"A celebration of last laughs and deadly crimes as written and drawn by many of the greatest writers and artists ever to grace the comic art medium! The companion volume to The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told!"--Cover, page 4.

"A fiftieth anniversary celebration of The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, as written and drawn by many of the greatest writers and artists ever to grace the comic art medium!"--Page 4 of cover.

Explores the character of the Joker and his significance as the quintessential villain.

A graphic novel which offers a collection of fantasy fiction from the 1950s, featuring various superheroes.

The first comic dedicated exclusively to The Dark Knight! This 1940 issue pitted the Dynamic Duo against classic menaces including Professor Hugo Strange. Plus, the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman (referred to as "the Cat")! Also includes a 2-page retelling of Batman's origin.

One bad day. Freed once again from the confines of Arkham Asylum, The Joker is out to prove a deranged point. And he's going to use Gotham City's top cop, commissioner Jim Gordon, and his brilliant daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl) to do it. Now Batman must race to stop his archnemesis before his reign of terror claims two of the Dark Knight's closest friends. Critically acclaimed author Alan Moore redefined graphic novel story-telling with Watchmen and V for Vendetta. In Batman: The Killing Joke, he takes on the origin of comics' greatest super-villain, The Joker, and changes Batman's world forever. Absolute Batman: The Killing Joke (30th Anniversary Edition) includes both the recolored art by artist Brian Bolland and the original colors by John Higgins, along with the never-before-published scripts, and numerous Batman and Joker sketches and stories by Bolland. Collects Batman: Black and White #4; Batman: The Killing Joke; Countdown #31; Cover Story: The DC Comics Art of Brian Bolland; Joker: Last Laugh #1, #6; Joker's Greatest Stories Ever Told; Who's Who in the DC Universe #13 and Wonder Woman #96.

DC celebrates the 80-year history of Batman's greatest foe, The Joker! This new hardcover includes The Joker's most memorable appearances, from his 1940 debut in the pages of Batman #1 (1940) to recent classics from top creators including Scott Snyder, Tony S. Daniel, Paul Dini, and more! Discover the stories that shaped the villain into one of pop culture's most indelible, twisted icons. Collects stories from Batman #1, #159, #251, #321, #429, #614, Detective Comics #168, #475, #476, #826, Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman Adventures: Mad Love, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50, Gotham Central #15, Detective Comics #1 (2011) and Batman #17 (2013).

Along with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman, the Joker stands out as one of the most recognizable comics characters in popular culture. While there has been a great deal of scholarly attention on superheroes, very little has been done to understand supervillains. This is the first academic work to provide a comprehensive study of this villain, illustrating why the Joker appears so relevant to audiences today. Batman's foe has cropped up in thousands of comics, numerous animated series, and three major blockbuster feature films since 1966. Actually, the Joker debuted in DC comics Batman 1 (1940) as the typical gangster, but the character evolved steadily into one of the most ominous in the history of sequential art. Batman and the Joker almost seemed to define each other as opposites, hero and nemesis, in a kind of psychological duality. Scholars from a wide array of disciplines look at the Joker through the lens of feature films, video games, comics, politics, magic and mysticism, psychology, animation, television, performance studies, and philosophy. As the first volume that examines the Joker as complex cultural and cross-media phenomenon, this collection adds to our understanding of the role comic book and cinematic villains play in the world and the ways various media affect their interpretation. Connecting the Clown Prince of Crime to bodies of thought as divergent as Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche, contributors demonstrate the frightening ways in which we get the monsters we need.

Crime does pay. At least for a while. You’ll see that quickly in these nine compelling and true stories of brilliant plans and guile. The thieves awaiting you seem to have it all. They are clever, cool, and determined with icy resolve. It took a lot of guts and nerves of steel to do what they did and not fold under the pressure. After all, if those hard-wrought plans had failed, they would have had plenty of time to think about what went wrong in prison. Hijack an airplane, demand a ransom and two parachutes, then disappear? Invent a device that allows you to record the combination of any bank vault, then break into bank vaults twice? Steal from a secret mob depository run by a boss known for his brutality? Rob a small-town bank in midday and ride off without a second thought? Piece of cake. The Greatest Heists Stories Ever Told will allow readers to appreciate the efforts that go into a truly magnificent heist. It is a celebration of stunning, well-planned and audacious capers that left police and armies of investigators looking for answers and scratching their heads. Among the stories included are: The Lufthansa Heist The Northfield Bank Robbery The Last Good Heist Hijack! DB Cooper’s Great Escape and many others