Batman: The Man Who Laughs #1 (One-Shot)

is a one-shot prestige format comic book by Ed Brubaker (winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Writer) and Doug Mahnke, released in February 2005, and intended as a sequel to . It tells the story of Batman's first encounter with the Joker in post-Crisis continuity. The book is similar in format and cover typography to the famous 1988 one-shot by Alan Moore. The storyline is based on the Joker's original introduction in (1940). While the story seems to take place directly after Year One, the beginning is tied into the ending of , in which Gordon reveals the warehouse of corpses. The story "Images" in (September 1993), taking place some time after their first meeting (according to Batman), is tied into continuity as Batman's second encounter with The Joker. The title is a reference to the movie , based on the book of the same name by Victor Hugo, whose star, Conrad Veidt, was an inspiration for The Joker. Belongs right up there alongside as the definitive Joker story. Hilary Goldstein of IGN ranked on a list of the 25 best Batman graphic novels (Number one is ).

A mysterious maniac is murdering prominent citizens of Gotham City, each time leaving a ghastly grin on the victims' faces. Batman soon tracks down the killer: the Joker! This volume gives readers new insight into the early encounters between Batman and The Joker that led the Clown Prince of Crime down the path to insanity. -- solicitation, dccomics.com

Prestige format is a term coined by DC Comics and later came into wider use to refer to a square-bound comic book with cardstock covers. A prestige format comic book is usually longer than a normal, stapled 32-page comic (sometimes referred to as a pamphlet). Prestige comics typically also have higher quality paper and printing than pamphlet comics. The first comic to be referred to as "prestige format" was Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, published by DC Comics in 1986. The term has been used regularly by DC since that time, and has seen use by other comic publishers as well, but is not used universally. Sometimes squarebound comics are simply said to be in a squarebound format. --

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