Batman Who Laughs (mini-series)

[adkal]

Did anyone read this this week?

Thoughts?

The spoilers:

body harvesting-thing

end of spoilers is one of those creepy/disturbing (under-reported) things that happens in cities across the world (some more 'freely' than others), so I liked the brief highlight it was given. It's one of those issues I've thought Batman (and others) would tackle in general - and I think the lengths the criminals were going to alludes to Batman having eliminated some of their easier options over the years.

BWL's trans-Earth ability is something that should be explained a bit more.

Perhaps Joker has some sort of subconscious link to BWL spoilers:

which would explain how, conveniently, a decoy was placed in his stead

end of spoilers but that bit towards the end of the issue was on another level of convenience/contrivance. Meh.

Alfred seemed quite lost at times. Didn't work for me.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

It was OK, brought a very big sense of forboding and menace though. I'm not a Jock fan, so I didn't care for the art, too bad Capallo couldn't have done it.

[TheJudge95]

I liked the opening with the smuggling, felt very Sicario-esque. Also liked the autopsy scene and the idea that Batman hung up the cape and cowl in another dimension. Joker's relationship with the BWL is inconsistent: in Metal he comes out of nowhere and dominates the BWL, but in Justice League, he's afraid of the BWL. So there's this dissonance between Snyder's portrayal of the Joker as this immortal being with deep knowledge of the Multiverse (Endgame) and him being out-of-sorts about the BWL, where he goes so far as to kill himself (?) to defeat him. It just seems like Snyder is hyping up the BWL at the expense of the Joker. There's a plot hole with how Batman knows that Joker has a dead man's trigger Joker toxin bomb, since that was only shown in the Batman Who Laughs one-shot. Anyone notice the reference to Endgame with the happiest moment of Joker's life involving him swimming into the batcave?

[judder64]

I loved it, but there is something that buggers me:

I don't know how to put spoiler tags:

SPOILER





Do Gordon and Joker know that Bruce Wayne is Batman? When did this happen?

[Coco Loco]

Joker knew in Endgame. They’ve never straight-out confirmed that Gordon knows, but Snyder has stopped just short of saying it explicitly several times, most recently in the first arc of All-Star Batman.

[judder64]

Oh, that is true. It's been quite a long time since I read those stories. Did endgame specify just exactly how Joker found out?

[Coco Loco]

Oh, that is true. It's been quite a long time since I read those stories. Did endgame specify just exactly how Joker found out?

It did not.

[Vordan]

Oh, that is true. It's been quite a long time since I read those stories. Did endgame specify just exactly how Joker found out?

Scott Snyder had Joker get into the Batcave retroactively way back during one of Batman’s first adventures. Scott also had Bruce go visit Joker in Arkham and give him a Joker card back that Joker left in the Batcave while he was down there. I assume that’s how he knows.

[numberthirty]

I loved it, but there is something that buggers me:

I don't know how to put spoiler tags:

SPOILER





spoilers:

Do Gordon and Joker know that Bruce Wayne is Batman? When did this happen?

end of spoilers

Try putting either "SPOIL" or "spoil" in the "SIZE" or "QUOTE" tag. If you quote this post, you should be able to see what it looks like.

[Arctic Cyclist]

I loved it, but there is something that buggers me:

I don't know how to put spoiler tags:

SPOILER





Do Gordon and Joker know that Bruce Wayne is Batman? When did this happen?

Morrison's Batman is the first time I can think of that it became explicit that both Gordon and the Joker know Bruce Wayne is Batman, although I believe Year One implies Gordon figured it out immediately. Inc has Gordon's internal monologue saying he doesn't know how long he's known that Bruce Wayne is Batman; Synder's Zero Year reflects Year One's implication that Gordon knew right away. All of Snyder's run hinges on Gordon knowing. Superheavy even has Gordon approaches Bruce at least once for advice on being Batman.

RIP is the first time it's made clear that the Joker knows who Batman is and doesn't care because he considers Bruce Wayne the mask. It's not the first time we learn that Ra's and Talia ensure that anyone who figures out the secret keeps their mouth shut, however, it is the first time we find out the Joker has the same policy. Death of the Family hinges on the Joker knowing everyone's identity except maybe Batgirl's. Her brother set up her mind break in that issue, and the Joker plays along as he and James Jr have a mentor/protégé relationship.

So in other words: ten years, maybe more, and all of the New 52 and Rebirth.

[judder64]

Well, thank you all for the answers!

It is certainly interesting. I think it is totally in character for the Joker to not care about bruce wayne, and also for Gordon to actually know the truth.

By the way, how does it come no one is talking about this? I consider TBWL an interesting villain, and I am really excited to see where Snyder takes the characters in this mini series.

I am not a big fan of King's run, so things like this and Taylor's third annual for Batman have been a necessary breath of fresh air for me.

It also helps that I am into horror stories, however the format, and Snyder is pretty good with mixing horror and superheroes.

Even though I loved his run for swamp thing back in the day, it didn't hold up very well over a rereading. Maybe it had to do with me reading the far (far far far) superior Alan Moore's run in between.

Who knows? But then, along came Metal, and it totally blew my mind.

Can't wait for the next issue!