Review: The Batman Who Laughs

Quick Summary

Pros: The main narrative is full of suspense and provides an interesting exploration into some of Batman’s personality traits. The artwork is incredible and really highlights the book’s penchant for evil.

Cons: The Batman Who Laughs has a disappointing role throughout the book, especially considering the book is named after him. The book’s main subplot is mediocre.

Overall: This is a collection with a weird mix of positives and negatives. On one hand, it tells a solid Batman story that is backed up by some incredible visuals. On the other hand, the book’s titular character ends up feeling underutilized and the main subplot isn’t that great. In this way, the volume will likely appeal to fans looking for a good Batman book, not fans who are looking for the best examples of the Batman Who Laughs.

Story

The Batman Who Laughs, by Scott Snyder, is a decent Batman story but is underwhelming in many regards. At its core, this book is about Batman taking on an incredibly powerful villain and learning a few lessons along the way. This piece of the book provides the bulk of the work’s intensity and meaning. However, the actual Batman Who Laughs ends up feeling like a secondary character to everything else going on. By the end of the read, it feels like they could have swapped out the Batman Who Laughs for the Joker, which takes away one of the book’s main selling points. In addition, there is a mediocre storyline following Commissioner Gordon that never receives enough focus to be worthwhile on its own. In the end, this volume still works as a Batman story but may not be what fans were expecting when jumping into this comic.

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The main narrative in The Batman Who Laughs is tense and interesting. The Batman Who Laughs is instantly set up as a powerful threat, he is given an equally powerful henchman, and Batman begins to lose his mind, as a result of Joker’s poisoning. This creates a narrative where the stakes are high and it feels like victory is a lofty goal. In addition, moments are written into the story that allow the Batman Who Laughs to show off his maniacal cruelty or that dive into Batman’s deteriorating mental state.

In addition, the book’s theme is compelling. It eschews the age old question of whether humanity is good or bad and simply states that this does not matter, it is the attempt to be good that matters. This provides an interesting exploration into Batman’s worldview and helps give additional justification behind why he does what he does.

One of the biggest flaws in The Batman Who Laughs is that it feels like the titular Batman Who Laughs ends up being underutilized. The entire premise of the book revolves around the Batman Who Laughs attempting to poison Gotham with a toxin. The problem is that this is so similar to what the regular Joker would do that it makes it feel like just another Joker story, rather than something unique and different. There are moments where the connection between Bruce Wayne and the Batman Who Laughs becomes interesting and the conclusion provides some narration that helps distinguish the Batman Who Laughs from the Joker but, for the most part, the story does not significantly define itself.

The other problem in The Batman Who Laughs is that the James Gordon Jr. storyline is not that good. Its best feature is that it provides a spiritual sequel to Batman: The Black Mirror and indicates there is hope for James. However, the entire narrative surrounding it feels very secondary to the rest of what is going on, James Gordon Jr.’s presence is barely justified, and the villain in this portion of the book, the Grim Knight, is underwhelming. This storyline could have been worthwhile if it had ben elaborated upon and turned into a volume on its own but, within the context of this book, it ends up being mediocre.

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Art

The most universally positive piece of The Batman Who Laughs is easily the artwork. This book revels in tension, suspense, and a general feeling of anxiety and fear. All of these points are perfectly captured in Jock’s creepy approach to visuals. Light and shadow are used in a way that hint that something is about to go wrong, panels shift in bizarre fashion when a character begins to question reality, and many of the character depictions can go from normal to sinister at the drop of a hat. However, the biggest highlight is the Batman Who Laughs himself, as the depictions of him here are some of the best that exist. My only complaint is with the lettering, as the colors chosen for the Batman Who Laughs’ dialogue make his statements hard to read at points. In general, the artwork in this volume is highly positive and makes a serious case for the book as a whole.

Continuity

The Batman Who Laughs is a mostly standalone story that takes place sometime after the events of Dark Nights: Metal (Review) (Reading Order).

This story mostly stands on its own. However, the Batman Who Laughs’ story and elements from the conclusion are continued in Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who Are the Secret Six?.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The Batman Who Laughs’ origin story was explored in The Batman Who Laughs Vol. 1 #1, collected in Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising (Review).
• Batman’s fight against “the Owls” is mentioned. This fight took place across Batman: The Court of Owls (Review) and Batman: The City of Owls (Review) (Reading Order).
• The Joker’s last major attack on Gotham is mentioned. This attack took place across the Batman: Endgame (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• James Gordan Jr.’s mental condition was originally explored in Batman: The Black Mirror (Review).