The Joker is back and he's found new ways to terrorize the Batman family. He's kidnapped Alfred the butler and Batman is trying to figure out where the Joker is keeping Alfred to save him. The Joker appears to have a flesh, death mask attached over his face, making this latest appearance of The Joker the most gruesome of them all.
Batman learns that the Joker has taken over Arkham Asylum in issue 15. Batman goes to Arkham in issue 16 and The Joker forces Batman to sit in an electric chair. The Joker shows Batman the Batman family being tortured and is forced into the chair "or else". Batman is supposedly executed in the electric chair...
I've included the back cover of #17 as well... anyway, Batman survives the electric chair and frees himself after Joker tries to kill off the entire family in the depths of Arkham. Batman rescues Alfred and Joker is seen falling into a deep cave at the end of the issue...
Here's the splash page of issue 17, you can clearly see the death mask Joker is wearing over his face...
Clayface returns in issue 19...
Zero Year traces back to Batman's origins.
