By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

The Joker on Christmas. Somehow, words like “Grinch” and “Scrooge” don’t quite cover it, do they?

As the holidays are about good will toward men, the sinister seem to become even more nasty and vile as they tarnish the warmth of the holidays with evil. And no one in pop culture is more sinister, nasty, vile or evil than The Joker. His Christmas hijinks have ranged from zany and outrageous to cruel and tragic. Leave it to the Harlequin of Hate to take all the joy out of Christmas…

With that in mind, we take a look back at some of The Joker’s best/worst holiday moments.

1. “Christmas With The Joker” (Batman: The Animated Series, November 13, 1992)

After Robin (Dick Grayson) convinces Batman to pack it in on Christmas Eve and watch It’s A Wonderful Life, our heroes are shocked to see that The Joker is airing a Christmas special of his own. The Clown Prince of Crime has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock, and Summer Gleeson, and challenges Batman to save them. Along the way, the Dynamic Duo has to save an out-of-control train and stop a cannon from leveling the city, before finally breaking into Joker’s hideout at an abandoned toy factory.

While this was the 38th episode of Batman: The Animated Series to hit the airwaves, it was actually the second episode the creators produced. Thus, this episode shows a time when the show was still trying to find it’s identity, and that’s very evident as you’re watching. It actually comes off like an episode of the old Adam West TV show, especially when you listen to the dialogue between Batman and Robin. At one point, Batman has to destroy a bunch of remote control planes using a baseball bat, and Robin delivers perhaps the worst line in the show’s history: “They don’t call you Batman for nothing!” A lot of the animation is overdramatic, and Mark Hamill doesn’t quite have his Joker laugh down yet. But there are a few omens of the excellence that the show would later deliver. Kevin Conroy is as awesome as ever playing Batman, though his lines sometimes leave something to be desired. Perhaps the best moment in the episode comes with The Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum on a rocket-powered Christmas tree while singing “Jingle Bells, Batman smells. “All in all, not The Joker’s greatest Christmas outing, but it has a few bright moments.

2. “Chapter 3: Christmas” (Batman: The Long Halloween #3, February 1997)

As the “Holiday” killer continues to assassinate members of Carmine “The Roman” Falcone’s crime family, The Joker sticks his nose into things, looking to discover Holiday’s identity on his own. He accuses Falcone’s rival, Salvadore “The Boss” Maroni, of being Holiday. When Maroni points his finger at District Attorney Harvey Dent, Joker pays he and his wife a visit on Christmas at their brand new home. He beats Harvey up in front of his wife, whom he’s just brought home from the hospital, and tells him he wants to be the only homicidal maniac in Gotham. A short time later, he tells Falcone that the mob must kill Holiday, and threatens to kill all of Gotham if they don’t.

Getting your butt kicked on Christmas is bad enough, but getting your butt kicked in your new home in front of your wife is on a whole different level. It’s emasculating, it’s humiliating, and it’s a great bad guy moment for The Joker. No one dies, but no one needs to. He’s made his point at Harvey Dent’s expense.

3. “Endgame, Part 3: Sleep in Heavenly Peace” (Detective Comics #741, December 1999)

Everybody remembers The Joker murdering Robin (Jason Todd) in the famous A Death in the Family story. But for my money, this story has always blown the death of Jason Todd out of the water in terms of unadulturated evil.

At the finale of Batman: No Man’s Land, a story which saw Gotham closed off from the rest of the world after a massive Earthquake, The Joker kidnaps all of the babies left in the city and threatens to kill them. It’s his attempt at destroying hope in the city. During his kidnapping spree, he and his gang confront Huntress, who is protecting a church. After forcing a crazed cop to kill several of his partners, who are conveniently dressed as members of Joker’s gang, the Harlequin of Hate shoots Huntress several times, nearly killing her. Huntress is able to hold on until Batman and Nightwing rush to her rescue.

Later, as Batman and his comrades frantically search the city for Joker’s hideout, Commissioner Gordon’s wife Sarah, a cop herself, locates him in police headquarters. Joker drops one of the babies, and Sarah drops down to catch it. The Joker proceeds to shoot the now defenseless cop in the head, killing her instantly and leaving the babies laying in a pool of her blood. Somehow, Joker doesn’t find his actions funny anymore, and turns himself in.

I showed this story to my girlfriend awhile back, and it made her cry. That’s how much of a heartbreaker it is. It’s a great character moment for The Joker, as he once again attempts to trump sanity and hope with terror and chaos. Ultimately, he fails. Even a grief-stricken Jim Gordon refuses to budge from his moral code as a cop and kill the man who just murdered his wife. He opts to kneecap him instead. This moment brought No Man’s Land to a close with a strong message about perseverance and humanity’s will to survive, and made The Joker that much more twisted and terrifying.

4. “Slay Ride” (Detective Comics #826, December 2006)

A road trip with The Joker. Now THAT’s a story.

This Paul Dini/Don Kramer story quickly became a fan favorite, and it’s easy to see why. It sees The Joker kidnap Robin (Tim Drake) in a car, and run down as many innocents as he can while the Boy Wonder watches. We also see him attempt to order fast food, of all things, before Robin manages to get the upper hand and save himself.

This is a great story for a lot of reasons. Firstly, it plays up on the Jason Todd element, i.e. the fact that The Joker has killed Robin before, and is now in a position to do it again. Secondly, the premise is so simple. It’s our hero and our villain in a car. There isn’t even a big elaborate set up to it. Dini wastes no time getting to the good stuff. Third, it’s filled with classic Joker character moments. Whether he’s shooting the manager at a fast food restaurant because he can’t understand Joker’s order, or arguing with Robin over a Marx Bros. quote, it mixes the funny with the frightening, which has always been one of The Joker’s greatest qualities as a villain. 

5. Batman: Noel (November 2011)

Another home invasion on Christmas. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a new holiday tradition…

Released just last month, Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Noel  graphic novel presents the classic A Christmas Carol with a Batman universe twist. The Bob Cratchit character is a poor man who’s taken up working for The Joker in order to provide for his son. When he botches a job, The Joker comes after him looking for revenge. He breaks into Bob’s home, and proceeds to threaten him in front of his son before…well, go buy the book.

Noel isn’t really a Joker story per se, but he obviously plays an integral role in things. As I mentioned in my review of this book, Noel is a masterfully crafted story with amazing art, and fans of Bermejo’s work on the Joker graphic novel certainly won’t want to miss this one.

Front page image and image 4 from comicbookreflections.wordpress.com. Image 1 from furnettidcomics.com. Image 2 from thebatmanuniverse.com. Image 2 from jacksonbrooks.wordpress.com. Image 3 from toplessrobot.com. Image 5 from jokeruniverse.com.