In the cave, when the Bat-family realizes why they’re being pushed so hard, there’s agony on their faces. He manipulates the raw emotions of Bruce through the cowl, clearly showing that this man is fighting something that is all that he feared, and powerless to stop it.

There also should be praise for his work in character design. Rossmo makes each character feel unique, interpreting their costumes in a fresh way, a different way, similar to how Sean Murphy is killing it in White Knight, or Frank Quitely back in Batman and Robin. The characters have this simplicity in their presentation that is aesthetically pleasing, but Rossmo incorporates this tactile rendering that makes all the clothing believable.

Of course, all of this horror couldn’t be brought to vibrant life without the superhuman efforts of color artist Ivan Plascencia. Plascencia is the glue holding this book together, taking these terrible images and gruesome words and bringing them to fruition in a rainbow of malevolent glee. There’s chaos in his palette.

Tynion shows off his command of the character, hitting all the right notes in the story; each beat resonates with the reader, the drama heightened beyond belief. Seriously, Tynion establishes tension here that never relents, and it only seems to increase with each panel – even though you damn well know what all these horrible actions will lead to.

And probably the most unheralded of this crew is one of the most deserving: Tom Napolitano does the yeoman's work here with lettering. His stylistic choices give each character a unique voice, switching between fonts and balloons seamlessly. His work chronicling Bruce's transformation into the Batman Who Laughs, having his speech evolve visually, is truly captivating. It's just so damn cool how much thought was put into the lettering, giving this book a rare depth.