The Batman Who Laughs Finale Review: The Worst Batman

Writer: Scott Snyder / Artist: Jock / DC Comics The finale to The Batman Who Laughs is finally here. But before we get into any praise, reactions or hyped up analogies, we gotta go off about this cover!! I’ve gotta be honest… covers aren’t usually my thing. I know that sounds crazy when you take into consideration how much of a visual medium comics are. It’s the one place “you can’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t always apply. I guess at the very least, I’m indifferent when it comes to covers. When there are bad ones, it definitely changes my idea of the book, but other than that I’m chillin’. This cover stood out to me not because of its artistic integrity (though it is dope as hell. Shout out to Jock), but because of its reference to The Shining. Obviously, the two stories are very different, but it’s a nice nod to a classic that instantly sets you up for what’s to come within the pages of the comic.  Now for the meat! This series quickly established that it was a story about winning. The Batman Who Laughs wanted to win. Bruce needed to win. Set the motivations aside, this was about a dub. And pretty much this whole time, Laughs was ahead. But Bruce came in in the clutch like Kawhi Leonard in the 2019 Playoffs. And the way he did it is still blowing my mind. 

Batman beat his twisted counterpart not by digging into himself and finding the inner strength he’d need to get the job done, not by trying to be Michael Jordan vs. any team in the Finals ever, but by accepting hi…