Comic Review: The Batman Who Laughs (2018-) #2

The Batman Who Laughs #2

DC Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Jock

The team-up between Snyder and Jock continues in The Batman Who Laughs #2.  I was a big fan of the last issue for the most part, and this issue was a great follow-up.  After the Joker “killed” himself, releasing Joker toxin in front of the Batman, Bruce must deal with the impending insanity while stopping the Batman Who Laughs.

There’s a lot of great moments in this issue.  Snyder is back to his horror roots with this gritty detective story and that’s a great thing.  One of my favorite moments in the issue was the Batman Who Laughs sneaking past a blind guard in Wayne Tower because he has Batman’s voice.  There’s also another great scene where BWL monologues that to rest of the Batmen in the multiverse, our Bruce is the nightmare.

Snyder also ties many of his past stories into this one.  There’s a great scene of Batman showing Commissioner Gordon a plan made by the early Gotham families to cure the city of disease.  This ties into both Gates of Gotham as well as Court of Owls.  And like all of his work on the character, Snyder really delves into the history of Gotham City.  It doesn’t stop there though, for all you Black Mirror fans out there, the cliffhanger at the end of this issue is just for you.

Even though there’s plenty to like in this issue, there were a few things that threw me off.  The first is the follow-up to the cliffhanger from the first issue.  The decision to “kill” the Joker and pump Batman full of Joker toxin felt like a strange direction or a clickbait cliffhanger.  We start this issue off by showing that the Joker is alive and Bruce isn’t Jokerized yet.  It felt like the ending to the first issue was entirely unnecessary as much of it was solved within the first few pages of this issue.  The Joker toxin affecting Bruce will definitely come up again, but it doesn’t feel all that exciting.

There’s also this strange disconnect of genres in this story.  The story is very gritty and down-to-Earth just like you’d expect from a Snyder/Jock team.  However, the inclusion of the Batman Who Laughs also makes this a multiversal story.  It is kind of weird seeing Batman talk to Gordon about Bruce Waynes popping out of other dimensions.  I wish the BWL was more of a horror character than a man from another world.  I think the BWL would be far scarier if we didn’t know where he came from.

Overall, The Batman Who Laughs #2 is another solid chapter of this story.  Despite a few problems, I really enjoy this type of Batman story.  We get to see Batman doing detective work and unraveling the secrets of Gotham City.  Throw in a few Batmen from alternate universes and you got a pretty great story.