The Batman Who Laughs #1

DC Comics

Written by Scott Snyder

Art by Jock

Colors by David Baron

Letters by Sal Cipriano

A Batman who laughs is a Batman who wins and a possible victory over this Batman STARTS with a shock.

Bruce has a memory of his life as a child that he holds onto. One that helps him remember the life he had with the people who loved him.

In the present, Batman is on the trail of a group of smugglers taking bodies out of Gotham. When he takes down the group, he discovers that the body he saved is Bruce Wayne.

This isn’t a copy or clone of Bruce Wayne, it’s the real Bruce Wayne. An older Bruce that has the same experiences but changed direction at a point in his life that is significant in the comic book history of the character. The reveal confirms that Batman is about to face off against the Batman Who Laughs and Bruce has no idea what his Dark Multiverse doppelganger. The mystery gets even darker when another Batman (carrying a small arsenal) infiltrates Arkham in order to allow BWL to murder The Joker.

What happens next is something shocking that I don’t want to spoil because I am absolutely recommending reading this book. Snyder created an insanely interesting character in Batman Who Laughs. You only got to see a glimmer of his menace in Dark Knights Metal, but that was enough to cement him as a truly dangerous threat. His continued presence in the DC universe after the events of Metal has kept a palpable and building fear at Bruce’s back and the fact that you don’t know what he wants or what his plans are make him even more dangerous to Bruce and everyone that he loves.

Jock’s art in this issue is amazing. It is both dark and deliberate with moments of kinetic energy mixed in with quiet, horrifying menace.

The Batman Who Laughs #1 0.00 10 Overall 10.0/10

















