Joe Potato

Created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle

“The name’s Potato… Joe Potato. I’m a private eye, working out of the south side. An’ before you ask — no, it ain’t a disease — or a mutation! I was born this way!”

Letters. we get letters…

Hello Mr Smith,

As an avid and growing fan of pulp and detective stories, as well as a writer and owner of a comic book store, I have noticed a small omission on your incredible list of PI’s.

A far as I know, this character has shown up only two or three times in Detective Comics, but I believe he deserves a spot on your list. His name is JOE POTATO, and he is your typical hard-boiled detective operating out of Gotham City. He has an unusual feature, as he was born with a scarred face. Combined with his meaty girth, he has the passing features of a baked potato.

Yours truly,        
Brian Meredith

Thanks, Brian. I did a little digging, and our spud does indeed show up in some rather weird spots. You forgot to mention that he’s also a bit of a schlub, and a bumbling fuck-up, or that all of Joe’s cases involve Batman in one way or another. He’s never shown up — as far as I can tell — in a solo adventure. And he never appeared outside of Alan Grant’s Bat stories so, so when Grant left the Batman universe, so did Joe.

Plus, Gotham already has Harvey Bullock…

Fortunately, there was a pretty good profile of Joe, supposedly written by the spud himself, full of dubious potato puns, in Who’s Who in the DC Universe #10  (1991). It fills in some of the details. And he pops up in Shadow of the Bat annual as well, where he takes on Poison Ivy. His best line comes when Joe finally confronts Ivy, who’s attempting to use plant-based zombies to take over Gotham City:

“You…you must really hate people,” Joe says.

Well, like, d’uh….

THE EVIDENCE

• “I’m an ugly guy doin’ an ugly job, and the babes ain’t exactly swoonin’ at my feet”
• “About this Bat-guy. Me and him, we go way back…(but) Bats and I are different — he’s a crash-through-the-skylight kinda guy and I’m a foot-through-the-front-door.”
  — Joe gives us the scoop on a pal of his.
• “I got guns. Big guns. All kinds. But when it’s time to scare some answers outta some stole, I bring out the Potato Peeler. It looks like a razor sharp knife with a hole in it, but it’s made of rubber— just to frighten the baddies.”

COMIC BOOKS

• DETECTIVE COMICS
  (1937-present, DC Comics)
  Joe Potato created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle
  • “Ecstasy” (January 1989, Detective Comics #594)
    Joe’s first appearance.
• BATMAN
  (1940-present, DC Comics)
  Joe Potato created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle
  Written by Alan Grant
  Art by Norm Breyfogle, Tim Sale
  • “Sisters in Arms (Part One): It’s a Man’s World” (March 1991,#460; with Catwoman)
  • “Sisters in Arms (Part Two): Ladies Night” (April 1991, #461; with Catwoman)
• WHO’S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE
  Joe Potato created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle
  Profile by “Joe Potato” and Kevin Dooley
  Art by Norm Breyfogle
  • “Joe Potato” (June 1991, Who’s Who in the DC Universe #10)
• SHADOW OF THE BAT
  (1992-2000, DC Comics)
  96 issues
  • “Anarky, Part One: Prophet Of Doom” (1995; #40)”
  • “Anarky, Part Two: The Anarkist Manifesto” (1995; #41)
• SHADOW OF THE BAT ANNUAL
  (1992-2000, DC Comics)
  Joe Potato created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle
  • “I Was the Love-Slave of a Plant-Based Killer!”” (1997, #5)
    Part of DC’s pulp-inspired 1997 annuals, this one riffed on both hardboiled detective fiction and romance comics. And Joe got to stretch out a bit. Batman and Poison Ivy show up.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• Dixonverse
  You used to be able to find an unpublished Joe Potato script, “Fry Me Deadly,” here, courtesy of Chuck Dixon, one of comics’ harder-boiled writers. Somewhere.
• Detectives in DC’s Detective Comics
  A listing of all the private eyes who have shown up in DC Comics.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Brian Meredith for their help.