Take a little bit of Batman, a little bit of Joker, and a whole lot of Dark Multiverse, and you get the 2017 introduction of DC Comics’ The Batman Who Laughs. The name is a play on “The Man Who Laughs
As a combo platter of a true Batman warped by the poison of a Joker toxin, The Batman Who Laughs has quickly become one of the deadliest and most twisted enemies in Earth-0 Bruce Wayne’s rogue’s gallery.
Below you’ll find a complete reading order for comics featuring The Batman who Laughs, as the character continues to play more of a major role throughout the DC Universe.
Related Reading Orders:
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The Batman Who Laughs Comic Book History
An absolute blast, one of my favorite comic book events all time, and the debut of The Batman Who Laughs. I’d recommend reading the entire event, but if you’re in a crunch, then the Batman Who Laughs sequence should flow as the first three main event issues of Metal, The Batman Who Laughs one-shot, and then the remainder of Metal. But seriously, you’ll be missing out on both a great event, and lots of Batman Who Laughs if you take this approach!
For the whole event, check out Comic Book Herald’s complete guide to Dark Nights Metal.
Justice League Vol. 2: Graveyard of Gods
Collects: Justice League #8-12
At the end of Metal, the Batman Who Laughs is subdued, but in the pages of the Scott Snyder written Justice League we learn that he’s now kept imprisoned by Lex Luthor. The Legion of Doom leader is effectively wielding the Batman Who Laughs like a weapon here, much to the chagrin of the Joker, who is quite rightly bothered by the very existence of this Dark Multiverse creation.
Scott Snyder and Jock reunite for a seven issue miniseries of Batman vs. The Batman Who Laughs. I felt like the story would have worked better as an “Elseworlds” tale, but make no mistake, this saga of The Batman Who Laughs murdering multiversal Bruce Waynes and attempting to infect all of Gotham is somehow very much in continuity.
Note for those reading outside the collected edition, The Grim Knight one-shot was published after Batman Who Laughs #3.
Batman/Superman
“The Infected” crossover begins here! The Batman Who Laughs sows discord and distrust throughout the DC Universe by infecting a “secret six” selection of DC heroes!
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen
Collects: “Hell Arisen” #1 to #4
“The Infected” and the “Year of the Villain” intersect in this Batman who Laughs vs. Apex Lex throwdown for all the villainous marbles.
In what comic is their origin?
Noticed he shows up in The Immortal Men, from the “New Age of Heroes” not sure if it really plays into anything significant, but he appears there.
Hi there! I’m a lil late to the party, and I wonder if I could get your guidance. I just got The Batman who Laughs 1-7, and as I read the inside jacket realized I was missing a bunch of backstory. So I bought the 4 one-shots and plan to follow the entire arc. Where does the The Batman who Laughs 2-7 fit into the timline? It’s not clear to me.
Dark Days: The Forge #1
Dark Days: The Casting #1
Dark Nights: Metal #1
Dark Nights: Metal #2
Teen Titans #12 | Gotham Resistance Part 1
Nightwing #29 | Gotham Resistance Part 2
Batman: The Red Death #1
Batman: The Murder Machine #1
Batman: The Dawnbreaker #1
Batman: The Drowned #1
Suicide Squad #26 | Gotham Resistance Part 3
Green Arrow #32 | Gotham Resistance Part 4
Batman: The Merciless #1
Dark Nights: Metal #3
The Flash #33 | Bats Out of Hell Part 1
Justice League #32 | Bats Out of Hell Part 2
Batman: The Devastator #1
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #32 | Bats Out of Hell Part 3
Justice League #33 | Bats Out of Hell Part 4
Batman Lost #1
The Batman Who Laughs #1
Dark Nights: Metal #4
Hawkman Found #1
Dark Nights: Metal #5
Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1
Dark Nights: Metal #6
I believe they are all in the Batman Who Laughs section, all seven issues
I may be wrong but I think it takes place after the Dark Nights Metal event. If you read the event I think it will give you all the backstory that you need.
All the comics you listed are from the Dark Nights event, except I’m fairly sure The Batman who Laughs #1 occurs after all the others you listed. The Dark Nights: Metal comics is where the batman who laughs is introduced. But there is also another seiries of comics “Graveyard of Gods” that occurs between The Batman Who Laughs comics and Dark Knights: Metal comics which is also important. Also, if you wanted to read what followed The Batman Who Laughs comics, the order is: Batman/Superman #1-5, Hell Arisen, and then Death Metal. I hope this helped dispite how old your comment is.
It helped me who just started so thank you.
Great response, thank you. So is the order then?
1. Dark Nights Metal
2. Graveyard of Gods
3. Batman Who Laughs
4. Batman/Superman 1-5
5. Hell Arisen
6. Dark Nights Death Metal
-??