"The Joker's Millions" is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

storyline featuring the character Joker, published in ''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is best known for introducing the superhero Batman i ...

'' #180 (February 1952). In the story, the Joker decides to retire from crime after inheriting a massive fortune, only to find out too late that he has fallen victim to an elaborate scheme to humiliate him.

Publication history

"The Joker's Millions" was published in ''

'' #180 (Feb. 1952). As with all early

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

comics at the time,

Bob Kane Robert Kane (born Robert Kahn ; October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book writer, animator and artist who co-created Batman (with Bill Finger) and most early related characters for DC comics. He was inducted into the comi ...

is the only person credited for the comic, but the story itself was written by "David Vern" (a.k.a. David V. Reed).

Plot

At the funeral of "King" Barlowe, a criminal racketeer and a major rival of the Joker, the Joker is surprised to learn that he has inherited Barlowe's vast fortune. With his newfound fortune, the Joker builds himself a life of luxury and retires from crime. The Joker spends his money freely, thinking that he still has plenty of it left, only to discover that Barlowe has had the last laugh after all from beyond the grave - the money is all counterfeit. He then receives a visit from the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

, which has assessed an

inheritance tax An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

based on the total amount of the supposed fortune. The Joker is torn between reporting the inheritance as counterfeit in order to avoid the tax liability (thus becoming a laughing stock in the Gotham City underworld for admitting that Barlowe had tricked him), going to jail for

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

, or returning to crime in order to pay the inheritance tax, rebuild his fortune, and protect his reputation. The Joker chooses the third option, yet he decides to commit normal, "un-Jokerish" crimes as secretly as possible and without his usual calling card flourishes, figuring that no one would ever suspect him of such pedestrian affairs. First he breaks into a bank safe, but "fate's invisible hand plays strange tricks" as the wind blows a movie theater's banner onto the bank that the Joker just robbed, making it look like a Joker crime. After discovering that the Joker's money is counterfeit,

and

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

have to prove that the Joker is actually committing these crimes. When the Joker performs a stick-up at the Gotham Opera House dressed in a trenchcoat and slouch hat, Batman is able to guess that the Joker was behind it and burns the theater's tickets to ''

I Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

'' to make it, too, look like a Joker crime. A similar deduction occurs after the Joker tries robbing the Gotham Zoo. Batman locks himself in the zoo's bat cage to make it look like a joke that was performed on him by the Joker. The Joker, jumping at the chance to satisfy his massive ego, claims to an underworld friend that he had robbed the zoo for the sole purpose of humiliating Batman. However, the underworld friend was actually Batman in disguise, and with a recording of the Joker's confession that Batman made, the Joker is promptly arrested.

Collected editions

As well as appearing in ''Detective Comics'' #180, the story has been reprinted in a trade paperback: *''Batman: The Complete History'' (paperback, 1999, Chronicle Books )

In other media

"The Joker's Millions" was adapted for an episode of ''

The New Batman Adventures ''The New Batman Adventures'' (often shortened as ''TNBA'') is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, which aired on Kids' WB from September 13, 1997 to January 16, 1999. Produced by Warner Bro ...

'' animated television series, which aired on February 21, 1998. The episode remains mostly faithful to the original story while updating or changing certain aspects, such as the use of series original character

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is a character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker (character), Joker in ''Batman: The An ...

and

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

taking

's place in the story as he had become Nightwing at that point in the series. Additionally, the Joker learns of Edward "King" Barlowe's deception via a video tape and attempts to have one of his men impersonate him to distract Batman from what happened. However, Batman exposes the imposter and the Joker is eventually captured and sent to Arkham Asylum, where Harley takes revenge on him for replacing her.

References

External links

* {{Batman publications, Joker's Millions Joker (character) titles