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====1980's====
====1980's====
In the 1980's Frank Miller was an artist/writer for Marvel Comics; he had revamped the character of Wolverine and placed a ''film noir'' look in Daredevil - creating a love interest with Electra along the way - to critical acclaim. When he moved to DC he had the beginnings of a story that would set the comics industry on fire, and the Joker was part of it. In ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' the Joker had spent ten years of a dystopian future locked away a Arkham as a mere dormant shell of a man, while the Batman had made a similar disappearence. The news of Batman's return to fight crime once more has the Joker convincing his doctors that he has been rehabilitated; his release into the public allows him a killing spree like Gotham had never seen before.
In the 1980's Frank Miller was an artist/writer for Marvel Comics; he had revamped the character of Wolverine and placed a ''film noir'' look in Daredevil - creating a love interest with Electra along the way - to critical acclaim. When he moved to DC he had the beginnings of a story that would set the comics industry on fire, and the Joker was part of it. In ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' the Joker had spent ten years of a dystopian future locked away a Arkham as a mere dormant shell of a man, while the Batman had made a similar disappearence. The news of Batman's return to fight crime once more has the Joker convincing his doctors that he has been rehabilitated; his release into the public allows him a killing spree like Gotham had never seen before.
At the same time as ''The Dark Knight Returns'', another influential tale hit the stands: ''Batman: The Killing Joke'' (1986). Essentially a graphic novel, writer Alan Moore elaborated on the Joker's origin from the earlier "Red Hood" story, and changed him to a stand-up comedian who turns to crime after he fails on the stage, becoming a victim of a chemical bath when a factory break-in goes wrong. The central point of ''The Killing Joke'' was the Joker's attempt to prove to Batman that given the right conditions anyone can go insane, and he nearly proves it by the kidnapping and paralyzing of Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara.
As ''The Killing Joke'' was gaining critical reviews, ''A Death in the Family'' was released as a normal four-part comic. According to the story, Jason Todd - Robin - had embarked on a search for his mother, an aid worker in Ethiopia then being embezzeled by the Joker, who holds both hostage, beating Robin nearly to death while taunting Batman, before killing him off with a bomb explosion. This story had the added twist of fan participation to determine if Robin lived or died, via a pair of toll-free numbers to D.C.