Batman: The Man Who Laughs #1
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| Writer | Ed Brubaker |
| Artist | Doug Mahnke |
Superstar writer Ed Brubaker (CATWOMAN, GOTHAM CENTRAL) teams with artist Doug Mahnke (FINAL CRISIS, GREEN LANTERN) to tell the tale of Batman's first battle against his greatest enemy: the Joker!
CRITIC REVIEWS Back to Top
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7.0
Comics Bulletin - David Wallace
Feb 14, 2005Whilst never topping the quality of Year: One or Killing Joke, Man Who Laughs is a good Batman story on its own terms, and goes even further to establish the bond between the two major characters than Alan Moores classic story did. James Gordon is also given a fair bit of time as a hero of the piece, and even if hes written a lot more broadly than he was in Year: One he adds a grounded feel to the story which helps to tone down the more colourful elements. A fairly original insight into two characters that are constantly in danger of becoming stagnant makes this worth a look. Its the kind of project Id like to see attempted more often. Read Full Review
USER REVIEWS Back to Top
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8.5
This is the story of how the joker came to be, not how he was created, but his first crimes and development. Although its too short to show his full development into what he'll become, it's pretty good at showing his beginnings. The story is dark and gloomy and, although we don't know how he gets to Arkham at the beginning, he has a dope reveal. The story is fun and entertaining, not a lot of plot holes due to the relatively straight forward storyline. Does not have a lot of reread value.
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8.5
It's Brubaker. He doesn't write anything bad. This is one of the better Joker stories and is up there with Mahnke's best work. This book looks fantastic. The story isn't overly complicated as it's just a first appearance story of sorts. Definitely better than Batman Confidential's Lovers and Madmen but what Lovers and Madmen had over this was length. Time to breath a bit. There was actually a bit of mystery to that story where here it's pretty much point A to point B. What does come through a lot better is subtlety in the story telling and art. Small things placed here and there that you might not notice and first but become more highlighted later. Lovers had some pacing issues whereas this knows how to give you a satisfying narrative throu more
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8.0
i accidentally deleted my original review of the comic but whatever lol. it's a lot better second read, very much like the parallels to the original appearance of the joker. good comic
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7.5
meh
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7.5
The Man Who Laughs is a Joker story that does the bare minimum to be a decent one. The fact that decent Joker stories are rare this almost makes it good but to me it's just average.
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8.0
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7.5
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7.0
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1.0
2025 In Review:
