The Joker - The Man Who Stopped Laughing - Volume One

 

Of course, the Joker is one of Batman's most iconic villains and as such, there have been innumerable stories with him, serious as well as laughable, as well as innumerable interpretations of his character and his madness.

In this fairly confusing story, there is not one, but two Jokers - one who appears to be quite mad along with, apparently, being unable to die by conventional means, and one who actually acts fairly reasonable after leaving Gotham City for Los Angeles and creating mayhem across the States. Both believe themselves to be the real item, but neither of them seem to be quite right, so to speak. Of course, they eventually meet (again) and we discover which one is the real deal in a cliff hanger ending. This storyline was one of the better that I've read recently - intriguing, complex (for a comic) but not unmanageable and with interesting twists'n'turns.

Unfortunately, this clever tale is padded out with several absurd short stories about the Joker falling in love with numerous powered characters in the DC Universe. All incredibly silly and juvenile and not very compelling, frankly.

So, a true mix of good'n'bad here. Luckily, I found this at my local library so I didn't pay for it!