Did the Joker Ever Escape Arkham Asylum?

Oh, absolutely — the Joker has escaped Arkham Asylum more times than Batman can count. In fact, his escapes are practically a running joke (pun intended) in DC lore. Some of the most notable breakouts are depicted in stories like 'Batman: The Killing Joke' (1988), where the Joker escapes to set his horrifying plan against Barbara Gordon and Commissioner Gordon in motion, and 'Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth' (1989), which digs deep into the asylum's twisted history and the Joker's grip on the place. In mainstream continuity across the Batman ongoing series, Joker routinely walks out — or blasts out — of Arkham, often with the implication that the asylum can barely hold him at all. Writers have used these escapes to underscore the central tragedy of Batman's war on crime: no matter how many times he locks the Clown Prince of Crime away, it never sticks.