The horror in the Knight Terrors crossover tie-ins I read recently was mostly lackluster, so I’m glad to see Matthew Rosenberg and Carmine Di Giandomenico’s Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing Vol. 1 delivers. Weirdly, Rosenberg’s Knight Terrors: The Joker tie-in was more humorous, not scary, more like the Silver Age-esque backup stories also collected here; with a horror-focused main title, maybe it makes more sense the crossover issue did something different.
Irrespective, this is good work from Rosenberg, tonally similar to James Tynion’s preceding Joker series but different enough not to be repetitive. Continuity with Rosenberg’s Task Force Z is awkward, but I appreciate the throughway nonetheless. If the story continues a bit too long, it gives us more pages to enjoy Di Giandomenico’s art, which assuredly sells not only the gore, but often the widescreen dramatic set pieces of it all. I’ll be interested to see how this one resolves.
