The Evolution of the Joker in Who’s Who and Secret Files and Origins, 1986-1997. Art by Marhsall Rogers, Kyle Baker, Kevin Maguire, Brian Bolland, and Jim Aparo w/ Dave Taylor.
What I love about this batch is how each artist brings something entirely different to the Joker, displaying his versatility in great and subtle ways. While Marshall Rogers draws my favorite Joker of the comics, Kyle Baker’s is magnificently unique, Brian Bolland is generally GOD, and Jim Aparo is my favorite Bat-Artist of all time (OF ALL TIME!), my favorite of this group is Kevin Maguire’s. His Joker has been described as “Puckish,” which is a Joker of which I wish we’d see more: where his playful and mischievous appearance belies a heartless, sociopathic mass-murderer. Far as I’m concerned, the Joker is more scary when artists don’t try so hard to make him look scary.
Also, Maguire gave him the Jack Nicholson checkered pants, so extra points there.