Scott Snyder has surrounded himself with an amazing team of artists to create stories from the best creations collected in ACC Editions’ comprehensive edition titled The Batman Who Laughs: Metal.
He is one of the most important villains born in recent years, not only in Batman, but in DC Comics and the world of comics in general. Now, thanks to ECC Ediciones, Batman Who Laughs: Iron Man has a volume that not only includes the miniseries by Scott Snyder and Jock, but also the essential additions written and drawn to this abominable character. Great names from the ninth art panorama.
From Dark Nights: Metal
If we want the origin of Batman Who Laughs, we have to go to that event Dark Nights: Iron. We got this version of Bruce Wayne from Earth-22 from the dark multiverse, where he was mocked by a poison created by the Clown Prince of Crime.
Once he destroys his own world, he is recruited by Barbettos to begin an invasion of all that exists with twisted versions of the Dark Knight. The truth is that as cool as this scene of Batman’s death combined with the Joker is, this background does not suit him more realistic and earthly, which is how human villains are usually. The bat. And maybe in this volume, in part, we will find that superior version of the character.
Lucha en Gotham City
Although the character’s ambitions are high, what do we find in the main series included in this volume at Five’s fight on the streets of Gotham City? Bands. Batman, in his own twisted way (i.e. by injecting a poison that looks like him too soon), is going to bring our villain face to face with the traditional Joker. If nothing prevents it in the first place). But two more vertices should be added to this triangle.
On the one hand we have the Shadow Knight, which is the punishing version of the bat. With his hood and cape, this Frank Castle is not only armed to the teeth, but also provides some great fun moments and allows the cartoonists who control his appearance to have fun unleashing all of the nineties.
But perhaps the one in the hole in this story is James Gordon Jr., the Gotham City Commissioner’s son we saw years ago in Dark Mirror, a job that represents the first fight of the team formed by Snyder and Jock. To the Caped Crusader universe. What he shows here is that if he had been sufficiently developed and given ample space, this young psychopath could have been equal to the one that gives this volume its title.
Laugh forever
Although this editorially young villain may be often blocked in some ways with the Joker, it’s clear that he could have an important career beyond Snyder’s capabilities. A good proof of this will be the second half of this volume, which laughs at what could be considered Batman’s life with other authors and is completely immersed in the center of the continuity of the DC Universe.
Joshua Williamson and James Tynion IV, Snyder’s protégé, will be the main characters in a story arc where Batman and Superman share the limelight, first expanding the villain’s influence and what that conclusion might be. The event, known as the Year of the Villain, could be considered a prelude to what would later come under the title Dark Nights: Death Metal. This second half of the volume does not reach the level of the first, but it certainly has its most important moments.
In the graphic section we also have high impact names. Even if we don’t see Jock’s best version here (but we do see what makes us love his work just as much), we always have the great Eduardo Risso, the brilliant David Marquez and other great works to compensate. Mention should be made of Steve Epting as Javier Fernandez.
In short, in this volume we not only have a great selection of episodes with Batman Laughing as the main character, but we also have some stories, especially the ones that give him the title voice, that are very important in their own right. In some ways, Little Oceans in the Desert is sometimes the standard series catalog of the two major American comics publishers.
This volume is presented in hardcover, 488 color pages and includes translations of the American edition The Batman Who Laughs 1-7, The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight, The Infected – The Commissioner, Hell Arisen 1-4, Batman/Superman Volume 2 1 -5, and a small final section of covers and alternate covers for all related issues. It has a recommended retail price of €52.50 and goes on sale in September 2023.
Batman: Iron Man
Could there be anything more dangerous than the combination of Joker and Batman? The Laughing Batman escapes from the Dark Multiverse and arrives on Earth with a terrifying plan that has only one solution beyond the start of destruction: one that our Batman refuses to accept.
The Batman Who Laughs is one of the characters in Dark Nights: Metal. This volume compiles not only small works by Scott Snyder and Jock, but also subsequent works by contemporary comics writers such as Steve Epting, David Marquez or James Tynion IV.
Good villains always survive defeat, and Batman is one of the most recent examples to laugh at. In this volume, we’ll see how much remains to be said for several seminal moments in DC comics over the past decade.
Authors: Scott Snyder, Paul Jenkins, James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez, Joshua Williamson, Jock, Eduardo Riso, Jack Herbert, Steve Epting, and David Marquez.