Joker-Legends of the Dark Knight No.50

This is the first page of the first script I ever illustrated for DC--Legends of the Dark Knight #50, a retelling of Batman's first meeting with the Joker. I ended a decade as an exclusive Marvel contract artist to work at DC with my friend Archie Goodwin, mainly because the post-Image quality of most Marvel stories/plots had become so weak. Endless violence and mindless action in place of character interaction and situation-driven storytelling opportunities--at that time DC began each comic book with full scripts, a format that in itself almost forced more narrative content. Being able to compose the art for caption and balloon placement was a pleasant novelty, too.
Archie let me tackle Denny O'Neil's script anyway I chose, so I went back to the original Joker as he appeared in the 1940's. I never liked Neal Adams restatement from the early 70's, as a spindly, fey, foppish lunatic. (I read somewhere that he based his take on Joel Grey in his role in Cabaret.) Though that was DC's official version at the time, Archie approved of taking him back to his roots. In his early original appearances, the Joker was a brawny savage sociopath, who seemed to be using his theatrical garb as a device to add a sick twist to his brutal cruelty, but he was not a prancing homicidal mental patient--he knew exactly what he was doing. He also nearly beat Batman to death and hurled him from a speeding car--he was no 90 pound weakling. Denny's script didn't portray him with much physicality, but I wanted to draw him that way, so in this splash I've given him burly shoulders and a small head, with those deep grey bags under his eyes, as if he never slept--and somehow doesn't need to. His body language is menacing without being blatant--I like subtlety.
This entire 48 page story was a joy to work on--I was inspired by the change, to be working with Batman, and had just moved back out to the mountains of the west with our two year old son. I have very fond memories of this project and I loved working with Archie again. I own every page of this story and will post more soon!