Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Buyer Beware,
Even though you are purchasing the amazing story of "The Man Who Laughs" a wonderful rendition of Batman's first encounter with his arch-nemisis, you will also buy an additional 65 pages worth of filler material in a story titled "Made of Wood", a story with absolutely no relation to the Joker and centers around Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern.

My main gripe with this publication is that this extra feature is not indicated anywhere on the product itself.

Perhaps a purchase you may want to hold off on.

This book collects two different story arcs. The first story is Batman: the Man Who Laughs. In this story, Batman encounters the Joker for the first time. The story coincides with The Killing Joke, which is Joker's origin story. It's a great story of how these two opponents first met. The second story collects Detective Comics 784-786 and is the story of Batman and Green Lantern trying to find the "Made of Wood" killer. This is an interesting tale that really highlights Batman's detective abilities.

Both stories are good, but they are completely unrelated to each other.

Having grown up with "Batman: The Animated Series," the Tim Burton films, and most recently the Christopher Nolan films, this was the perfect way to introduce me to Batman as a comic book character. True, there are references in this volume that will fly over the head of anyone whose exposure has merely been the aforementioned media, but nothing that will hinder the reading experience.

This is an origin story, and paints the Joker in a really terrifying light. Variously identified as a psychotic and a psychopath, he whimsically/viciously goes on a spree of lethal pranks that lightly touch on the darkest of psychological elements within the Batman mythos. I say "lightly" because it's brief, but it is in that moment that the Joker really gets inside Batman's head, and we see exactly why the Joker will always be the perfect match for the Dark Knight. There are some gasp-worthy moments, dark humor, and beautifully grotesque illustration, all of which had me smiling a more contented smile than you see on the cover.

Included is a shorter piece, called "Made of Wood," in which Batman teams up with the Green Lantern. Admittedly, I'm not so fond of the Green Lantern, so I could have done without it, but it also made explicit why I related to heroes (anti-heroes) like Batman, and not to those like the Green Lantern. It also made an effort to show Batman in his most detective-like elements, which is not something that's focused on a great deal in the media I mentioned at the beginning. In the end, I appreciated its conclusion.

All in all, a lot of great bang for my buck.

When you're titling your story "The Man Who Laughs", an homage to the silent film that inspired the creation of the Joker, it better be damn good. The story was fine but some of the writing was incoherent at times with words being left out for you to fill in the blank.

The art was ok, not something particularly amazing in my opinion and should have been much better for what is supposed to be the Jokers first story. The 'bonus' story included in this book has nothing to do with the Joker and is essentially inconsequential. Likely worth a read if you're a Batman fan but nowhere near as good as any of the greats.

Originally written 12-28-10

Captain Jim Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department enters a murder scene unlike anything he has ever encountered. Likewise, for some of his veteran officers as well as a paramedic who begins to vomit while carrying out one of the dead bodies. The victims appeared to have gone under some type of experiment, which has left them all dead with very large smiles on their faces. Batman joins Gordon, and both of them are unaware of what to make of this. Later, a psychotic clown ambushes a TV news crew to deliver threats to his next victims. Batman rushes to the scene in hopes of capturing this unknown murderer. -summary

Written by Ed Brubaker, Batman: The Man Who Laughs tells the story of Batman's first encounter with the psychotic Joker. It's definitely worth mentioning that the story follows Post Crisis continuity, and was also meant to be a sequel to Batman: Year One. Therefore, this story is more like a redux than anything else. In any case, I think this story ranks pretty high in the Joker mythos, and I consider it to be one of my favorite Batman stories. However, as good as the story may be to me, I still find the Killing Joke to be a bit better.

Ed Brubaker's take on the Joker was very interesting and entertaining to me. I felt he accurately captured what the character is all about. I found the characterization to be excellent all around, and none of the major characters came off as mere window dressing. In the case of The Joker, he is what he's always been, an unpredictable psychopath with no regards towards human life. The opening pages begins with a chilling narration delivered by Jim Gordon, as he takes a walk through the aftermath of Joker's handiwork, which left behind a horde of terribly murdered victims. Even as a fan of the character, I'm always amazed by the Joker's brutal antics. Therefore, I can imagine the look on the face of a new reader, whom is not completely familiar with the character or Batman's world.

Batman and Jim Gordon are also well used with the former maintaining his usual intensity, by putting to work his detective skills, with intentions on keeping up with the wily Joker; whom happens to stay one step ahead of him, and accomplishes his goals by taking out each of his victims. Even though he gives them a heads up, by literally broadcasting on live TV who he's going after next.

At its core, the story is your basic good vs. evil, but Brubaker manages to make it into so much more. Despite the minor pacing issues, the narrative flows very well delivering an ample amount of suspense, mystery, and action. The story is very dark indeed, and one of the best features is that it maintains this tone throughout. There's absolutely nothing presented to lighten up the mood, such as misplaced comedy or a romance angle.

Doug Mahnke is the man behind the artwork, with David Baron sticking to the colors. The artwork is definitely fitting for the dark story being presented. Nothing is on a kid friendly level here, as the bodies which are presented in the opening pages are an eye opener that sets the tone of the story. Although action truly isn't the selling point here, it does deliver with several gun battles, and hand to hand that could have been a little better. Still, I was satisfied with them for the most part.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a very solid graphic novel, but it does have one flaw that seemed to bother some fans. However, it didn't really bother me though. The graphic novel gives off a feel like it should be packed with only Joker stories. This really isn't the case here and it feels more like a Brubaker book. There's a second story presented called Made of Wood written by him. This story has absolutely nothing to do with the Joker. Instead, it guest stars Alan Scott, the golden age Green Lantern in a murder mystery along with Batman. The addition of this story doesn't bother me too much because it's a good story.

Made of Wood focuses on a murder case that took place in the 40's. Bodies were turning up with the words, "Made of Wood" carved into the victims flesh. The case was never solved due to the murderer just stopping and disappearing. 55 years later, the killings begin again and Batman is wondering could this be a copy cat, or maybe the killer decided to come out of retirement.

The story is paced rather well; full of suspense, nice plot, and a good ending. Jim Gordon is retired, and his character is once again well used here by exploiting the age old saying, "once a cop, always a cop" rather effectively. There's a good amount of action and GL gets a chance to show off a few moves. I always enjoy Batman's detective skills when he utilizes his guesswork, and this story is no different since it delivers in that area as well. The artwork is also good once again with Patrick Zircher behind the pencils, inks by Aaron Sowd, and color by Jason Wright.

Now although I enjoyed the story, I also would've preferred another Joker story, but I guess we can't always have it our way. In any case, The Man Who Laughs should be picked up by both serious and casual fans.

Pros: Dark and gritty, charismatic villain as always

Cons: Minor pacing issues

The man who laughs lacks the adept dialogue of the killing joke but it's a worthy companion to it. This is a story where the city is not prepared for the joker's madness. The arrival of the joker is the dark knights turning point as a squire in his career of the very same order that his enemy does not represent as chaos of comedy. He has always used comedy as a metaphor for getting things his own loony way. After his arrival Gotham is no longer the same because it has to face the harsh new light of inquiry before it can finally rest and the dark knight now realises the gravity of the situation at hand. Despite the countless number of smiling dead corpses young Batman is willing to stop it at any cost with bravery for his own cities safety and welfare against these insane criminals, which have started to emerge from the shadows. He now needs to piece together the clown prince of crime bizarre motives and his actions. It is set in time and continuity right after the events of YEAR ONE. At the end of YEAR ONE when Gordon says that someone has threatened to poison Gotham's water supply? That's one of the major plot points of the man who laughs. This is a true crime story where Gordon and the dark night try to take down the clown ace of knaves himself. The illustrations are highly detailed and the characters are very true to life in their appearance. Finally lastly but not least in the end the man who laughs is a solid entertaining retelling story of two polar opposite characters of the same card. They both represent chaos and order of comedy and tragedy, in that they need each other simultaneously to survive.

Only two reviews recieved? Seriously, this modern retelling of Batman #1 could not have been handled by anyone else. Brubaker has handled this project beautifully with the right amount of noir, dark humor, and originality. This can be called Joker: Year One despite the fact that Batman/Bruce Wayne is the one providing the narration throughout the story. Nonetheless, that doesn't take away from this story which I would rank up there with Killing Joke. One of my favorite parts of the book is when (SPOILERISH warning) Bruce Wayne and other rich philanthopists 'meet' the Joker via satellite, to which Joker proclaims "I'm sorry. It just kills me" he says while wiping a crocodile tear, "...especially when I think about killing you." Brrrrr. That's a scary Joker with a perfect blend of humor and sadism. You can't beat that. Joker stories, nowadays, usually just use the character as a crutch to heighten lackluster writing and is usually squandered. Not here. Combined with Batman's inner monolog and solid art (I wonder if Doug Mankhe is an Iron Maiden fan, when you open the first few pages, you will know what I mean), you have the perfect recipe for one of the greatest Joker tales ever told. You will not be disappointed.

Set shortly after "Year One", this is Batman's first encounter with the Joker. Joker starts taking out the wealthy Gotham elite one by one with his Joker toxin, hi-jacking the Gotham airwaves with his messages of death and terror, finally threatening the destruction of the city itself. But with Bruce Wayne as a target, how will Batman stop the Joker...

Ed Brubaker pens a masterful 3-shot storyline introducing the best villain DC have, the greatest foe Batman ever faced, and one of the best bad guy's in all of literature. The gruesome deaths from Joker toxin are shown very vividly throughout, and Batman has to find a way into a mind that seems to have been completely shattered. I liked that Batman makes a number of mistakes in trying to capture Joker because this is their first encounter and he doesn't know Joker's methods yet.

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 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.

5 stars for "The Man Who Laughs", 2 stars for "Made of Wood", the book is well worth reading if only for the first half.

This hardcover edition of "The Man Who Laughs" is a great addition to a comic libray - but the 20 dollar tag makes it hard to justify for the 40-somthing page story... Also thrown in is "Made of Wood," a random Brubaker story featuring Green Lantern Alan Scott (another short story :/ ). 'Wood' is passable, but 'Man who Laughs' is a must have...

"The Man who Laughs" storyline retells the first couple appearances of The Joker in Gotham city. Though the story is almost a direct retelling of Batman issue #1 (and other Kane stories) Brubaker finds ways to reinvent the story to make it much more frightening.

A great addition to your comic library, but if you can help taking the time to find the original prestige edition - you'll save yourself about 15 bucks.

Ed Brubaker is amazing. I picked this up only for the name recognition and wasn't let down in any way. The first story of the trade is somewhat of a sequel to Miller's Year One and I actually liked it better. A young version of Batman and Jim Gordon take on the joker for the first time. Classic stuff. The second half is a great murder mystery and involces the golden age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. It was awesome and would love to read another team-up with Bats and GL. Zircher & Mahnke's art was perfect. Loved it!! Great stuff!!

When I first saw this book, I was extremely excited about it. The style was very similar to Frank Miller and David Muziccelli's masterpiece Batman: Year One... in fact, I was looking forward to making this my official Year Two... and while I do think this is a decent book... it's lacking something. Part of it, is length. The original Year One as short as it was, only worked because of the scope of the story. This book should have been longer, more character depth. Bob Kane's original Joker story was also too short, this should have been AT LEAST four chapters long. Jim and Batman's relationship could have been presented more effectively as well. Some of Joker's lines sound like they're attempting to create an insane character rather than him actually being insane. Parts of it just comes off as sophmoric, is all. A second or third draft of the script might have fixed that though.

In some ways the art work is great, and in some ways it's below average. Batman looks like crap most of the time and Bruce looks like an old man half the time... Joker's victims look fantastic, but Joker himself could use some tweaking... course I'm going into this, anticipating the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Clown Prince of Crime, so I've got a more realistic/less cartoony visual in my head.

Over all, it's not a bad read, but there are major issues that keep it from being an instant classic akin to DKR, Year One and The Long Halloween. It's still worth a read though. ;)

-David A. Nova

Buy this book to read Ed Brubaker and Doug mahnke excellent redux of the Joker's first encounter with batman. In a shocking turn, DC hires a great artist to do a high profile Batman tale. I only fault this story on being too short.
The Man Who Laughs was orignally published as a 48 page soft cover graphic novel, but deserves the hardcover format. Sadly, the cover graphics are not very well done. The white spine with the ugly blue at the bottom doesn't look good on the book shelf, particularly next to it's natural companion, the recently released Killing Joke hardcover.
As a filler, a Batman/Golden Age Green Lantern story is also randomely reprinted here. This story originally appeared in Detective Comics which Mr. Brubaker wrote for a little over a year. I remember his run as well written (as most of his work is), but laden with poor fill-in art unworthy of his scripts. The artwork by Mike Lilly is just OK, but I fail to see why it was included in this hardcover.
It would have been much better to reprint the Joker's first two appearances from Batman #1, as well as Dennis O'Neal's Legends of the Dark Knight #50, from 1993, which retold the same story of Batman's first encounter with the Joker. Dennis O'Neal wrote a spot on story with some great moments, but the particularly bad art from Brett Blevins is not something which should be seen again. At least the theme of the book would have been consistant.

I'm surprised at the number of positive reviews this story receives. Much of it may be attributed to Ed Brubaker's name attached to it. This tale is supposed to be an origin story for the Joker due mainly to its taking place in the early days of Batman's career than to any fresh insight into his beginning. The plot is generic and characterization no different from anything we have seen before. Admittedly when you are writing about a villain who has made more appearances in comics than most heroes this can be a challenge, but as readers it's what we expect. Joker stories sell well or else they would not be published so the trick is to not be redundant. It does not succeed here. When all is said and done this is just another Joker yarn with nothing original or exceptional added to the mythos to elevate it above the rest.

This book contains two different stories. First a follow up to The Killing Joke that is, for me at least, quiete fantastic. It have the action, element of suspense... you name it, this story have it.

On the other hand, the second story, I wouldn't say is a bad story, but it definably doesn't belong to this book at all. This is called "The Man who Laughs", so I really don't see a point of putting a story with no Joker. The second arc is cleary there just to make a bulkier book. Even though, the book is a short one.

I like the first half of the book, but the rest doesn't quite worth my money. Anyway I got it and it's done.

This is one of the better Joker stories in years. It's a sort of sequel to "Year one" and tells the tale of how The Dark Knight first met the notorious evildoer that in future years would become his arch-nemesis.

Joker is killing several rich persons, which to begin with appears to be for no reason other than getting a sick laugh out of it. But as the story progresses Batman starts to find out the motive behind these bizarre killings as well as figuring out who The Joker was and what made what he is.
The writing is perfect. Ed Brubaker does a terrific job on it. He has also added some nice references to Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" All the classic elements from a Joker story are here. Making threats on live television, killing people at midnight and using henchmen dressed as clowns. If you enjoyed Batman stories such as "Year one", The Killing Joke" or "The laughing fish" then this one should be right up your alley.
An interesting fact: The title is a reference to a movie with the same name and it is from this film that Bob Kane got the inspiration for The Joker.

I'm surprised that none of the reviewers seemed to recognize that this is a re-telling of one of the first Joker stories ever told. "Batman vs. The Joker" (Batman #1, 1940). In the original story The Joker kills the rich men to enforce a shakedown of other rich men. Here, his sociopathy is more apparent because he's killing for killing's sake. I like what they've done with it.

The bonus Alan Scott/Green Lantern story is truly great!

Was one of the last stories that Brubaker wrote for DC before he moved over to Marvel, and became the superstar writer on Captain America and Daredevil.

Great Joker/Batman origin story that is fun and has spot on portrayal of the menacing Joker. Not only is this a great read, but it has some very spectacular artwork. The atwork alone is reason enough to purchase this book.

Important to keep in mind that this is a very quick read, as the orginal story came in one Prestige Format Comic (48 pages). However this comic is hard to find and worth sowhere in the $50 range. This is great opportunity to pick up a hard to find story right before the New Batman Movie.

the story was outstanding and the art work was great... being a big fan of the batman and the joker.. this story was one i missed 5 years ago, but thanks to the store .com i bought a copy of this great story.