Batman: The Man Who Laughs

He's got everything to smile about

There's an age-old saying, and it goes a little something like this: There are no new stories, just how you tell them. Whilst that may certainly be true, it's almost a cast iron fact when it comes to stories involving Batman and his arch-nemesis, Joker. The duo has slugged it out on comic pages and screen since the forties, with every scenario imaginable taking place. Whilst new Bat alumni such as Scott Snyder and Tom King have given their own fresh perspectives on the Dark Knight, it's a steady hand like crime fiction kingpin Ed Brubaker that manages to weave magic with a story that's been told over and over before.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs tells the story of Batman's first encounter with a murdering psychopath that comes to be known as the Joker, a name anointed on him by the media, and he quite likes. This is a Batman still in the early stages of his crime-fighting career, and whilst he's been dealing with the usual low lives and pushers Gotham has to offer after lights out, the Joker is his first real taste of a rival who has a taste for the theatrics like himself.

Starting with a threat against a Gothamite billionaire that he will die on the stroke of midnight, the story escalates as the victim does indeed fall foul to Joker poison, resulting in a chilling rictus grin across the dead man's face, of course Jim Gordon, under pressure to find this clown, is forced to accept the help of the vigilante Batman, who is still at this time thought of as nothing more than an urban legend, or a nut, depending on if you have a badge or not.

Brubaker handles the characters well. The Joker he gives us is homicidal, dispensing death in such a whimsy fashion that it's all the more chilling as this Joker is the embodiment of a apathetic society that cares little for human life anymore. This is Joker at his coldest and cruel, thinking nothing of wiping out over a dozen people just to test his new toxin, or slaughtering orderlies just so he could break out some new inmates bound for Arkham Asylum. This book truly makes you comprehend the reign of terror this man inflicts on a city, and what's his ultimate goal? He wants to kill every man, woman, and child in Gotham for no reason other than he wants to. The Joker poisoning the water supply is part of Batman lore, but it's The Man Who Laughs that delivers such a chill when it's told through the eyes of Brubaker.

It's with some considerable skill that Doug Mahnke gives us the visuals on our trip to Gotham. The way he details Batman as an early days vigilante, whose costume isn't quite there yet, but we can see he's a work in progress. The artwork has a seedy crime noir aspect about it, with some lovely colours from David Baron, using muted tones to tell the bleakness of the story. This is a Batman working the low-level streets, rather than jumping off rooftops or parapets, in this, he is nothing more than a detective working a case, than a superhero. if you replaced Batman with Sherlock Holmes, it wouldn't be out of place in this tale. Some of design choices do seem to be inspired by Batman comics from the seventies, you can see the DNA of Neal Adams in some of the shots.

This will stand as a testament to great storytelling using Batman. He truly is a character that can be adapted for any story, whether it be a blockbuster Justice League adventure, or a gritty low-key Batman working a case adventure, this is a must-read for any comic or Batman fan.