Real name: James Jesse
First appearance: The Flash I#113 1/2 (June/July 1960)
Abilities: Flight (via trick shoes), various gimmicks
Worst act: Robbery
Quote: "It suddenly hit me! The clue is my namesake--Jesse James! I've got to embark on a career like his--that way lies my real destiny and fame!"
Created by: John Bromme (script), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)
Almost made him the 22nd, but the Trickster has always been one of my favorite DC villains. Going back to the Silver Age, he was again just a crook with a gimmick. In this case, a sort of Joker-ish crook basing things around tricks rather than straight jokes, but like most of the crooks had invented a truly amazing piece of tech and used to rob rather than make himself rich.
Seriously, he went and made himself shoes that let him walk on air, and his only thought is to rob airplanes?
Airplanes, since his namesake Jesse James robbed trains, James Jesse decided to rob the 20th Century of the railway-airplanes!
I mean, I don't know that many people who carry their valuables with them when they fly, plus wouldn't an armored car have more loot? But it was the Silver Age, so it worked.
Over the years, the Trickster showed signs of reforming first I think, when he started showing up in Blue Devil's series back in the 80s, with his proper turn happening in the Underworld Unleashed series.
I always enjoyed the Trickster more than the Joker, but then again I do enjoy a guy that robs a place and doesn't leave a mountain of dead behind him. Mark Hamil's role as him in the 1990 Flash series helped cement his role of the Joker, I think so that's a nice twist on things.
Didn't care for his replacement though, but that's the breaks when dealing with legacy characters.
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