Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencillers: Doug Mahnke/Patrick Zircher
Inkers: Doug Mahnke/Aaron Sowd/Steve Bird
Colourists: David Baron/Jason Wright
Letterers: Rob Leigh/Todd Klein
Original Series Covers: Doug Mahnke/Tim Sale
Publisher: DC Comics

Batman The Man Who Laughs is actually two stories in one which includes Made Of Wood. If you ever wondered about the origins of The Joker then Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a must read. ED Brubaker writes a quite interesting story (which is an alternate to the origins of The Joker) and kept me quite interested in this story. Tha Bats (as Joker will come to refer to Batman) is at the very beginning of his career in Gotham City. He's still considered and urban legend and to testify as to how early in his career this is Jim Gordan is still a captain on the Gotham City PoliceDepartment. The batmobile is remonicent of what Adam West drove in the 1960's series except it's a regular car than transforms (intersting twist).
The Joker isn't fully portrayed as a maniac; however, he clearly has no particular rhyme or reason to his killing. For a man who's supposed to formulate plans on the go The Joker's plans always have an unseen end/twist that always catches Batman off guard. What I found most interesting about this story was it's similarities to The Dark Knight...I'll leave that for you to figure out once you read it. Another similarity is Batman's direct/indirect involvement in the creation of The Joker...again I'll leave you to figure out that part of the story. The art and colour work are great which I tend to prefer versus the old fashioned comic art and colour work.
Batman: The Man Who Laughs 4/5 Demon seals

Made Of Wood
Pencils: Patrick Zircher
Inks: Aaron Sowd (Parts 1-3) and Steve Bird (Part 3)
Colour: Jason Wright
Lettering: Todd Klein
Cover art: Tim Sale

Set decades after The Man Who Laughs, Made Of Wood reads more like a cartoon episode than like a graphic novel. I was far from pleased with this story and confused by the referral of The Green Lantern as Gotham's first guardian. What's that about? Maybe I need to do some more research or maybe, just maybe this is specific to the pruposes of this story. In any case the plot for this story is seriously lacking any substance and connecting the dots is exceptionally easy...sorry I meant to say NOT complicated. Although the story is set in modern times (Tha Bats actually has a modern Batmobile) the Green Lantern is dressed like an original member of the Justice Society of America (JSA) and quite frankly adds little to the story. What I do like about Made Of Wood is the ink and colour. In short Made Of Wood probably should have been made into a cartoon or simply not published.

Made Of Wood - 1/5 Demon seals