Batman: Year One is probably my favorite Batman story ever. However, I found myself somewhat disinterested in this "Joker: Year One" type tale, playing the less experienced Batman and Captain Gordon against their ghoulish nemesis for the first time, despite its having Ed Brubaker, one of the few Batman writers who can live up to Frank Miller in my mind, at the helm. As it turns out, while this isn't likely to live in my memory next to Batman: Year One, it is more than likely to wind up next to it on my bookshelf, as this is a terrific extension of the character from that time period, a very effective portrayal of the Joker and just a really good, classic style Batman story. This is the Joker distilled to his purer form, freed from questions of "why does Batman continue to let this guy live?" and given a colorful criminal streak that is both horrific and highly entertaining to read about, all told from a more detective point-of-view akin to that used in Year One. If it weren't for Frank Miller returning to the character later this year, I'd say that The Man Who Laughs was the odds-on favorite for best Batman tale of the year.
Those who have read Batman: Year One will find a familiar tone at work in the pages of Man Who Laughs. Batman is very good, but he's still human at this point, and Gordon is a crusader cop, but he's working against the corrupt power structure in Gotham rather than running the cops. The give and take between Gordon and Batman, and Batman's status as a vigilante who the cops don't approve of and the public doesn't really know about, gives the story an interesting context. Just as Batman: Year One was as much about Gordon as Batman, The Man Who Laughs is as much about Batman's developing relationship with Gotham City as it is about the birth of the Joker.
Make no mistake, though, the centerpiece of this book is the Joker, and Brubaker does an excellent job with him. In recent years, I've come to dislike the Joker as a villain, because he's been allowed to get away with so much specific mayhem that for Batman to let him live seems like a foolish chink in the armor rather than a heroic moral choice. Once the Joker started killing off named supporting characters instead of crowds of nameless people, his time as an effective character who worked in the context of a continuing universe was pretty much over. At this point, though, he hasn't reached those excesses yet. Instead, the Joker's birth is treated more like the discovery of a dangerous and intelligent serial killer stalking the city.
Mahnke deserves a lot of credit for making the effects of the Joker toxin seem especially grotesque and horrific, and the shots of the "test subjects" at the beginning are as disgusting as anything you'll see on a show like CSI. Mahnke also really brings out the Joker's manic intensity in every page we got, with his eyes bright and wide, his mouth spread into a hideous grin... this is a guy who is always thinking of something evil and crazy to do. In the context of Man Who Laughs, Joker is not a fun villain whose wacky schemes can entertain the reader, he is a dangerous madman and a killer whose unpredictability makes him even more terrifying. When people begin fleeing the city as if it were suffering from an impending hurricane, it's a very effective moment that shows just how good Joker is at using terror as a weapon. Rucka and Brubaker did a modern take on this kind of thing in Gotham Central, but it's even more effective here as Joker is less of a known quantity, and the fact that this citywide terror has just erupted out of nowhere makes it all the more scary for the citizenry.
Amidst a variety of clever and horrific killings, though, the story of a mystery develops. Why is Joker just killing these people off? Brubaker avoids the lame "because he's crazy!" explanation that too many lesser writers would use and instead offers up an example of Joker's twisted logic driving the story. What makes this story work or not work is the writer being able to write the Joker well, and Brubaker pulls it off beautifully. He's crazy and unpredictable, but still grounded in motivations beyond driving the plot, and he's dangerous but still well within believable physical limitations. The Man Who Laughs is a terrific introduction to Batman's arch-foe filtered through the Year One lens, and is well worth a look for all Batman fans, but especially for those like me who have special place in their heart for Year One. 9/10
