<P> Years after the end of the 1966 television series, sales of Batman continued to fall and the title was nearly canceled . Although the 1970s restored the Joker as an insane, lethal foe of Batman, it was during the 1980s that the Batman series started to turn around and the Joker came into his own as part of the "dark age" of comics: mature tales of death and destruction . The shift was derided for moving away from tamer superheroes (and villains), but comic audiences were no longer primarily children . Several months after Crisis on Infinite Earths launched the era by killing off Silver - Age icons such as the Flash and Supergirl and undoing decades of continuity, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986) re-imagined Batman as an older, retired hero and the Joker as a lipstick - wearing celebrity who cannot function without his foe . The late 1980s saw the Joker exert a significant impact on Batman and his supporting cast . In the 1988--89 story arc "A Death in the Family", the Joker murders Batman's sidekick (the second Robin, Jason Todd). Todd was unpopular with fans; rather than modify his character, DC opted to let them vote for his fate and a 72 - vote plurality had the Joker beat Todd to death with a crowbar . This story altered the Batman universe: instead of killing anonymous bystanders, the Joker murdered a core character in the Batman fiction; this had a lasting effect on future stories . Written at the height of tensions between the United States and Iran, the story's conclusion had Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini appoint the Joker his country's ambassador to the United Nations (allowing him to temporarily escape justice). </P> <P> Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke expands on the Joker's origins, describing the character as a failed comedian who adopts the identity of Red Hood to support his pregnant wife . Unlike The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke takes place in mainstream continuity . The novel is described by critics as one of the greatest Joker stories ever written, influencing later comic stories (including the forced retirement of then - Batgirl Barbara Gordon after she is paralyzed by the Joker) and films such as 1989's Batman and 2008's The Dark Knight . Grant Morrison's 1989 Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth explores the psychoses of Batman, the Joker and other rogues in the eponymous facility . </P> <P> The 1992 animated series introduced the Joker's female sidekick: Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who falls for--and ends up in an abusive relationship with--the Joker, becoming his supervillain accomplice . The character was popular, and was adapted into the comics as the Joker's romantic interest in 1999 . In the same year, Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's comic book Anarky concluded with the revelation that the titular character was the Joker's son . Breyfogle conceived the idea as a means to expand on Anarky's characterization, but O'Neil (by then the editor for the Batman series of books) was opposed to it, and only allowed it to be written under protest, and with a promise that the revelation would eventually be revealed incorrect . However, the Anarky series was cancelled before the rebuttal could be published . The Joker's first major storyline in The New 52, DC Comics' 2011 reboot of story continuity, was 2012's "Death of the Family" by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo . The story arc explores the symbiotic relationship between Joker and Batman, and sees the villain shatter the trust between Batman and his adopted family . Capullo's Joker design replaced his traditional outfit with a utilitarian, messy, and disheveled appearance to convey that the character was on a mission; his face (surgically removed in 2011's Detective Comics #1) was reattached with belts, wires, and hooks, and he was outfitted with mechanics overalls . The Joker's face was restored in Snyder's and Capullo's "Endgame" (2014), the concluding chapter to "Death of the Family". </P> <P> The Joker has undergone many revisions since his 1940 debut . The most common interpretation of the character is that he is disguised as the criminal Red Hood, and pursued by Batman . The Joker falls into a vat of chemicals which bleaches his skin, colors his hair green and his lips red, and drives him insane . The reasons why the Joker was disguised as the Red Hood, and his identity before his transformation have changed over time . </P>

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