On the highways of Gotham City Batman is hot on the trails of a smuggling ring in which smugglers are shipping bodies.
Bodies of deceased citizens that Batman failed to protect. As Batman tails the assailants, he discovers there is much more than just a smuggling. What Batman finds is the body… of a deceased Bruce Wayne!!!!
Where did this Bruce Wayne come from? Who is able to cast a shadow that even Batman can’t out run?
While Justice League is written with a more fun and light flair, I think it’s safe to say that Snyder is right at home whenever he is writing a solo Batman story. This book feels like Snyder’s return to tonal form, making The Batman Who Laughs feel perfectly in sync with the writing style that people have come to know from his classic Batman run. It’s actually refreshing to see Snyder return to that aesthetic that made his Batman run so amazing. Now it’s not say that Snyder’s Justice League run isn’t good, because it’s a fantastic book and it’s the best the Justice League has been after two years of stale stories. But after his time writing All Star Batman, Dark Nights Metal, co writing Justice League: No Justice, and Justice League, Snyder sorta shifted his writing style. Lending his writing style to a much more hopeful, and brighter voice that a book like Justice League should have. Much like how a band (Radiohead, Deftones, Tool etc) shift their musical sound and style, so should every writer. But every now and then, it’s welcoming when a band or artist is able to return to form in a refreshing way that reminds people why they like ones work. And with Snyder writing The Batman Who Laughs, it feels very much the same way. Snyder gets to go dark and return to his mystery/horror roots, crafting a story that spurs and answers the question: what if there was a Batman that was like the Punisher? And what has the Batman who Laughs been up to since Dark Nights Metal and Justice League? The story is really amazing in how it begins and how it unfolds is pretty chilling. Readers get to witness Batman as he searches for the whereabouts of the Batman Who Laughs and the Grim Knight. It’s a story that will leave you surprised by the time you get to the end. It’s really great to see Snyder write a horror esque Batman story that hasn’t been seen in sometime since his New 52 Batman run, which will satisfy a lot of fans of that run, but will also get new readers excited about what is to come.
The artwork by Jock is amazing!!! It’s great to see Snyder and Jock work together again on a mini-series that may rival their classic Batman: The Black Mirror (2011). Jock succeeds in achieving the mystery in his artwork with every silhouette and shadow while also laying down the perfect horror aesthetics that a Batman story like this requires. His heavy dark streaks and line work coupled with the David Bacon’s colors and Sal Cipriano’s lettering is a treat. The final pages are some of
This Wednesday is full of solid Batman books and understandably so! The Amazing Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke are kick-starting an arc in the pages of Detective Comics #994, Tom Taylor wrote an awesome, heartfelt issue in the pages of Batman Annual #3 and now Snyder writes an awesome horror mystery in the pages of the Batman Who Laughs #1! Batman is enjoying a triple threat of solid creators that have all written some solid entries for this week’s new comics Wednesday! For those that have been following Snyder’s journey from Batman to Justice League, I definitely recommend that you pick up The Batman Who Laughs issue 1. And for those that are looking for a nice Batman story to jump right into, I also recommend this book! This Wednesday is a good time to be a Batman fan.
Newsdesk