The Penguin Declines The Penguin Declines "The Penguin Declines" is the 73rd episode of "Batman", the conclusion of a three-part story in its second season on ABC. Its original telecast occurred on January 18, 1967 with a rerun June 21, 1967. It guest-starred Cesar Romero as Joker and Burgess Meredith as Penguin. In the previous episode, Batman and Joker's former henchwoman Venus are chained in a water pit where a giant clam has (almost) already swallowed Robin. Using every ounce of his strength, Batman bursts free of his chains, rushes over to the clam and pries it open long enough to rescue Robin
Batman: The Killing Joke Giordano's invitation led directly to Bolland working with writer Alan Moore to create a plausible background story for the Joker. He recounted, "I thought about it in terms of who's my favorite writer at the moment, what hero I would really love to do, and which villain? I basically came up with Alan, Batman and the Joker". Although the story takes pains to stress that it is merely one possible "origin story" for the Joker, it has been widely accepted and adopted into DC continuity, and a central mutilation of a long-running character had to be specially approved by editor