#where am i supposed to get my hit of comedy now 😭😭

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

[fractualized]

Talking to friends literally yesterday, I got a sudden fixation on wafflejokes, so let me tell you how delighted I am at the amount of Mr. Waffles in The Man Who Stopped Laughing #7!

As always, spoilers ahead! (Also a drowning and some assassinations, plus a theory at the end.)

I don't know anything about Manhunter, so while this issue opening with an AA meeting is somber, it does also give a little speedrun on what her deal is.

Joker also doesn't know about Manhunter but he doesn't much care.

The poor crowd is also unfamiliar with both of them and thinks it's a street performance, including this cute volunteer Joker is eyeing. I freaking love when Joker just makes up names for people. Engaging yet dismissive.

Uhhhhhh after this panel the cute man is perfectly fine don't worry about it ok

I'm not sure what that gas Joker hit Manhunter with earlier was supposed to do, because she's back up shortly. Joker looks weirdly alluring here when she threatens him with her glowstick.

lmao I love the broad comedy beats in this comic.

And oh SHIT WHO IS DRIVING?

I've had Mr. Waffles for three issues, and if anything happens to him, I'll kill everyone in this comic and then myself.

There's a brief segue to Jason in Gotham PD jail like there was last issue, just beats to let us know what he's up to, I guess. He's aware that there's still a Joker out there, so I'm not sure why he hasn't escaped? And now "someone" is having him transferred to Blackgate? Mystery! Anyway, here he is being manhandled:

Back in Los Angeles, Joker has taken the wheel and is still trying to get to the dang airport.

I love them. 🥰

Joker blows the helicopter to bits, and then

He's so eager to escape LA, but maybe his sourness on Gotham is coming through. He left for a reason, after all, and is only going back to take care of the Other Joker.

Meanwhile Manhunter has recovered from being nailed by a freaking cop car, and I guess it's the straightforwardness of "lady, you need to lie the fuck down" that's so funny to me.

Poor unsuspecting motorcyclist.

Then there's an unexpected diversion to Killer Moth, who is headed for Los Angeles?!

We last saw him giving information to Jason, before Jason stabbed him in the hand in exchange, so I'm not sure what he's doing here. But getting to LA sure is important!

His idiot loser vibe is going strong.

Meanwhile:

Rosenberg, you are a prince for validating my experience at In-N-Out.

I love Joker bickering with his hench rebound about traffic. 😭

We get to see Joker doing a lot of stunt driving when Manhunter is on their tail again.

Joker is so conflicted about LA! He loves that it's supposed to be superhero-free, yet earlier he said he hated the lack of pushback?

Anyway, here's more banter between Joker and his hench boytoy:

And another cute hench nickname.

Joker's idea, of course, is wildly dangerous!

And naturally she does!

But then we cut to our old friend, Hit-By-A-Train-(And-Not-The-Fun-Kind) Joker, who wakes up and sees he's in Grundy's care.

:(

This Joker showed up in Punchline: The Gotham Game #6, and I thought it took place after he was healed, but now I'm thinking he helped her out in the period before he got hit by the train, when he was dressed up like Batman investigating his old haunts. Not that it really matters to anyone but me! (That issue also sort of addressed how Punchline fell out with Joker… but not really? It's still really abrupt and disjointed how it happened. Eh. It's done.)

Back at the highway chase that I would really like to see in live action or really good animation, we have-- you got it-- more wafflejokes interaction! Until Manhunter ruins it. >:[

The crash is pretty cool, though. (Lookit the lil Waffles!)

And here's where we learn the important info that Manhunter is not a vigilante with a no-kill rule.

Hee, lookit his lil nose sticking out.

Here's hoping that Mr. Waffles is conscious and comes to the rescue! (If you're wondering if I've already attempted writing wafflejokes smut… yeah absolutely.)

Based on the description of the next issue, the rescuer is not Killer Croc. It looks like the other Joker will probably encounter Croc in the Gotham sewer. Finally making friends again? ;_;

As always, we now have the backer, which this time revolves around…

Unfortunately most of Joker's fellow rogues are uninterested in helping.

Imagining Scarecrow phonebanking sdghalgksgh

After he clears the primaries, Joker discovers there are enemies of his candidacy.

And so Joker continues to campaign (by bribing his constituency) and allow his doubles to be murdered until…

"America has run out of clowns" made me laugh. "Jarvis Poker the British Joker?!" had me laugh-crying for reasons I still can't  quite grasp.

And so the story basically ends with Joker suddenly the King of Britain?? (With shades of Emperor Joker.)

I miss the more surreal backers, but this one still gave me some good laughs.

For a last note: in the main story we've now been spending more time with the Joker who left Gotham, and since he hasn't given any signs that he's the fake, I'm starting to settle into the theory that maybe there isn't a real and a fake Joker? Maybe the somber Joker we saw at the end of his 2021 series was so weary post Joker War that he found a magic user and asked them to get rid of the parts of him that were stopping him from being the Clown Prince of Crime anymore, but because magic often has a catch, it wound up splitting him into two versions of himself. This theory also stems from that scene in TMWSL #1 where Joker is killing the crime bosses because they "lowered the standard of crime" and "made it inelegant," which he may think of his double because Sad Joker contains all the doubtful, miserable, vulnerable parts of himself. That's why he's an "imposter": he represents everything the Joker isn't supposed to be.

But who knows how long it'll be until I find out if this right. 🫠