Review — The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight #1: The Darkest Bat

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Ray Goldfield

The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight #1 — Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Writers; Eduardo Riss, Artist; Dave Stewart, Colorist

Ratings: Ray — 9/10

Corrina: Gordon spotlight

Ray: During the Dark Knights: Metal event, we got a series of one-shots showing us the secret backstory of the evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse, and the breakout was clearly the Batman-Who-Laughs. But The Batman Who Laughs series has revealed there was one more dark Batman who we never saw until now — the Grim Knight. This ruthless, gun-toting Batman has joined with the Batman-Who-Laughs to declare war on Batman and Gotham City, but we never saw his backstory — until this one-shot guest-illustrated by Eduardo Risso. As the issue opens, the Grim Knight has captured Commissioner Gordon and is taking him to his boss, but Gordon manages to keep him talking. And like all Batmen, his story begins in Crime Alley. The Waynes went down in a hail of gunfire, yes, but this Joe Chill stumbled and dropped his gun — right into the hands of Bruce Wayne, who shot him dead. From there, the feeling of power that gun gave Bruce colored his entire life. He…