Batman dooms Gotham City in The Batman Who Laughs No. 5
By Monita Mohan
The Batman Who Laughs No. 5 is the goriest issue of the series with Batman poised to destroy his city. But does this instalment border on sensationalism?
Batman has been struggling with the toxin that he was injected with. In The Batman Who Laughs No. 5, the Caped Crusader appears to finally cross the line – he briefly turns into the same villain that he’s been fighting to get out of a sticky situation. But that’s not all.
The Batman Who Laughs uses information from the Court of Owls to execute his plan of releasing the toxin throughout Gotham and, in the denouement of this issue, Batman seemingly colludes with the Batman Who Laughs to carry out this mission. Is there any way to save Gotham now when the city’s protector has turned against her?
The Batman Who Laughs No. 5 (Credit: DC Comics)
The Batman Who Laughs No. 5 was the goriest installment in the series, one could argue that it was unnecessarily so. While Batman himself tries to restrain himself, his villainous alter ego is ruthless, dismembering those who come in his way and, more disturbingly, hurling a wheelchair-bound child off a cliff.
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Given the understandably vitriolic reaction to last week’s Uncanny X-Men #17, it begs the question whether this issue of The Batman Who Laughs should also be called out for its need to sensationalize violence against the disabled community. While the series has not eschewed its portrayal of violence, the latest installment revels in it too much. The scene with the young girl did not need to be so explicitly drawn. There is also a panel with several Court of Owls Talons shuffling into view with their arms ripped off. All of these panels are written and drawn for shock value, and it’s downright insensitive.
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These are elements that should not have existed in the preceding series, Batman: Black Mirror, and has been mostly absent from The Batman Who Laughs, but this glorification of violence seems to have reared its head once again in a Snyder/Jock series. Creators need to take a step back and take note of the harm that their “othering” of characters can do to readers. If last week has shown anything, it is that the comics industry still has a long way to go.