DAREDEVIL #42 (July 1968)
“Nobody Laughs at the Jester!”
Writer, editor: Stan Lee
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Dan Adkins
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Colourist: not known

It’s been a while since Daredevil introduced a new villain with a proper concept and some real fanfare, but the Jester certainly gets that treatment. He’s not just on the cover and in the title of the story. He gets the whole opening scene to establish his schtick. Then, after a brief check in with Matt and co (who are mourning the “death” of Mike Murdock last issue), we’re back to the Jester so that he can tell us again how great he is, and explain his back story. Of the first ten pages of issue #42, seven are pure Jester. Today he may be a D-lister, but in his debut he’s a major new villain.

The Jester is a man in a jester costume who robs a bank vault with sleep pellets and some gimmicked toys. Then he makes his getaway by flagging down a passing car, which he steals by knocking out the driver with a yo-yo. But as the Jester drives home, he wishes had had an audience to applaud him. It’s the one thing he regrets about turning to crime.

Even so, the Jester is delighted with his achievements. “With my superb skills, my titanic talents, I’ll reach the most dizzying heights of all! Never has a dedicated arch-criminal been endowed with the background, the training, the natural genius that I myself possess! Here, among my innocent-looking, specially-modified toys, I am ready to launch a crime campaign the like of which the world has never known!”

The Jester is Jonathan Powers, a failed actor who was booed off stage in his first night starring in Cyrano de Bergerac. It’s never entirely clear how he got hired for the role in the first place, or how he avoided getting fired before the opening night, given how appalling he apparently was. Naturally, Powers is convinced that he is a brilliant actor, cruelly denied the applause he deserves by a public envious of his genius. He reacts to his setback by dedicating his life to study – but not the study of acting, where he is, after all, already a genius. Instead, he studies gymnastics, sword fighting and so forth, in the hope that it’ll get him work in action movies.

It doesn’t. Instead, he winds up as a comedy stooge getting pied in the face every night until he finally snaps and decks the comedian. If the public want to laugh at him, he says, he’ll give them what he wants, and make himself the biggest star ever. Hence, the Jester. Well, kind of. The slapstick comedy part of his back story gets sidelined very quickly. But the desire for recognition and acclaim is indeed central to the character.

Halfway through the issue, we finally get to the plot, as corrupt politician Richard Raleigh hires the Jester to stop Foggy Nelson’s campaign for DA. So the Jester takes Matt hostage and demands that Foggy quit the race. Fortunately, Matt carries a spare costume “in my inner coat pocket”. Hold on, I hear you say. What about his street clothes? Won’t the Jester find those? Why no, because Matt also carries a “small vial of vaporous acid” which can destroy his clothes entirely without leaving any telltale marks. Remarkable stuff.

When Daredevil finally gets around to fighting him, the Jester turns out to be an unexpected challenge. He’s presented as a genuine match for Daredevil, capable of beating hero fair and square in a straight fight. It’s kind of a shame that fell by the wayside, because it does give him the credibility he needs to get away with his gimmick. Eventually Daredevil lets him escape and tails him back to Raleigh’s office in the hope of uncovering the real villain. Unfortunately, it turns out that Raleigh has died in Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 while this story was taking place, for reasons completely unrelated to the plot. And so the Jester just escapes, promising to return. It’s an underpowered ending to say the least, but a perfectly solid introduction to the character.

As promised, the Jester does indeed return. Issue #43 is a random fight against guest star Captain America, but with issues #44-46 we’re right back to the Jester. Once again, he gets a lengthy intro to show off his toy gimmick, and stress that he doesn’t care about the things he’s stealing – “all that truly matters is the excitement of the game, the thrill of the chase!” To protect his own secret identity, he fakes the death of Jonathan Powers and frames Daredevil for the murder. Then, as the Jester, he sets out to catch the “rogue” hero. Eventually, Daredevil poses as the Jester in order to draw out the real villain, which leads to a televised fight where Daredevil unmasks Jester as Jonathan Powers.

We’ll see him again a few times, but the Jester never quite becomes a regular. Which is a shame, because his first two stories are surprisingly strong. Obviously, the elephant in the room is the Joker. But the two characters have less in common than you might think. They’ve both got a comedian gimmick, and they both enjoy toying with the hero, but that’s kind of it. The Jester isn’t even very committed to the comedian angle. What exactly do gimmicked toys have to do with being a jester, when you stop to think about it?

There are other reasons why the Jester should feel familiar, though. And not just because the “comedy stooge out for revenge on a world that mocked him” angle is Sideshow Bob. The Jester is a reworked Matador. They share the same basic idea of a showman who relishes the idea of amazing the public with his ludicrous themed stunts. It’s just that the toy theming is a lot more flexible than the Matador’s bullfighting gimmick. Aside from that, they’re basically the same character.

Gene Colan clearly loves drawing the Jester. He isn’t great at traditional supervillain costumes, but the Jester’s green and purple jester outfit is glorious theatrical nonsense, and looks surprisingly good in a fight. More to the point, the Jester chews the scenery throughout, in exactly the way his origin story demands he should. He’s having the time of his life. He’s inordinately pleased with himself. When he does show up as Jonathan Powers to fake his own death, he’s completely insufferable.

Maybe the Jester needed an artist like Colan to sell the character, someone who could commit to going way over the top with him. But on the strength of his first few issues, the Jester feels like a great foil for Daredevil and someone who’d have been worth using more often.