Like Black Mirror, however, Man Who Laughs shows instant staying power this is a book surely deserving of inclusion in Snyder box sets and republishing in deluxe and Absolute formats for years to come.īlack Mirror famously posited the corrupting power of Gotham City, that perhaps there was something intrinsic within the makeup of Gotham (chemical, architectural, or supernatural) that ultimately brought out the worst in people. Man Who Laughs is perhaps not the horror masterpiece that is Black Mirror, but is still a powerful (and powerfully drawn) treatise on Batman and his quest, his relationship to the people of Gotham, and questions of whether to save the day through intimidation or inspiration as demonstrated through the metaphors of Batman's various villains. Also there are connections to the themes of Snyder's New 52 Batman run, placing Batman Who Laughs firmly in the Snyder canon - more so, even, than Dark Nights: Metal, since Laughs is set firmly in the Gotham that looms so large in Snyder's books. It's subtle - one need not have read Black Mirror (now shockingly almost a decade old) to enjoy this book, but the connections are there (plus shades, too, of The Killing Joke).

Indeed, too, it's not just the presence of artist Jock that hearkens back to Snyder's earliest Batman work, Batman: The Black Mirror, it's the story as well Snyder has written a sequel. Sure, Snyder's writing the whole Justice League now, but with books first like Dark Nights: Metal and then leading in to The Batman Who Laughs, it's clear Snyder's League has a lot of basis in his Batman work and in his Batman mythos. Despite the supposed end to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman collaboration with Batman: Last Knight on Earth, on stands now, in many respects it feels like Snyder's second act with Batman is just getting started.

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