Reddit Reddit reviews Batman: The Man Who Laughs

We found 15 Reddit comments about Batman: The Man Who Laughs. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Batman: The Man Who Laughs
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15 Reddit comments about Batman: The Man Who Laughs:

u/Tigertemprr · 28 pointsr/DCcomics

> It’s so confusing, why shouldn’t I just be able to follow his story from beginning to present?

> (I’m using Batman as an example but really I’d like help understanding how to follow comics in general as they’re all laid out this way, with overlapping arcs and timelines and such)

This isn't entirely how comics work. In general, it's not the only way other mediums work either. The REQUIREMENT that everything follows a strict, traditional/conventional 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end) is self-imposed and not necessary for good story-telling. The "beginning" of comics happened decades ago and the "end" is nowhere in sight; comics are perpetually stuck in the "middle".

You're already used to non-traditional narrative structure; it's used very often in other mediums. Why does Star Wars get a pass but not superhero comics? Did you see how Darth Vader "became" Darth Vader before he was introduced for the first time? Do you refuse to watch/read/play anything that will potentially have a prequel and ruin your "sense" of chronology? Did Memento or even Pulp Fiction melt your mind? When you go watch Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, there aren't going to be in-depth introductions for every character.

It's OK to embrace your preferences. Most people like following stories from beginning to end. Now that there is 70+ years of comic history to explore, third parties have attempted ordering it all in some subjective, complicated chronology. It's not really possible, though. How do you handle flashbacks, especially when they're embedded in another story? Do you have to change the chronology to per-panel precision? What about simultaneous story releases? Alternate universes/timelines that are fully/partially "canon" and/or merged/retconned later? Varieties of characterization by multiple writers/artists?

Most of what made these superheroes "cool" in the first place was very topical. What powers do they have? What does their costume look like? Their backstories and character growth/development were fleshed out over the coming decades, more specifically in the "modern" age of comics when the demographic started transitioning to include adults.

There's no "perfect" or "definitive" sequence of events that Batman's story occurred in. That severely limits creators from writing new stories for the character without requiring hard continuity reboots. If you start solidifying that Batman grew up in X, met character Y, fought character Z, in a strict order that can't be changed, then you can't write stories that occur in between those moments. If you plan out Batman's entire chronology to fit a realistic calendar where Bane broke his back on Wednesday and the Court of Owls revealed themselves on Friday, then you (1) will find it won't make sense (because that's not how comics are made) and (2) are stripping all of the "magic" of comics away. Keep in mind: 70+ year old shared universes are an unprecedented achievement of storytelling. No other medium has accomplished something of this scale for this long. You should expect to think of something unique like that a little differently than you might be used to.

I think it's easier to get into comics when you drop the "need" to read EVERYTHING, IN ORDER. You should just read self-contained stories and treat them like separate stories. Think of it like a jigsaw picture puzzle that you're solving one piece at a time. You won't see the big picture (continuity) until you manually piece random pieces of it together over time. You even start to develop your own "methodology" (head-canon, community discussion, etc.) of putting those pieces together (reading comics) in a way that makes sense to you personally. Comics should feel more like self-discovery/exploration than procedure/work.

This is (roughly) how I got into Batman and what I suggest to new readers:

u/Kallelinski · 7 pointsr/DCcomics
u/apocalypsenowandthen · 7 pointsr/comicbookmovies
  • The Dark Knight draws heavily from The Long Halloween and plenty of the Joker's lines are taken straight out of a prose issue collected here. There's also the obvious influence of The Killing Joke and The Man Who Laughs. The Killing Joke was also the primary influence on Tim Burton's Batman.

  • Batman Begins draws from a number of stories include Year One, Blind Justice and The Man Who Falls which is collected here.

  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier was based on the fairly recent Ed Brubaker run which is phenomenal.

  • The Dark Knight Rises combines elements of Knightfall, No Man's Land and The Dark Knight Returns. The Dark Knight Returns is also a major influence on the upcoming Batman V Superman.

  • The Avengers mainly draws from the original first issue of The Avengers, which is collected here and retold again here in a modern setting, as well as The Ultimates. There are plenty of shots that feel like they were lifted right out of The Ultimates. On a side note, Joss also wrote the introduction to the book years ago and it was through doing this that he figured out exactly why the Avengers work.

  • The X-Men movies tend to draw more from the 80's, especially Chris Claremont's run. X-Men 2 draws heavily from Gods Loves, Man Kills. X-Men 3 is loosely based off of The Dark Phoenix Saga as well as Joss Whedon's relatively recent Astonishing X-Men. The Wolverine draws from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's [Wolverine mini-series] and Days of Future Past is based on, you guessed it, Day of Future Past. Even though X-Men: First Class takes it's name from the comic of the same name it has more in common with the early Stan Lee stuff. X-Men Origins: Wolverine draws from several comics include Wolverine's Origin mini-series and Weapon X. The first X-Men movie isn't really based off any particular arc although it did heavily influence Ultimate X-Men.

  • The upcoming Daredevil TV series seems to be drawing heavily from Frank Miller's run, particularly his origin story The Man Without Fear. While Miller's main run took place in the late 70's/early 80's The Man Without Fear came out in the 90's.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy takes its line-up from the 2004 series but the plot of the movie is all its own.

  • Avenger: Age of Ultron seems to be an original story that's taking it's cues, at least in part, from Ultron Unlimited which is collected here.

  • Man of Steel was heavily influenced by John Byrne's 80's reboot although its structure is heavily modelled on the 2010 graphic novel Earth One. There are also bits and pieces taken from Birthright, Secret Origin and All-Star Superman.

  • Iron Man 3 certainly takes its cues from Extremis but a lot of it is just pure Shane Black. The first Iron Man isn't based on a particular storyline but Tony's origin stuff in Afghanistan is almost identical to the flashbacks in Extremis that revamp Tony's origin for a modern context. Iron Man 2 borrows a little from Demon in a Bottle and Armor Wars but ultimately does its own thing.

  • The writer of the Fantastical Four reboot has mentioned that they've been influenced by Ultimate Fantastic Four.

  • Ant-Man follows an original story but is primarily influenced by the Scott Lang Ant-Man books from the late 70's/early 80's.

  • The Thor movies aren't based on any particular storyline but they are vaguely influenced by Walter Simon's run as well as J. Michael Straczynski's run

  • Green Lantern draws heavily from Geoff John's run, especially his near-perfect origin story Secret Origin

  • AKA Jessica Jones is based on the incredible Alias.

    EDIT: Formatting
u/ProgramSupervisor · 7 pointsr/RealGirls

Well actually

u/centipededamascus · 5 pointsr/comicbooks

Here's some good villain stories:

u/GrampaEDDIE · 4 pointsr/batman

A favorite of mine is JOKER. It's all about the Joker, as seen through the eyes of a low level thug. It's pretty damn good. Also Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a great Joker-heavy one as well.

u/CKitch26 · 3 pointsr/batman

I also forgot to mention The Man Who Laughs

u/longbox_jockey · 3 pointsr/comicbooks

Manhunter special edition: https://www.amazon.com/Manhunter-Special-Archie-Goodwin/dp/1563893746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482466068&sr=8-1&keywords=manhunter+special+edition

Batman Man who Laughs: https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Man-Laughs-Ed-Brubaker/dp/1401216269/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482466112&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=bruabker+batman

Green Arrow Year One: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Arrow-Year-Andy-Diggle/dp/1401217435/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482466451&sr=1-2&keywords=green+arrow

u/drock45 · 3 pointsr/comicbooks

There's a number of mini-series about DC and Marvel villains like the already mentioned Joker by Azzarello and his one on Luthor. There's also one on Red Skull by Greg Pak, a Doctor Doom origin called Books of Doom by Brubaker, the amazing Magneto Testament by Greg Pak again, Brubakers Joker origin The Man Who Laughs, and I'm sure there's more. In terms on on-goings there's Sinestro and Magneto right now

u/scrooched_moose · 2 pointsr/comicbooks

Made of Wood is an amazing story line which has Batman teaming up with Alan Scott (my favorite Green Lantern) to catch a serial killer. Available as a "bonus" in The Man Who Laughs TPB.

u/ideatio · 2 pointsr/comicbooks

There's good and bad. As you can see above, I'm really liking Snyder's new take on the first year of Batmannery, but IMO, the new Robin origin sucks the balls of a million and one feral donkeys. Or something a normal person might say.

So with that in mind, my pre new 52 recommendations...

Batman: Year One Wouldn't be too surprised if you'd read this already. A gritty, 4-issue take on Batman's formative Batmanning, this has long been regarded as the gold standard. Highly recommended.

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns, Vol1 This features wildly different characterisations than New 52, however, I think it's solid work, and just fun comics. Features Tim Drake Robin. If this interests you, also consider Young Justice by Peter David, based around Tim Drake, Superboy, Bart Allen(Kid Flash,basically) and Wonder Girl. It's lighthearted and pretty accessible if you like teen drama/comedy.

If you're looking at Batman's early years, there's The Man who Laughs for the first Joker encounter, or Batman and the Mad Monk.

Batgirl: Year Oneis super fun, and Robin: Year One is also pretty good, this is Dick Grayson Robin.

Also, if we're talking about essential Joker stories and Batgirl, I can't avoid talking about the seminal The Killing Joke.

The whole Damien thing really requires reading all of Grant Morrison's trippy, sci-fi Batman run, a guide to which can be found here. This might be what you call intermediate Batman.

And I think that's a good primer for the Batman universe. Anything in particular you're interested in, i.e Batman and other heroes, Batman as detective, Batman as superhero? There are tons of paper devoted to whatever you're into.

P.S While it seems I haven't shut up in ages, this is just important stories of the last 20 or so years. I've got nothing if you want anything on Batman from 1939-1987. If you need some more Adam West-ish Batman in you're life you'll have to ask someone smarter :(

Ninja Edit: Singing Batman

u/puppy-guppy · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

decibel

Batman the man who laughs

u/BiDo_Boss · 1 pointr/DCcomics

Now, as for which character to start with, I'd advise you to start with Batman comics. His comics are very accessible, and he has tons of fantastic stories. Of course, with Batman stories, rarely do you need any pre-reading. Some stories have some required reading and/or are sequels to a previous story, though.

The de facto first trade to get is Batman: Year One by Frank Miller. The first major Batman story chronologically, but more importantly, it's a fantastic story overall.

Another great story is the KnightSaga. You mentioned you were interested in Bane. Well, this is as interesting as Bane gets. It's a trilogy of storylines, consisting of Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 1, Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 2: Knightquest, and finally Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 3: KnightsEnd. The Knightfall Saga does not require any pre-reading, by the way.

Now, another way to go, is that you can just forget about everything pre-new52 (post-Crisis) and just jump into Batman Vol. 2, which is the New 52 relaunch of the Batman title. I wouldn't recommend completely dismissing every Batman story that isn't 52, though. Because even though his new 52 stories have been consistently superb, you'd be missing out on a lot of good shit. If you do feel overwhelmed, though, and just want to jump into the relaunch so you can catch up and then read it monthly, start with Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (The New 52). It's one of the best Batman stories of all time, by the way, so regardless of whether or not you wanna put off post-Crisis stories, read Court of Owls, which is the first 5 New 52 Batman trades currently out.

Other Batman/Batfamily recommendations:

  • Batman: The Killing Joke is the notorious masterpiece by Alan Moore. Even if Moore don't like the story (he wrote it as a favour to Bolland), it contains all of Moore's intuitions and considerations about superheroes which appear in Watchmen too. The plot take place in two separate windows of time: a half is the present of Dick Giordano's run just before "Death in the Family", the other half is a reinterpretation of the classic Detective Comics #168. Considered by most as the ultimate Joker's origin story, it's both pure Batman and pure Moore. Read it if you liked Watchmen, as The Killing Joke is one of those comics that contribute to define the psychology and the peculiarities of the characters, hero and villain.

  • Batman: The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker is one of the shortest and least-known among these. It's a rewrite in a modern style of the classic Batman #1 which contains the first appearance of the Joker, but it's made to be perfectly integrated in a continuity made of Year One and The Killing Joke. It presents classic Brubaker's narration style and it's very dark

  • Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb is one of the longest and most articulated story of these. It takes place in the year between The Man Who Laughs (the end of Year One) and the birth of Two Faces, includes a great part of classic Batman cast and marks the connections between the criminal clans who worked in Gotham before Batman like Falcone from Year One and Maroni from Two-Face origin story. The story is a declaration of love to the character of Batman, it could be arranged between the original first stories since it lasts for a whole year and jumps from an event to another.

  • Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb is the direct sequel of The Long Halloween, involving the same cast and taking place after those events until Robin's inclusion in the dynamic duo. The story basically retcons Robin's origin postponing it after those of most villans (e.g. Robin appears in Detective Comics #38, Two-Face in issue #66), but explores in a good way the psyche of a man who takes a young man alongside him and his battle against crime, a really controversial topic debated since Jason Todd's death.

  • Catwoman: When in Rome by Jeph Loeb does not contains much Batman. It's the third one of the Loeb trilogy about Batman's early years and it is said to suffer from some holes in the plot, but it fulfills some open questions like the relationship between Selina Kyle and Falcone suggested by Miller in Year One and Catwoman's absence during Dark Victory.

    ---
    You also asked for Vixen recs. I'd really recommend getting Vixen: Return of the Lion, which is a 2008 mini-series, written by G Willow Wilson. She is a brilliant writer, I think this mini-series will peak your interest. It doesn't require pre-reading as well.

    ---
    Sorry for the late reply. Hope this helped :)
u/GrandMoffShiels · 1 pointr/INJUSTICE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Batman-Man-Who-Laughs-Joker/dp/1401216269/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496688203&sr=8-1&keywords=the+man+who+laughs+dc

u/bookshere · 1 pointr/webcomics

Batman: The Man Who Laughs