"Even at the very beginning of his crime-fighting career, the Batman has already seen plenty of humaninty's dark side-- but it's nothing compared to what is about to emerge, giggling, from the shadows: a grinning, chalk-faced figure whose madness threatens to overwhelm everything that stands in its way. For Gotham City's new defender, this first encounter with the creature called the Joker will be the ultimate trial by fire-- a battle that will define...