Whilst 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

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 through to the end. Funnily enough, though they contradict a bit I think this is a good follow up read to that story as well. The Jokers in both books are very similar in their extremely calculated and highly detailed executions so it's almost like reading a sequel when this came first. more