Batnostalgia, print edition

Between the critical attention Frank Miller was getting for The Dark Knight Returns and the success of Tim Burton's movie, the publishing world became very Batfriendly in the late eighties/early nineties. One of the results of this was a series of prose anthologies, The Further Adventures of Batman with sequels that had stories focusing on Catwoman and the Penguin (eventually Superman and Wonder Woman got the same treatment). There were some impressive authors in the roster, but the stories ranged from just OK (Isaac Asimov's story appears to be missing part of its denouement and the Lansdale story is a God of the Razor tale which I've never been able to get into. I think it's the shoes; I always end up thinking, "How could he possibly walk in those...?" and then my suspension of disbelief is just gone.) to a few that could have learned a thing or two from fanfic.

However, there was another anthology, The Further Adventures of the Joker, and that subject appears to have really gotten the creative juices flowing. Not every story was a standout, but the duds were rare compared to the ones that succeeded. The anthology included some of the creepiest portrayals of the Joker I've ever seen, and some surprisingly piercing looks at Bats himself. I still enjoy going back to those stories almost twenty years later.

What is it about the Joker?