Detective Comics #168 (1951)

In Detective Comics #168, Batman is recruited by State University to be a guest instructor for a criminology course. To test his students, Batman assigns a case he never solved, the Red Hood. The Red Hood was a criminal who wore a shiny red hood without eye holes, and his crimes stirred up Gotham ten years prior. Batman finally confronts the Red Hood, but he escapes. Batman's students, Paul and Jimmy, work together to solve the case and reopen it after 10 years. They figure out that Red Hood used red two-way mirrors in the eye holes to see and that the hood was a gas mask and diving helmet that allowed him to breathe underwater. Red Hood had intended to steal only $1,000,000 then retire but decided to return when the case was reopened. After a trap is set, the gardener is caught using the Red Hood suit, and it is revealed that the Joker was the real Red Hood. This is the first appearance of Red Hood and the first time we get an origin story for the Joker. If you have this comic book, contact us for a free appraisal or sell your collection to us at Comics Into Cash for a fair price.