Comics Explained: The Batman Who Laughs

Despite only debuting in 2017 the Batman Who Laughs has made a big impact on DC comics. A mixture of his design, the premise behind him, and his significant presence in the Dark Knights: Metal storyline has made him a quickly popular character. Despite his recent appearance, he has already made a cameo in other media being an alternate skin for a character in Mortal Kombat 11. Created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo for their new Dark Knights: Metal story, where they wanted to create Batman's worst nightmare, and Scott hoped that he would be popular enough to remain a constant in the DC Universe. At the moment, his desire has come true. Before we discuss the Batman Who Laughs we have to first set out how this character came to be.

The Dark Multiverse

Barbatos

Many comic books have the idea of the Multiverse - including DC. Prior to the Flashpoint event, when the Multiverse was in existence, there was feasibly an infinite number of realities were an infinite number of variations of characters can exist. After the Flashpoint event the Multiverse was reduced to just 52 realities - among them a world where all crime is gone and the children of heroes live a reality TV show like life, a civil war among superhumans from Injustice, and even a universe where all the characters are anthropomorphic animals. Scott Snyder for Dark Knights: Metal created the Dark Multiverse. Over the course of the event more information was revealed about the Dark Multiverse. The Batman Who Laughs summed it up quite well:

Stop me if you've heard this one... worlds will live, worlds will die... but imagine if your every fear, each bad decision, gave birth to a malformed world of nightmare. A world that shouldn't exist. And desperate as it fights to survive in the light of the true multiverse far above... these worlds are doomed to rot apart, and die, because they are wrong at their core. Welcome to the Dark Multiverse. Home to stories that should never be... It's all one big cosmic joke, except no one on this side is laughing. ...well, almost no one...

As you can tell, the Dark Multiverse was a version of the Multiverse where nightmares and bad decisions lead to the creation of universes who were unstable in their structure. In the past, a being named the World Forger was tasked with having these unstable realities destroyed, and the energy from these destroyed worlds to be used to create new realities. The World Forger used the 'Great Dragon' Barbatos to destroy these worlds, but Barbatos later betrayed the World Forger and destroyed it. Barbatos allowed these universes to germinate with the intention of using them to invade and destroy the Multiverse. When the main reality Batman got transported through time by Darkseid during the Final Crisis event this brought him to the attention of Barbatos, who recognised the similarity between itself and Batman. Barbatos would use Batman to open the gateway between the Dark Multiverse and Multiverse, which is where the Batman Who Laughs comes in.

Origins

The Joker Robins

Although the Batman Who Laughs was introduced thanks to the Dark Knights: Metal event, it was actually in The Batman Who Laughs #1 which explored his origin. In Earth -22, Bruce Wayne and the DC Universe matched the mainstream reality except with one difference - it was based on Batman's fear of becoming like the Joker. In Earth -22 the Joker found out Batman's secret identity, and decided to perform the ultimate attack on Batman as a finale, due to the chemicals which turned him into the Joker now killing him. First wiping out all of Batman's villains, and killing Commissioner Gordon via an acid trap in his notebook, planned to merge the fates of himself and Bruce Wayne. He killed the parents of a few children in front of them, and then introduced them to his Joker Venom - copying the origin of Batman and the origin of Joker. To make his plan complete he had Batman witness the children's turn into 'Joker Robins'. A broken Batman broke free and choked the Joker to death, but the clown had a secret weapon - when he died his concoction would be released infecting whoever killed him. 

Killing the Bat Family

A few days later members of the Bat Family were training with robots programmed by Batman, but they were fighting surprisingly harder this day. When they confronted Batman about this, he revealed that he had been infected by the Joker's toxins, and was slowly becoming the Joker. While Nightwing assumes that the robots were set to harder difficulties so they could beat Batman when the time came; it turned out that the turn had already came. With the robots failing to kill the Bat Family, a now changed Bruce Wayne proceeded to shoot Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Robin, and Red Hood. Turning his son, the current Robin Damien Wayne, into another Joker Robin he soon wiped out the Justice League. Confirming his descent into the Batman Who Laughs, he used a type of kryptonite on Superman and Superboy causing them to kill Lois Lane before dying themselves. Laughing, he drew a smiley face on a window of the Justice League Watchtower in the blood of his former friends. Using the weaponry of the Justice League he soon proceeded to destroy life on the planet, and this is what made Barbatos to approach him to become his right-hand. Barbatos tasked the Batman Who Laughs to recruit the 'Dark Knights' - a collection of the most twisted versions of Batman who take over the Multiverse. 

Dark Knights: Metal

The Batman Who Laughs's major appearance was during the Dark Knights: Metal event, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers for the comic. As it was recently published it is still available in stores, and it's a good story, so I would recommend reading it yourself. Instead, I'll just quickly go over some notable events which the Batman Who Laughs oversaw. Naturally, being the right-hand of Barbatos, he lead the initial attack on the Multiverse, arriving in the main reality and setting the Joker Robins on the Court of Owls. The Court of Owls is a sinister group, and it is difficult to quickly summarise them, but for the purpose of Dark Knights: Metal, they worship Barbatos and worked to use Batman to bring them into the Multiverse. Now, with their purpose fulfilled, the Batman Who Laughs had them killed, and then sent the Dark Knights to attack the home cities of the Justice League. To secure his base in Gotham, he handed out cards which could alter reality to the Riddler, Poison Ivy, Firefly, Mad Hatter, Bane, and Mister Freeze - if someone wished to take down his base, they would have to fight through the warped version of Gotham created by the villains. Through the rest of the story, the Batman Who Laughs tries to wipe out reality and his enemies, but was challenged by a team of alternate reality Batmen led by the main Batman. However, what took the Batman Who Laughs was that the Joker helped in the fight. The Joker simply explained, the Batman Who Laughs still had the planning of Batman so they had to do something which Batman would never expect: fighting alongside the Joker.

After the Dark Knights

The Batman Who Laughs managed to survive the defeat of Barbatos, and was later found to be under the custody of Lex Luthor. The other members of the Legion of Doom, especially the Joker, were uncomfortable having the Batman Who Laughs at their base, and he himself goaded Luthor about knowing the secrets of the Multiverse. It turned out that the Batman could escape whenever he wanted; he was biding his time to see how events were going on the outside. Later, in exchange for information, Luthor released him. He then began his new goal: taking down Batman. To achieve his goal he recruited another Batman from the Dark Multiverse - the Grim Knight. A mixture of Batman and the Punisher, this version of Batman killed Joe Chill, who murdered Batman's parents, when he dropped his gun. This put him on a course to becoming a murderous Batman who turned Gotham into a police state. The Joker, meanwhile, realised that his Batman didn't have the same disregard for human life as the Batman Who Laughs and Grim Knight, so he infected Batman with a diluted version of the Joker Venom. He would become another Batman Who Laughs, but with more control. In the end, a confrontation in the Wayne graveyard main reality Batman defeated the Batman Who Laughs, and Alfred gave him a serum stopping him from becoming a new Batman Who Laughs. Despite his incarceration in the Hall of Justice, he began his new plot to tear apart the Justice League and this reality: infect Superman with the Joker Venom. He came close using an infected Shazam and Blue Beetle to get Superman in position, and he would have succeeded if not for Supergirl grabbing a batarang designed to affect Kryptonians before it could hit him. 

Thank you for reading. For other blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: La Lucha, The Story of Lucha Castro and Human Rights in Mexico

As I am writing it has recently been International Women's Day and in my local area a more radical version of the movement has came into being - one advocating internationalism, trans rights, and anti-fascism. This reminded me of a graphic novel released in 2015, and in our first for Comics Explained it is based on real events. Some of the best comics are ones detailing actual events - March is another good example. La Lucha, The Story of Lucha Castro and Human Rights in Mexico follows human rights activist Lucha Castro of El Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (the Center for the Human Rights of Women) in Juarez, Chihuahua. The city of Juarez has been caught in Mexico's War on Drugs as cartels and the police/military both commit human rights abuses, especially against women. La Lucha follows Lucha Castro and other human rights activists in a startling depiction of human rights abuses. The graphic novel, meanwhile, is a bleak one. Covering gendered violence and human rights abuses it is entirely monochrome and the drawings are not overly detailed. It works well in creating the feel of human rights abuses in Chihuahua. It is a bleak time - a happy future may never come around.

Background and Opening

La Lucha was drawn and written by writer and activist Jon Sack, and is edited by Adam Shapiro - the Head of Campaigns at Front Line Defenders. Front Line Defenders is an Irish based human rights organisation which helps fund poorer human rights groups in poorer countries. The Center for the Human Rights of Women (Cedehm) was formed in 2005 as a way to defend women against human rights abuses, and later defending human rights activists. Human rights abuses have largely been overlooked in Mexico - in the opening when crossing the border to El Paso, Texas a US border guard is surprised to learn that abuses are taking place. Since 1993 over 370 confirmed women have been found murdered, where over 137 showed signs of sexual abuse. The intensification of the War on Drugs under Vicente Fox in the early-2000s brought a militarised police to Chihuahua which increased human rights abuses. Cedehm was formed in order to challenge these abuses. Helping victims get justice became the focus of Cedehm. There is a spectre of abuse in the opening - while Sack and Shapiro was in Juarez saw the military patrol the streets following the shooting of two people, including a police chief. It highlights that a park is known as Praderas de Irak, the 'Prairies of Iraq', as one activist states 'Well, we're also in a war'.

Marisela
La Lucha does not focus solely on Lucha Castro - we get to see the stories of other human rights activists. The most striking one is the story of Marisela Escobedo - Lucha acted as her lawyer. Interviewing her son in El Paso, Juan Frayre Escobedo, he tells us the story of how his sister, Rubi, was murdered by her boyfriend Sergio Rafael Barraza Bocanegra in 2008. Rubi and Sergio vanished, and despite disinterest by the authorities, Marisela managed to track Serio to Fresnillo where he was arrested and revealed that he had murdered Rubi. They only found a third of her body. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, he had shown them where Rubi's body was, the court absolved Sergio in 2010 for his connection to the powerful cartel Los Zetas. Enraged Marisela acted. Starting a grassroots movement the judges were suspended and a retrial found Sergio guilty in absentia but he had vanished. Marisela changed her tactic to try and find Sergio, marching in a dress with Rubi's face on it. She marched through Fresnillo, marched through Mexico City, and demanded to see Mexican president Felipe Calderon. The comic also graphically recreates one of present-day Mexico's darkest videos. December 16 Marisela was protesting outside the Capitol Building in Chihuahua. A sicario (hitman) arrives, she runs, and she is killed. As Marisela was buried her brother-in-law was found in the streets of Juarez with a plastic bag over his head. The rest of her family flee across the border being mistreated by border guards, and aim to continue her fight from the US.

Norma
Another key story, albeit a very short one, follows Norma Ledesma, the founder of Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas (Justice for Our Daughters). Norma's daughter Paloma disappeared aged 15 in 2002 and was found murdered a month later. Like Lucha, Norma aims to find what happens to disappeared women and find those who perpetrated human rights abuses. Norma bluntly summarises the situation 'There is no way of restoring life to someone no can life be turned backwards to a time before someone was raped or maltreated... so there is no Justice, but there is Truth'.

Josefina

Another major story follows the Reyes-Salazar family, now living in El Paso to escape both the military and cartels. Josefina and Saul Reyes-Salazar were raised by progressives who instilled in them an urge to fight what was right. In 1998 the siblings had successfully prevented a nuclear waste dump from being created in Sierra Blanca. When the femicides began in Juarez Josefina began protesting the murders which resulted in her house being sprayed by gun fire. In 2008 Calderon intensified the War on Drugs in Juarez creating a militarised zone where murders, extortion, and torture became endemic. While protesting the military they disappeared her son Miguel Angel and was returned 16 days later with signs of physical and psychological abuse. Three months later he other son was executed at a wedding, and Miguel Angel was again arrested on an accusation that he was a sicario for the Juarez Cartel. They moved from their home in Guadalupe but when visiting her home there was a kidnap attempt, and as Josefina resisted she was killed on January 3 2010. The family resisted and the local area became enraged by the murder of Josefina - they even started printing the disappearances of family members on milk cartons. In August 2010 Ruben Reyes declared 'Well...here I am' when armed men came to get him - he was then shot. Despite this the family pressed on but as more and more of them were disappeared or tortured, caught between cartels and the army, they fled to the US in 2011. Saul Reyes-Salazar concludes that 'Guadalupe is practically a ruin. I believe that for all these dead there will never be justice...no one will be detained... no one jailed... no one condemned'.

Conclusion

La Lucha concludes in pessimistic terms. It came out that Marisela's driver had been threatened by an attorney from the state attorney's office for refusing to claim that Marisela was working for the Sinaloa Cartel. More members of the Reyes-Salazar family had managed to received asylum in the US, and the Juarez Valley had lost 70% of its population through either murder or inhabitants fleeing. Lucha Castro offers a pessimistic and optimistic look to the future. She states that 'Disappearances and the killing of journalists with impunity is still occurring, but the government doesn't want to talk about it. Our doors, however, will remain open'.

Many of the readers of this blog is in the North Atlantic world (Western Europe, the US, and Canada) where International Women's Day has somewhat lost its radical roots. In many areas it has become an event only for white, middle-class, cis-women, and at its worst openly extorts bigotry - especially against trans women. La Lucha highlights the need for International Women's Day to return to its roots. Abuse and torture against women has become widespread in Juarez and the femicides have largely fallen out of media's attention. My local International Women's Day offers a hopeful future - it resoundingly condemned transphobia, saw talks from an organiser hoping to protect sex workers, and called for collaboration against Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil (and honoured murdered activist Mariella Franco). Hopefully, International Women's Day can help Lucha Castro and the activists at the Cedehm.

Lucha Castro

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this post interesting. Please leave any thoughts and comments. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

If you were interested in reading more on human and women's rights in Mexico here is a quick reading list:
-Jon Sack, Adam Shapiro, and Lucha Castro, La Lucha, The Story of Lucha Castro and Human Rights in Mexico, (London: Verso, 2015)
-J.Tuckman, ‘Mexico: The Graphic Tale of Lucha Castro’s struggle to defend women’s rights,’ (2015), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/05/la-lucha-the-story-of-lucha-castro-and-human-rights-in-mexico-graphic-novel; accessed 5 August 2017
-E.Edmonds-Pli and D.Shirk, Contemporary Mexican Politics, Second Edition, (Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012)
-A.R.Schmidt Camacho, ‘Ciudadana X: Gender Violence and the Denationalization of Women’s Rights in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico,’ CR: The Centennial Review, 5:1, (2005), 255-292
-http://cedehm.org.mx

Comics Explained: Aliens versus Predator

As of writing The Predator is finally out in cinemas. As expected this franchise has regularly featured in comics so if we want to look at the comics we are spoiled for choice. Today I wanted to look specifically at one comic which went on to define the Predator: Aliens versus Predator. Many people will know this from the two movies but Aliens and Predators have been fighting each other for over a decade by the time even the first movie was released; we had toys, novels, games and the thing that started it all, comics. It is quite incredible that a lot of the lore behind the Predator universe comes from the Aliens versus Predator, (the most common name for the species is the Yautja which comes from the comics), part of the franchise and often Alien and Predator are classed as one and the same. Today we'll look at the first two stories which pitched the ultimate lifeform against the ultimate hunter but first I just want to discuss the origins of this franchise.

Origins

Dark Horse Presents #34

The first story would appear over three issues in Dark Horse Presents #34-36. Although Dark Horse regularly publishes their own original stories, most famously Hellboy, they also regularly purchase the rights to other titles and create comics based on them - before Disney bought Lucasfilm they did the Star Wars comics for quite a while. The Terminator versus Robocop was another crossover done by Dark Horse as an example. Dark Horse Presents was an anthology series so the first crossover of the Aliens and the Predators appeared alongside other stories, although due to their popularity they were the main story and were featured on the cover. Backing it up slightly we have the films. In 1979 Ridley Scott released Alien, perhaps one of the greatest and scariest sci-fi movies of all time, which was followed by James Cameron's Aliens in 1986. Aliens continued the horror theme of the first movie but it brought in action elements; if not for this we may never have gotten Aliens vs. Predator to start off with. In 1987 we then got Predator directed by John McTiernan of Die Hard which was firmly in the action movie genre, however, it can also be classed as a thriller with the burly mercenaries being hunted down one by one by the Predator meshing it well with Alien. A crossover was a perfect idea and we finally got it in 1989 with Dark Horse Presents #34. It soon gained popularity; so much so that in Predator 2 in 1990 an Alien skull can be seen in the Predator trophy cabinet. As more comics, games and novels were being produced Fox, (which owned both franchises), seriously considered doing a movie but not many people associated with it were in favour of it. Sigourney Weaver wanted her character killed off in Alien 3 so she didn't have to appear in a crossover, and both Scott and Cameron were against it - in a twist of fate James Cameron later enjoyed the movie we did get calling it the third best Alien movie, if his opinion has since changed I am not sure. There are still talks about making another movie with several directors hoping that the renewed interest in the two franchises thanks to Alien: Covenant and The Predator will pave the way for a third movie.

Aliens vs. Predator

Dark Horse Presents #36, when they first fought

Our first story is split between three different stories over the three issues: Aliens, Predator, and Aliens versus Predator. On a ship flying to a planet two bored pilots, Scott and Tom, debate how companies were exploiting planets, including the Earth. Something fast passes by them which they put down to a meteorite but we see that it is in fact another ship. The two pilots start discussing how evolution has fought back against humanity including the rise of the Africanized honey bees, red ants taking over the southern US, and a bacteria breaking down the planet's oil. Is nature actually evil? Is an organism doing something that it is evolved to do which harms another lifeform actually evil? As they have their discussion we pan onto the ship as rows upon rows of eggs are being scanned revealing inside the facehuggers awaiting to hatch and infect a host. Attached to a harness an Alien Queen is being forced to lay the eggs for something. The next issue sees a change of discussion for the pilots - now they discuss technology, humanity and the primordial urge to hunt. On the second ship we find out who has the Queen: a group of Predators. We see that they are observing a swamp on an alien planet and collecting the eggs to shoot to the planet. Two rival Predators begin a ceremonial fight as Scott and Tom debate humanity's primal urge to show supremacy through force, and one Predator beats the other. In our final issue the eggs are shot down to the swamp and they hatch. The Predators soon land with the intention to hunt the ultimate prey. Quickly they find signs of the Aliens, the xenomorphs, including a monkey-like creature, a serpent, and a bird having their chests ripped open from the inside. However, they are soon ambushed. One of the Predators has its neck torn open by the flanking xenomorphs but the other Yautja fight back. In a flurry of spears and blasters they manage to wipe out the xenomorphs. The pilots continue their discussions, including about hunting, and one mentions how loosing his virginity was a rite of passage as the elder Yautja break off the finger from a killed xenomorph. The acidic blood then burns the symbol of their clan on the head of the youngest hunter initiating him into the hunt.

The Hunt on Ryushi

The Hunt begins

Dark Horse soon came back to Aliens versus Predator and we got an immediate sequel. We find out that one of the eggs was secretly a Queen egg and that they were sent to multiple planets. One happened to be the planet Ryushi. By the twenty-second century corporations like Weyland-Yutani (from Alien) had been colonising different planets to use for economic exploitation as Earth's environment had slowly been destroyed. On Ryushi the Chigusa Corporation had set up a farming town called Prosperity Wells where they would raise and farm a rhino like animal, acting more like a sheep or cow, called the rhynths. It is an important time for Prosperity Wells: after a year the colony of just 100 had finally built up a large shipment of rhynth to send to Earth, and their administrator was being changed. The current administrator was Hiroki Shimura was welcoming, and warning, the new administrator Machiko Noguchi. Machiko soon found out that there are tensions between the company and the colonials who want more pay. Scott and Tom in The Lector arrived on Ryushi to take the rhynths to Earth just as the pods containing the xenomorph eggs landed in a nearby valley. Quickly the eggs hatch and attach to the rhynth. One of the chief ranchers, Ackland, found a discarded facehugger so sent it to the colony's biologists and doctors, Kesar and Miriam Ravna. Meanwhile, the colony is partying to celebrate their first shipment and Machiko to get the ranchers on side gave them pay rises. More importantly, the Yautja hunting party arrived...

Broken Tusk and Machiko

Kesna Ravna decided to search the valley to find the origins of the facehuggers but instead finds the Yautja. Their elder and leader, Broken Tusk who is the same one from the first three issues, is ran over by Ravna who then immediately crashed, dying in the explosion. Broken Tusk's un-Blooded and volatile students became enraged deciding the hunt the colonists in revenge including a small ranch where they kill the dog and parents. Back at Prosperity Wells the unconscious Broken Tusk is brought to Miriam and Machiko as Scott and Tom prepare to head off to Earth. They are horrified to discover that strange creatures, including one giant one, stand where the rhynth once did and one of the remaining ones have a chestburster burst its way through its chest. The crew is butchered and the pilots cocooned. The sole survivor of the small ranch attack was a young boy who was followed by the un-Blooded Yautja and a battle erupted between the Yautja and colonists. Despite being lightly-armed their weaponry was far more advanced than that of the colonists and decimated the defenders eager to get back to their master. As this was happening Machiko, and a guard, went to The Lector to see why they hadn't set off only to be met by the xenomorph Hive. The guard is taken by the xenomorphs and Machiko was almost overtaken herself until she was saved by one of the Yautja. However, the hunter could not survive the onslaught from the parasites despite taking many out with it. Machiko described the un-Blooded warrior best: Despite his speed and strength and practiced moves, the 'warrior' was not a smart fighter - he was like a karateka who had mastered his style, but had never faced an actual opportunity. Prosperity Wells soon became engulfed in a three way war between the colonists, Yautja, and xenomorphs claiming the lives of several un-Blooded warriors and colonists including Hiroki.

Broken Tusk against an un-Blooded

Machiko went to find Miriam and they two realised one important thing: if they were to survive they needed Broken Tusk on side. As one of the students broke into the lab Broken Tusk prevented it from killing the humans. As the young warrior broke a taboo by killing humans Broken Tusk started fighting with the young one allowing the two humans to escape and formulate a plan. Machiko had a plan to allow the colonists to evacuate. Taking the helicopter they release the rhynth who stampeded allowing the colonists to evacuate during the distraction, much to the dismay of Ackland as a year's worth war profit had now gotten away or was killed. To escape Broken Tusk climbed an antennae but he was followed by the xenomorphs but as he had defended them Machiko opted to save the warrior. However, during the rescue a xenomorph attacked causing the helicopter to crash killing Miriam. During the stampede Scott and Tom had managed to escape the Hive and helped Machiko out of the crash only to find that Broken Tusk had tried to rescue Miriam as well. The four formed a small pragmatic group fighting their way through the hordes of xenomorphs to get to the operations centre. Inside they discovered a note revealing a sobering reality: Chigusa Corporation had refused to send marines deciding instead that Machiko should preserve the xenomorphs, even at the expense of the colonialists. Suddenly Tom fell over in pain with a chestburster killing it, (which is soon dispatched by Broken Tusk), and Scott comes to the sobering reality that he would share the same fate resulting in him getting Machiko to do a mercy killing. 

With the colonists safely out of the way Machiko realised that if they didn't do anything the xenomorphs could spread across humanity's colonies. Using a van and teaming up with the Yautja they broke into The Lector in order to blow it up to take the Hive with it. Luckily the van hit the Queen temporarily incapacitating her; if not the two could have been instantly torn apart. Fighting through the ship the Queen soon came after them mortally wounding Broken Tusk. Machiko managed to drag the Yautja to an escape pod and the heavy doors shut across the Queen's neck killing her. The launch of the pod detonated the ship taking the Hive with it. However, Broken Tusk was on death's doors. In his final moments he used blood from a xenomorph to burn his clan's symbol onto Machiko initiating her into the clan. Following the events the surviving colonists were moved to a friendlier system but Machiko opted against following them. For two years she waited on Ryushi acting as a small scale rancher. A new batch of un-Blooded with another Yautja, Broken Tusk's rival from the initial comics, hunting the xenomorphs. Machiko took part and the Yautja fought with her. She had become a member of their clan.

Machiko with Broken Tusk's mark

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