Comic Review: The Man Who Laughs

I recently picked up the new softcover of this volume (which for $14.99 is a great price) from current and widely acclaimed Captain America writer Ed Brubaker, which details the first meeting between the Dark Knight and his archnemesis, the Joker. This is an excellent storyline, and captures most everything essential about the comic book Joker, which generally exists as an entity different of that from Heath Ledger's take in The Dark Knight. It isn't anything particularly groundbreaking, although I really like Brubaker's Gordon, which follows from Year One. Before I got to the end of The Man Who Laughs, I didn't realize there was a second story collected here, also by Brubaker. It is entitled "Made of Wood," and connects Batman with Alan Scott, the Green Lantern from the 1940's. They are both guardians of Gotham, and along with Gordon, really shows what it is like to love a place that has a severe ugly side. An excellent read overall, highly recommended. Update: This game looks really sweet. Kotaku has first impressions on a really early build, but still.