Batman: The Man Who Laughs

雖然我現時大部份的心神都在Star Wars之上，但我始終還是十分喜愛Batman的。

早前在家中無事做蹲著，隨手拿起一本漫畫就讀起來了。

就是這次要記下的故事：Batman: The Man Who Laughs。以下劇情內容轉載自維基百科：

Captain James Gordon and other officers are investigating a building filled with mutilated corpses. Batman enters and converses with Gordon. Next, Bruce Wayne is seen at a social event talking to fellow millionaire Henry Claridge. On a TV in the next room, a reporter is overheard announcing that Arkham Asylum is being reopened. She suddenly begins laughing and soon dies with a face similar to the mutilated corpses at the building. The Joker (who has not yet been given the name the media bestowed upon him) walks onto camera and announces he will kill Claridge at midnight.

Bruce leaves the party and meets up with Gordon as Batman at Arkham Asylum. On a cell wall, the Joker wrote "One by One, they'll hear my call. Then this wicked town, will follow my fall." Gordon then has police stationed in Claridge's house to protect him. Claridge begins laughing as his face turns pale white. Batman crashes down through a window, but is too late to save Claridge. Meanwhile on the streets of Gotham, the Joker enters the Williams Medical Center. After killing the security guards, he arms the inmates and releases them on the streets. Batman arrives and stops several inmates, and reveals his existence to the people on the streets.

While Bruce is researching in the Batcave, the Joker appears on television again to make a similar threat, this time on Jay W. Wilde. Batman deduces that Claridge was killed with a time-released poison and tells Gordon to run a blood test on Wilde. Gordon does so, but nothing is found. Gordon is at Wilde's estate with other officers when a police helicopter crashes outside the estate. The Joker then appears and releases poison smoke bombs into the building (all of the officers and Batman have gas masks.) Batman captures the Joker, but he escapes and Wilde is killed.

Bruce then disguises himself as a reporter and goes to the Ace Chemical Processing Plant. While undercover, he interviews several workers, one of whom has patches of white on his face similar to the Joker's skin. When asked about his appearance, the worker replies that it came from the chemical waste created from the plant spilling onto his face, and goes on to mention that another worker, who had stuck his entire hand into a vat of the waste, had dyed his arm hairs green.

The Joker makes another television appearance with a similar threat. This time, he plans to kill Judge Thomas Lake and Bruce Wayne. Police officers are at both men's houses; however, Gordon is at Lake's. Bruce starts laughing and turns white, but his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, administers a shot to slow his heart rate to slow the spread of the poison. Meanwhile, a gang of armed men dressed as clowns drive onto Lake's property where a shoot-out takes place. Bruce, while under the poison, hallucinates of the night his parents were murdered. He awakes, fully recovered, in an ambulance. Another gang of armed men dressed as clowns shoot at the ambulance. Bruce changes into his Batman costume, exits the ambulance unnoticed and defeats the clowns.

Batman takes a police motorcycle and contacts Gordon via radio. He tells Gordon that Bruce Wayne is alive and that he figured out the Joker's plan. He tells Gordon to have the water to the city shut off. Gordon contacts the reservoir, but receives no answer. Batman heads there himself to stop the Joker from poisoning the water supply. He takes out the Joker's clown-thugs. Batman meets up with the Joker, who successfully poisons the city's water supply, but Batman, having previously rigged the viaduct with explosives, detonates it, preventing the poisoned water from going into the city. Batman engages in a quick fight with the Joker, defeats him by disarming his hammer, and briefly contemplates dropping him into the poisoned water to avenge all those whom he killed. However, he cannot bring himself to do so, and instead has the Joker imprisoned at the newly reopened Arkham Asylum. Batman meets with Gordon on top of police headquarters, who unveils to him the new Bat-Signal.

本作是New Earth紀元的第一個Joker故事，情節連接在Batman: Year One之後。所以在本作中，Batman是首次在大眾面前登場，不再是都市傳說。

本作的重點當然是Joker的”Debut” 。猶記得多年前的Batman #1，Joker真正的首次出現，是一個胡鬧的人物，恰如其份地擔當著小丑的角色，擁有著奇形怪狀的載具、道具的他，與Batman及Robin展開一場場誇張荒誕的對決。以今時今日的潮流來觀看當時那個Joker，只會覺得他是個可笑的混蛋，斷不如近代「新Joker」的可怖瘋狂。當然，時代不同了，現在的美漫與當年不同，已不是老少咸宜的輕鬆讀物，而是越來越暴力、過界的成年人消遣。

也正因舊年代的人物形象已不符合時代潮流，DC才會一次又一次的reboot，先不論Reboot對人物背景造成的負面影響，但光以Batman故事來說，明顯地New Earth的Batman故事是十分成功的，為Batman這個已變得可笑、親切的角色，重新塑造成冷酷而精明的狠角，甚至直到今時今日，仍有人覺得New Earth的Batman才是「正宗」的Batman，可見其成功。

Batman的成功固然是因為其角色設計十分吸引，但充滿個性的對手也是魅力所在，看到Batman與一眾奸角鬥智鬥力，實在是一種享受。而當中不能不提的天字第一號敵人，毫無疑問就是Joker。

本作的定位既然是接續著經典的Batman: Year One，當然不容有失，本作講述Joker的出現，不能免俗的提及其起源，說到其起源又不得不提The Killing Joke，於是本作中出現不少前作的致敬位，但沒有影響到本作的娛樂性就是了。

本作的篇幅雖然短，但通過震撼的畫面，輕易的把Joker的冷血無情表現出來，而本作再度談及Joker的起源，又是掉到化學物料的情節，就只能說The Killing Joke的影響力實在太大了，不知道New 52又是怎樣演繹的呢？

總括而言，本作為Batman: Year One的續作，實在十分成功，新時代的Joker，就應該這麼變態，這麼瘋狂。咦？我好像也買了Scarecrow和Two-Face的Year One，該不會又是續作吧？

80分。

話說怎麼我覺得在水庫下毒這個橋段出現了很多次的呢？