And he hasn't come alone. Emerging from another of the Dark Multiverse's myriad realities comes the Grim Knight. This vicious vigilante will use any weapon at his disposal to ensure those he has marked for death stay down. The Man Who Laughs actually contains two separate Batman stories. The first is a direct sequel to Batman: Year One. At the end of Year One, Gordon mentions that an unknown character called the Joker has been making threats against the city. Half Batman. Half Joker. Combining everything that makes the Caped Crusader a hero and the Clown Prince a killer, the Batman Who Laughs is the Dark Multiverse's deadliest criminal mastermind. Now he's come to Gotham to turn Bruce Wayne's home into an incubator for evil.

Ed Brubaker mimics Frank Miller's Year One by utilizing Bruce and Gordon's POV to tell the story and to engage the readers effectively. Their narrations expose their struggles as they try to keep up with whatever the city throws at them and their guilt whenever they fail to save someone around. A war like no other—a war of the Batmen—has begun. As Batman's closest friends, deadliest enemies, and doppelgängers from across the Multiverse get caught in the crossfire, only one question remains: Who will have the last laugh? This was a retelling of the jokers debut, with the whole modern Batman retelling taking place , the events took place soon after Batman introduced himself to Captain Gordon and took down (but failed to unmask) The Red Hood . This wouldn’t have worked so flawlessly if it weren’t for artist Doug Mahnke’s artwork. Without ever purposefully depicting a grim, dark, and sinister Gotham City, he captures the city’s fear and panic strictly through his character designs. Without a doubt, his iteration of the Joker strikes all the perfect chords, depicting him in his purple suit, with his fedora hat on top of his green hair, with his white and wrinkly skin, with his ghastly grin, and his skinny yet combat-savvy figure. The visual style is also reminiscent of an era of comic books bathing in mystery and suspense, scoring points in terms of appeal and direction. There simply couldn’t have been a better origin story for the one villain that will forever torture the Caped Crusader throughout his war on crime.While sampling of the digital (most notably in the audio form) has been around for decades the cultural process running underneath that creative process has been around since the dawn of Humanity. Truly there is nothing new under (this) sun and Brubaker here well exemplifies this archaic axiom by recycling yet another industry and cultural standard. However, the references employed here are mixed with only minor additions of the original. Banking on its utilization of well-known samples in lieu of forging its own additions of original content, for more thoughtful takes on the Batman mythos, most notably and recently Alan Moore and Christopher Nolan’s seminal contributions to the Caped Crusader’s mythology, ultimately Brubaker’s forged homunculus feels more paper-thin pastiche than anything in drab comparison.

On top of The Man Who Laughs graphic novel, this volume also includes a never-before-reprinted Elseworlds tale called Batman: Gotham Noir. Alongside his own partner-in-crime artist Sean Phillips, this collaboration beautiful captures their style of narrative and visual storytelling, giving us a stellar noir mystery centered around James Gordon as he weaves his way in and out of complicated situations to ultimately unveil his own internal and personal struggle to overcome his haunting past. This is an excellent addition to this deluxe edition as previous volumes never included this story before. A war like no other--a war of the Batmen--has begun. As Batman's closest friends, deadliest enemies, and doppelgängers from across the Multiverse get caught in the crossfire, only one question remains: Who will have the last laugh?One of the main problems with this outing is that it felt misleading. Only half of the total content is the cover story while DC had thrown in another completely unconnected story. Don’t worry, Batman. There are plenty more billionaires in Gotham City. The Joker can't kill them all. Right? Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a quintessential story exploring the Joker’s first appearance within Gotham City.

Discover the answer in The Batman Who Laughs—a terrifying reimagining of one of comics' greatest heroes—and villains—from the premier Batman writer of our time! The main story of "Batman: The Man Who Laughs: The Deluxe Edition" is great. It is a solid origin story for the Joker and Brubaker did a great job in capturing the essence of the Clown Prince of Crime. The story kept me on the edge of my seat and I liked how it was consistent in its pacing and tone. The art was well done also. I like how Brubaker wrote from both Batman's POV and Gordon's POV also. My only complaint about the story was that the ending was a bit rushed. But, it captured Batman's struggle (to keep himself from killing the Joker) well. I like how it showed Batman's detective skills also and the art was good too. Discover the answer in The Batman Who Laughs–a terrifying reimagining of one of comics’ greatest heroes–and villains–from the premier Batman writer of our time! The story takes place somewhere around Batman Year One and The Killing Joke. Batman is a novice, James Gordon is a captain, and Gotham seems relatively untouched by super criminals. Until now. And watching the Gotham trinity, Batman, Gordon, and Joker, in their prime, is quite a show. The story reminded me a lot of Chris Nolan's 2008 Batman film, The Dark Knight, as they have similar plot points: Joker taunts Batman and Gotham with video messages, he takes out Gotham's elite one by one, and he causes panic in the general populace leading to a mass evacuation. It's to Brubaker's credit that his "The Man Who Laughs" storyline was used to great effect on the big screen and is definitely worth reading if you're a Batman/Joker fan.The Batman Who Laughs Deluxe Edition is currently set for release on April 18, 2023. This new collection is set to gather together the full seven-issue Batman Who Laughs miniseries and the one-shot special issue The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight. Together, these comics tell a full storyline written by one of the creators of the Batman Who Laughs, Scott Snyder. Then there is Joker. Yes, there are better comics which portrays Joker brilliantly, but this story does a good enough job introducing him. The movie studios tried to drum up interest in Veidt with the slogan: “Women fight for Conrad Veidt!” Joker is displayed in all his maniac and haphazard glory and he truly comes across as the nemesis that Batman deserved , here to bring in chaos and display that he is not just a mad man , but a mad man with a genius brain that even puzzles The world's greatest detective , often times staying 2 steps ahead of the caped crusader .

The second half of the book is a boring 3-shot story of Batman and the original Green Lantern Alan Scott as they try and solve a 50 year old murder mystery of a killer called "Made of Wood". I'm not a Green Lantern fan so I wasn't so keen on this and it has nothing to do with the Joker so I have no idea why it's twinned with the first story. Surprisingly, I preferred the second tale over The Man Who Laughs. I thought Gordon's dialogue and inner monologue were fantastic. I think I enjoyed the story on a much higher level overall. Forgoing the surprise/disappointment I mentioned in my Gotham Noir review about this being a 3 issue arc rather than the full 9 or 10 issues I expected given the length of the book, The Man Who Laughs was a solid, if unspectacular effort from Brubaker. Although given the growing number of his non-independent titles I've read lately, solid but unspectacular seems to be where Brubaker is at when it comes to his DC work. I've yet to read any of his Marvel stuff at present.

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Discover the answer in The Batman Who Laughs--a terrifying reimagining of one of comics' greatest heroes--and villains--from the premier Batman writer of our time! It’s unsurprising that the legendary writer Ed Brubaker is behind one of the most paramount stories in Batman’s lore, the very mystery that introduces Batman to the Clown Prince of Crime. With his perfect grasp over noir fiction, this origin story impeccably captures the detective mystery that encapsulates the Joker’s sudden introduction to Gotham City. Throughout this adventure, with both Bruce Wayne and James Gordon’s first-person narration to immerse readers into their respective minds, you embark on a journey to try and elucidate the Joker’s modus operandi. Despite the hints he leaves around the city, his terrifying public performances through media outlets, his comical, goofy, yet deadly persona, he somehow still remains a giant question mark in the face of the Dark Knight as he tries to desperately connect the dots. Is he the Red Hood? Is he a deranged psychopath escaped from a psych ward? Is he out there on a mission or cluelessly prancing around in the anarchy he creates? Rest assured, writer Ed Brubaker perfectly delivers this story with deadly charm and charisma. A war like no other–a war of the Batmen–has begun. As Batman’s closest friends, deadliest enemies, and doppelgängers from across the Multiverse get caught in the crossfire, only one question remains: Who will have the last laugh? Half Batman. Half Joker. Combining everything that makes the Caped Crusader a hero and the Clown Prince a killer, the Batman Who Laughs is the Dark Multiverse’s deadliest criminal mastermind. Now he’s come to Gotham to turn Bruce Wayne’s home into an incubator for evil. Educational digression: The title of this book, The Man Who Laughs, is also a silent movie, starring Conrad Viedt. The creators of Batman based the Joker’s appearance on Veidt’s character: