luthor is working on a way to steal Green Lantern's willpower. However the Joker messes up the procedure & Lex & him swap personalities! Luthor goes on a spree enjoying his madness. The Joker desperately tries to catch Lex to get his madness back! He succeeds but the result knocks them unconscious. A police officer captures both of them & in jail Lex laments the loss of his insanity because he briefly remembers that he had the explanation for the existence of the universe but that idea has faded with his return to sanity. |
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