The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The Joker Stole My Money!

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! One sure way for DC to get my dimes (nickels, quarters, pennies, and even dollars) is to stick The Joker on the cover of  one of their magnificent comic mags. The Clown Prince of Crime and his grinning, green-topped visage is comicbook gold, baby! Here are some of Ol' Groove's fave Joker covers from the Groovy Age (and nope, I ain't gonna run the covers to EVERY ish of the Joker's short-lived mag--gotta have something to rap about later, right?)!

Famous Firsts: "The Joker's Double Jeopardy!" by O'Neil, Novkick, and Giordano

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2015 is here, and here's wishing you and yours the greatest year ever! We're kicking off the new year with a brand-new header, created by John Gandour, designer of The Drawings of Jim Steranko website! Thanks a ka-zillion, John! Far-out, ain't it, Groove-ophiles?

1975 was a pretty big year for first issues. Everything from Justice, Inc. and Beowulf to the Invaders and the All-New, All-Different X-Men came alive in '75! Today we're gonna rap about a Famous First that was a looooooong time in coming--the first issue of  DC's The Joker!

When the Clown Prince of Crime made his debut in the first issue of Batman way back in 1940, everyone knew that he was something special! So special that they "un-killed" him and brought him back asap. Of all the super-villains in comicdom, with the possible exception of Lex Luthor, The Joker is the comicbook villain who has become best known to the world at large. From Cesar Romero's turn on the Batman TV show (which Ol' Groove is digging daily--thanks, Santa!) to Jack Nicholson in the 1989 flick to Mark Hamill's spot-on cartoon characterization to the late Heath Ledger's evil Jerry Lewis in The Dark Knight, everyone knows the Joker. Back in 1975, comics didn't dominate the pop culture as they seem to do now, but there was still a strong interest in Jerry Robinson's villainous brain-child (thanks in no small part to Batman #251's "Joker's Five-Way Revenge"--perhaps the greatest single Joker story ever!)--and so in February, 1975, the Grinning Gangster finally got his own mag by the semi-regular Batman creative team of Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano. Check out..."The Joker's Double Jeopardy!" (Guest-starring my personal fave Bat-villain, Two-Face!)

Cover art by Dick Giordano

The Joker's mag lasted a total of nine issues, with other creators like Elliot S! Maggin, Ernie Chan, and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez adding to the ka-razee mix. So his mag didn't last as long as the lesser-known Marvel super-villain Doctor Doom's Super-Villain Team-Up (which made it's Giant-Size debut a couple months earlier), he's been treated much better by Hollywood. At least that's something, innit?

Sports Sunday: The Justice League and Friends (and Enemies) in "The Great Super-Star Game"

One of the things Ol' Groove loves so much about the Groovy Age of comics is the free-wheeling experimentation. DC was always considered the "safe" or "square" company, but truth to tell, they did quite a bit of experimentation at the House That Superman Built. One of their greatest experimental titles was the not-very-originally titled DC Super-Stars. Each issue would feature a different hero, villain, or theme. Sometimes an issue might be nothing but reprints. Sometimes all-new material. Other times it might be a mix of new and old. You never knew what the folks at DC were gonna toss at us from issue to issue, but we knew it would at least be interesting. One of the wildest issues was DC Super-Stars #10 (September 1976) with its Strange Sports Stories theme (and Ernie Chua--aka Chan--cover). This time, instead of an anthology of sports themed sci fi and fantasy stories, editor Julie Schwartz assigned writer Bob Rozakis and artists Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin (the regular JLA art team) to create a story about a super-All-Star Game. The story is quite whimsical and more than a little silly, but it's more fun than any dozen "mega-events", can you dig it? Like, who wouldn't wanna read about a super-powered baseball game that pit the team of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Kid Flash, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and the (original) Huntress, against the team of Lex Luthor, the Joker, Chronos, Weather Wizard, Dr. Polaris, Matter Master, Felix Faust, Tattooed Man, and Sportsmaster--with Uncle Sam and Amazo as umpires? Just for giggles, I'm tossing in the the play-by-play feature from the letters page. Batter up!