Title: The Man Who Laughs: Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime
Editors: Lou Tambone & Rich Handley
Published by: Crazy 8 Press
With so many stories, movies, video games, podcasts, cartoon appearances, and even psychology books, one would assume that everything there is to say about Batman’s arch-nemesis, the Joker, has already been said. The Man Who Laughs: Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime from Crazy 8 Press proves that assumption wrong. Not only does this collection of 20 essays prove that assumption wrong, but it challenges fans, both hardcore comic nerds and casual readers alike, to reexamine a character who has so integrally interwoven himself throughout Batman’s long, 80+ year history.
In The Man Who Laughs: Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime, editors Lou Tambone and Rich Handley curate 20 essays, as well as a foreword and afterword by comic book scribes Bob Rozakis and Steve Englehart, that dig deep and get introspective. There are fun essays, like Tom K. Mason’s “Text Messages of a Dark Knight” that recontextualizes the creation of the Joker between Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and Bob Kane via a group text. There are also hard-hitting essays, like Keith R.A. DeCandido’s “Whatever the Joker Wants, the Joker Goetz” that examines how Todd Phillips’ Joker film comes up short when using a real-life shooting as its central focus or Jo Duffy’s “Joker: Stop Punching Down” that suggest recent characterizations of the Joker miss the mark.
Interwoven throughout The Man Who Laughs are stories, lenses, and ideas of what the Joker has been and could be. There’s no singular identity, but rather, each essay presents a point of view that paints a picture of the landscape of comic books, film, television, and all other manner of Bat-Mania (or Joker-Mania). Individually, they’re interesting ideas and arguments. Collected together, they create an impressionistic painting filled with counterpoints and contradictory viewpoints that, in a way, represent the elements each creator who has contributed to the Joker over the years has added, regardless of how in, or out, of character it seems to Bat-fans across the spectrum.
That’s the beauty of The Man Who Laughs.
For fans who relish every appearance, or for those who have grown weary of the Joker, this is a celebration and rekindling of what makes this character so mystifying. It’s both a revival of past great Joker portrayals that perhaps aren’t talked about enough, like Caesar Romero’s kinetic turn as the clown prince of crime, and it’s a look at how current events, comics code, and audiences’ fixations have morphed a murderous mob boss to goofy prankster and ultimately to sadistic serial killer.
Personally, essays like Alan J. Porter’s “Why I’m Fed Up with the Joker” proved illuminating as to why I sometimes get weary of seeing Joker pop up in current comics. Using Grand Comics Database as a guide, Porter estimates that Joker has appeared in nearly 8,000 comic stories over the years, and 46.4% of those appearances were in the 2010s to present. And that’s just comics!
On the same token, John Trumbull’s “Fixing the Laughter: Voice Casting The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series,” uses interviews and behind-the-scenes information to detail how Mark Hamill replaced Tim Curry as the voice of the Joker, which had one of the most monumental impacts on the character from the 90s onward.
All in all, it’s a fascinating study of the character. Whether readers agree or disagree with each author’s take, there’s something to be learned and experienced in each essay. What writers choose to focus on, which characterizations are their favorites, or how they chronicle Joker’s evolution — it’s unique. As a reviewer, reader, and Bat-fan, I feel like my understanding of Joker’s impact on pop culture, and vice versa, has grown and been nourished by The Man Who Laughs: Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime, and there’s really nothing more one could ask of a collection of essays and critical analyses.
