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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest, Rape, Vomit
Minor: Miscarriage
It's pretty crazy
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first real Batman experience (besides Holy Musical B@man, but I'll cast that aside, since it was a parody...) and it was a riveting ride. It explored many of his enemies in ways that I really didn't expect.
Not really knowing all about super heroes, I figured that they were simply supervillains. After getting into Marvel (yes, I know that Batman is DC), it came to my knowledge that supervillains were much more than just bad guys who want to take over the world. Arkham Asylum explored this very well.
All of the villains became much more menacing and realistic as their minds, and Batman's mind, were explored.
It really was wonderful.
Not really knowing all about super heroes, I figured that they were simply supervillains. After getting into Marvel (yes, I know that Batman is DC), it came to my knowledge that supervillains were much more than just bad guys who want to take over the world. Arkham Asylum explored this very well.
All of the villains became much more menacing and realistic as their minds, and Batman's mind, were explored.
It really was wonderful.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
not nearly as deep as it thinks it is
I think this might be my favorite Batman comic. That might be saying too much too soon, but it's definitely up there.
One of the things I love about DC compared to Marvel is that they're willing to loan out their mainstream characters for writers to do some crazy stuff for them. Long before Grant Morrison would embark on their iconic Batman run, they published this utterly bizarre and endlessly compelling book.
Was Grant the first one to write the 'what if Batman is as crazy as his villains' story? Probably not, but this is definitely one of the best ones, and a clear inspiration on other stories that have followed this trajectory, or have focused on Arkham Asylum in general.
The inmates are loose again, you see, and they've taken over the madhouse. Batman is summoned to Arkham by Joker, who has a night of nightmares planned for his 'ol buddy. Meanwhile, we explore the tragic backstory of the Arkham family and its founder, Amadeus. A storyline that Stephen King would've dreamt up, there are implications that the Arkham household, soon to become Gotham's madhouse, is haunted by a malevolent spirit - or it could be that the Arkhams were the malevolent spirits all along.
I won't talk about the story too much - it really must be seen to be believed. This is less your standard Batman comic and more of a horror movie, complete with the pacing, imagery and overall vibe of unease that horror movies usually have. One thing that you'll notice that everyone's characterization is off - Batman meets Gordon at the beginning and asks him 'what's up?' and he says things like 'JESUS' and 'shut up'. In any other book, that sort of stuff would be a criticism, but it actually contributes to the dreamlike nature of the story.
Now, Grant won't like me to say this, but Dave McKean's art is a huge part of what makes this book what it is. Sure, Morrison's preferred artist Brian Bolland could've delivered a good book, but McKean's art is what makes it iconic. These panels, this art style, the symbols and imagery on the background of the pages, it's all surreal and could only come from the hands of Neil Gaiman's favorite cover artist. It's also what could make you want to revisit this book and try to make sense of some of that imagery.
I'll point out one thing: you could probably tell by looking that this is a slender volume, but the actual story is even shorter than that. About half of this book is the comic, and then you have bonus material. Really, this 'graphic novel' doesn't even qualify as a novella - it's a thing you can read with your coffee. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The bonus material isn't completely optional. Many readers will be interested in Grant Morrison's full annotated script of the comic, which explains a lot of the symbolism and imagery that can be found in these pages. I've read some reviews that say the script helped them make sense of the story.
Full disclosure, though, I didn't read that script.
Do you understand every nightmare you have? Probably not, right? Sometimes you wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, and you want to know what it was your brain conjured up, but you can't always have the answers. I don't want someone to explain this book to me - if there are things I don't understand, that adds to the mystique of the story. Perhaps I'll decide, as time goes on, to have this nightmare over and over again (I'll definitely have it once more once I hunt down the Absolute Edition), and at some point, I'll understand it fully. For now, though? I'll let the mystery be a mystery.
One of the things I love about DC compared to Marvel is that they're willing to loan out their mainstream characters for writers to do some crazy stuff for them. Long before Grant Morrison would embark on their iconic Batman run, they published this utterly bizarre and endlessly compelling book.
Was Grant the first one to write the 'what if Batman is as crazy as his villains' story? Probably not, but this is definitely one of the best ones, and a clear inspiration on other stories that have followed this trajectory, or have focused on Arkham Asylum in general.
The inmates are loose again, you see, and they've taken over the madhouse. Batman is summoned to Arkham by Joker, who has a night of nightmares planned for his 'ol buddy. Meanwhile, we explore the tragic backstory of the Arkham family and its founder, Amadeus. A storyline that Stephen King would've dreamt up, there are implications that the Arkham household, soon to become Gotham's madhouse, is haunted by a malevolent spirit - or it could be that the Arkhams were the malevolent spirits all along.
I won't talk about the story too much - it really must be seen to be believed. This is less your standard Batman comic and more of a horror movie, complete with the pacing, imagery and overall vibe of unease that horror movies usually have. One thing that you'll notice that everyone's characterization is off - Batman meets Gordon at the beginning and asks him 'what's up?' and he says things like 'JESUS' and 'shut up'. In any other book, that sort of stuff would be a criticism, but it actually contributes to the dreamlike nature of the story.
Now, Grant won't like me to say this, but Dave McKean's art is a huge part of what makes this book what it is. Sure, Morrison's preferred artist Brian Bolland could've delivered a good book, but McKean's art is what makes it iconic. These panels, this art style, the symbols and imagery on the background of the pages, it's all surreal and could only come from the hands of Neil Gaiman's favorite cover artist. It's also what could make you want to revisit this book and try to make sense of some of that imagery.
I'll point out one thing: you could probably tell by looking that this is a slender volume, but the actual story is even shorter than that. About half of this book is the comic, and then you have bonus material. Really, this 'graphic novel' doesn't even qualify as a novella - it's a thing you can read with your coffee. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The bonus material isn't completely optional. Many readers will be interested in Grant Morrison's full annotated script of the comic, which explains a lot of the symbolism and imagery that can be found in these pages. I've read some reviews that say the script helped them make sense of the story.
Full disclosure, though, I didn't read that script.
Do you understand every nightmare you have? Probably not, right? Sometimes you wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, and you want to know what it was your brain conjured up, but you can't always have the answers. I don't want someone to explain this book to me - if there are things I don't understand, that adds to the mystique of the story. Perhaps I'll decide, as time goes on, to have this nightmare over and over again (I'll definitely have it once more once I hunt down the Absolute Edition), and at some point, I'll understand it fully. For now, though? I'll let the mystery be a mystery.
The art itself is breath taking with the use of lace and paints. Would highly recommend to any Batman/Joker fan, and anyone who adores dark twisty stories and art - I'd love some panels as canvases, they're just so breathtaking.
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm not going to lie, this felt like the comic version of what dude-bro film students think they're doing when they create their grim final year project. First of all, Batman felt very out of character, with the way he treated everyone? Doesn't feel right. The fact he stabbed his hand for some reason??? Him agreeing to play Joker's games??? Even if a lot of things would have been in character if the situation was different, with everything that happens in this story these normally usual reactions didn't make any sense.
It was all just angst for the hell of it, with no actual narrative reason. And I'd like to mention that he fully got impaled and then walked away as if he was fine. Because I guess they thought it would be a cool angsty shot to draw. Or something. Again, just doing things for funsies. What they did to Harvey? Fucking evil. Literally no reason to do that. Makes no sense canonically. And didn't he mostly use the coin to force other people to make decisions rather than himself? The mischaracterization here is actually painful, like, that could have very well been some random ass person. Not to mention that he let Bruce walk away at the end, which again, is not how his coin tosses work.
Moving on to the art, I honestly feel like this style, just like this story, don't fit within the batman universe. Like, it's absolutely gorgeous, but it's a bit too dark (literally, and by that I mean that I felt like watching a poorly lit movie while reading this) and too realistic for a comic, in my opinion, as well as too detailed. There's also so many useless shots that again, are just there to look cool. And don't get me started on the headache that was trying to read the font and colour that they used for the Joker's dialogue. Fucking evil.
The Plato's cavern allusion made me giggle, I'll give him that at least. Not sure the Joker knows who Plato is but you know. At least that was cool.
It was all just angst for the hell of it, with no actual narrative reason. And I'd like to mention that he fully got impaled and then walked away as if he was fine. Because I guess they thought it would be a cool angsty shot to draw. Or something. Again, just doing things for funsies. What they did to Harvey? Fucking evil. Literally no reason to do that. Makes no sense canonically. And didn't he mostly use the coin to force other people to make decisions rather than himself? The mischaracterization here is actually painful, like, that could have very well been some random ass person. Not to mention that he let Bruce walk away at the end, which again, is not how his coin tosses work.
Moving on to the art, I honestly feel like this style, just like this story, don't fit within the batman universe. Like, it's absolutely gorgeous, but it's a bit too dark (literally, and by that I mean that I felt like watching a poorly lit movie while reading this) and too realistic for a comic, in my opinion, as well as too detailed. There's also so many useless shots that again, are just there to look cool. And don't get me started on the headache that was trying to read the font and colour that they used for the Joker's dialogue. Fucking evil.
The Plato's cavern allusion made me giggle, I'll give him that at least. Not sure the Joker knows who Plato is but you know. At least that was cool.