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"Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker... !": To celebrate his birthday, the Joker begins rounding up his enemies from all around town and strapping them to his special "Victim-Go-Round" in preparation for his party. He kidnaps Robin (Dick Grayson),

Quote1 Oh yes it is, Sidney -- It's a spear-gun! Quote2
The Joker

Batman #321 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1980.

Synopsis for "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker... !"

To celebrate his birthday, the Joker begins rounding up his enemies from all around town and strapping them to his special "Victim-Go-Round" in preparation for his party. He kidnaps Robin (Dick Grayson), James Gordon, Selina Kyle and Alfred Pennyworth. The Gotham populace are all enticed to the newly built Gotham Colliseum by the promise of free samples from the "Harlequin Baking Company". The Joker immobilizes his audience, and then takes center stage with his goons. Onstage is a gigantic Cake, with the Joker's victims tied to giant explosive candles on top. Batman arrives, and is forced by the Joker to be tied to the biggest candle in exchange for the lives of his friends. Although the Joker plans on killing them all anyway, Batman reveals he had earlier through a simple operation converted the biggest explosive candle into a makeshift rocket. He shoots into the air instead of blowing up, unties himself, and cuts both the fuses and Robin's bonds with batarangs. While Robin fights the goons, Batman chases the Joker onto the docks. The Joker nearly escapes via motorboat, but Batman grabs a loose rope and waterskis behind him until he can climb onto the boat. They battle, and the Joker manages to push Batman out, but fails to notice that the boat is heading straight for a shoal of rocks – which it hits and explodes. On shore, Batman and Jim Gordon wonder if the Joker could've survived, both knowing that as always, he has.

Appearing in "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker... !"

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Notes

Trivia

Joker Speargun 01

"Oh yes it is, Sidney..."

  • This issue is considered notable for its classic "Joker moment" in which the Joker threatens Sidney, one of his henchmen, with a fake gun shooting out a flag reading BANG YOU'RE DEAD!, only to actually shoot Sidney through the neck with the flag once he has already expressed relief at his life being spared.
  • We never discover how old the Joker is, nor do we find out if it really is his birthday!


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

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