dvd-4-life

I put a google search on this and couldn't find anything. When did it start and when did it finish? What was the reasoning behind a villian having his own comicbook? Did any other villians have there own comicbook? I would like to see The Joker -the animated series but it would never happen.

Navinabob

That's because of the "comic book code" that all the major publishers followed expressly didn't allow villains to have any ongoing series. The thinking was it would inspire children to commits evil acts like try and build giant death-ray guns or dip themselves in radioactive pudding in order to gain the super strength needed to rob banks.

Since publishers relaxed using the "code" about 10 to 15 years ago they have published titles like Deadpool, Venom and Deathstroke: The Terminator but often they tried to bend them into an anti-hero mold. I'd say Punisher is the best example of a near complete turnaround of a character from villain to hero.

As for strait back-guy stays bad-guy books I can't really think of anything ongoing. If you are talking one-shots or limited series virtually every major bad-guy you can name has had them. Joker, Bullseye, Black Adam and Sabertooth are perfect examples of this. I suggest using wikipedia to locate the major books (usually cited at the bottom) of the villain you are looking for.

RKillgore

It was on sale from Feb 1975 to June 1976, running for nine bi-monthly issues. The Joker was a very popular character for appearances in other comics, so maybe they figured just to give it a shot. The stipulation was that Joker was to be defeated by the end of every issue. I think there may have been an issue where he returns to his Arkham cell voluntarily, since "there's no place like home". Obviously, it didn't work well, since it was canceled after nine issues. I remember the announcement for issue #10 that the Joker was going to take on the Justice League, but I don't know if that was actually planned or if that was one last joke.

I don't think there were any other villain titled series until Catwoman (first mini-series: December '88, continuing series: July '93), but she was more of a gray-area character rather than being strictly villainous.

http://www.dcindexes.com/gallery/bro...lect=!dc/joker

Cathepsin

Spoilers for one issue of a 10-year-old comic below:

Marvel's Thunderbolts series of the late 90's featured a group of supervillains posing as heroes. Marvel's current Dark Avengers series has the same conceit.

movieguru

There was a title called "Super-villian Team-up" from Marvel in the late 70's.

jk4w

It would be great if DC would reprint these books in a nice trade or HC.
I remember tracking down my full run was quite difficult & costly.

dx23

Speaking of the Joker, there was a great story released today in The Brave and The Bold #31 that has The Atom and The Joker "teaming-up". The story gives more information about the Joker's origin and it even includes the famous Joker/ Batman riding the motorcycle scene from The Dark Knight as part of the backstory.

will travel

Also in the 70's DC publish a "Secret Society of Super Villians" comic.
I believe it lasted about 16 issues.

zombeaner

I had the first couple of issues of the Joker book, I sold them on eBay a few months back.

JasonF

DC had a book called Kobra around 1976-77. It was about an evil cult leader and his attempts to conquer the world.

jk4w

Marvel Super-villain Teamup has been released in Essential format.
That an cheap and easy way to read those stories .