Related
Warning : contains give-and-take of furiousness and disturbing themes .
WhileJokermay be the one and only Clown Prince of Crime , he ’s also a cultural icon , which more or less guarantees supervillain copycats will spring up to savor in his reflected glory . One such emulator is the Man Who Laughs , but the distorted baddie actually revealed a major issue with how Batman ’s nemesis is portrayed .
Born Norman S. Rotrig and herald from France , the Man Who Laughs is dear and practically recognized as simply the Gallic Joker . Still , his backstory is far more complex than beingjust another Joker knock - off . Norman was erect by his father after his mother ’s expiry during childbearing . As his sire grew obsess with Victor Hugo ’s writings , he decide to create survive fine art , with his Word as the raw materials . interchangeable to how Joker removed his own look , Norman ’s Father of the Church gave his son a lasting grin . The resulting pain and psychic trauma put Norman onto the path of becoming a phantasmagorical criminal .
bear on : Harley Quinn Takes Over Batman and Joker ’s Greatest Covers In New DC Art
Batman & Robin # 26by David Hine , Greg Tocchini , and Andrei Bressan concludes with the Man Who Laughs getting retaliation on his old man . Adopting his Church Father ’s penchant for turning people into work of prowess , Norman deconstructs his dupe , storing his still - connected variety meat in various VAT programmed to keep him alive as long as potential in a hidden installation that not even the World ’s Greatest Detective will ever find . For as long as these machines continue to work - in all likelihood long afterBatman and the Joker ’s various deaths- Norman ’s Fatherhood is forced to watch a neverending eyelet of the fellowship ’s home movies , reflecting on the ways he mistreated his son .
The Man Who Laughs ' offence is sadistic , melodramatic , and darkly ironic , hit all the hallmarks of a large ( if disturbing ) Joker story . Joker ’s strength as a character is that he is at his most interesting when his crimes are direct and personal towards a single person , much like Norman ’s towards his own father . Joker ’s most calculated and compelling crimesare often directed towards trying to prove a point towards a undivided figure like Batman or Commissioner Gordon , as most magnificently seen inThe Killing Joke . That ’s when the Joker is at his most terrific and queerly fascinating - when he ’s employing what Dick Grayson once described as his"cranky , creepy aid to detail "
The Joker loses his machination divisor when his crimes become all-encompassing , targeting no one in particular , but alternatively a mass of people at once , such ashis antics inJoker Waror villainous trick like kill the entirety of Gotham City . Joker ’s full criminal offence are n’t necessarily tough or boring , but he lose his specificity when he tally into a grander supervillain function . As a misrepresented serial killer stalking the street of Gotham , Joker is one of papa - culture ’s most unsettling figure . However , as a large - scale hustler , he lean to lose his charm .
That ’s not to say that Joker should be limited , but that his terrifying electric potential is all the shivery when it center in on a specific mark . Joker is most terrifyingwhen he might be hiding under the bed , not when he ’s firebomb the city . In this issue , the Man Who Laughs feel more like theJokerthan the veridical deal has in recent memory , let loose a personality and creativeness reserve for the very good horror fable .
Next : Joker ’s Greek God Form is n’t as brawny as Fans Would require
