Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence
This comic is TERRIFYING...and INCREDIBLE. In this story, the patients at Arkham Asylum rebel and take the staff hostage. Batman is lured to Arkham by the Joker, who hopes to make Batman a permanent patient there, too.
Two really great things about this book:
A) Grant Morrison is an incredibly literary writer. He (in writing the Joker's character) used so many literary allusions, which worked incredibly well in merging both the insanity and intelligence of several characters (the Joker and Amadeus Arkham in particular).
B) Dave McKeon's illustrations are INSANE. I really loved how he integrated collages into the artwork, and I felt like I was slipping into madness with every flip of the page.
Two really great things about this book:
A) Grant Morrison is an incredibly literary writer. He (in writing the Joker's character) used so many literary allusions, which worked incredibly well in merging both the insanity and intelligence of several characters (the Joker and Amadeus Arkham in particular).
B) Dave McKeon's illustrations are INSANE. I really loved how he integrated collages into the artwork, and I felt like I was slipping into madness with every flip of the page.
Gorgeous art, but I didn't understand this mashup of Freudian and Jungian fandom. I think if I knew the characters from Batman better I could have understood everything better, but right now I don't even know what happened.
I'm not what you would call a huge Grant Morrison fan. It's said you either like Alan Moore or Morrison and anyone glancing over my review history can probably guess which I favor.
He's just a bit pants, isn't he? So thunderously self serious, so strenuously post modern, and even IF his stories do work in the moment it's very seldom that I read one without fifteen minutes later going "Well that was a bit silly wasn't it?" And don't even get me started on the whole super sanity thing, I still have no idea what he's going for with that. Shifting personalities is all fine and dandy but c'mon.
Still a blind squirrel does occasionally find a nut (See Also WE3). So even though this book suffers from self seriousness (you need hip waders to walk through the bullshit on some of the sequences) and silliness (I don't care if has shamanistic significance the finale is pretty damn hilarious).
Much of it has to do with Dave McKean's art which brilliant breaks down each character to it's bare essence, while creating a bizarre tableau which makes reading the book a bit more like looking a mural unfold for a hundred something pages rather then reading the average comic book.
He's just a bit pants, isn't he? So thunderously self serious, so strenuously post modern, and even IF his stories do work in the moment it's very seldom that I read one without fifteen minutes later going "Well that was a bit silly wasn't it?" And don't even get me started on the whole super sanity thing, I still have no idea what he's going for with that. Shifting personalities is all fine and dandy but c'mon.
Still a blind squirrel does occasionally find a nut (See Also WE3). So even though this book suffers from self seriousness (you need hip waders to walk through the bullshit on some of the sequences) and silliness (I don't care if has shamanistic significance the finale is pretty damn hilarious).
Much of it has to do with Dave McKean's art which brilliant breaks down each character to it's bare essence, while creating a bizarre tableau which makes reading the book a bit more like looking a mural unfold for a hundred something pages rather then reading the average comic book.
“Her body is in pieces.”
“Harriet lies nearby, indescribably violated.”
“Almost idly, I wonder where her head is.”
“And then I look at the doll’s house.”
“And the doll’s house…”
“…looks…”
“…at…”
“…me.”
I have never read a graphic novel that literally bleeds it’s intent from its pages quite like “Arkham Asylum”. Every page embodies the madness of its subject and conjures a sense of utter dread and psychosis from every piece of surreal artistry or scrawled word. More than a story, it is a expressionistic deep-dive into the simmering insanity that trawls Gotham’s streets. And I loved it.
“Harriet lies nearby, indescribably violated.”
“Almost idly, I wonder where her head is.”
“And then I look at the doll’s house.”
“And the doll’s house…”
“…looks…”
“…at…”
“…me.”
I have never read a graphic novel that literally bleeds it’s intent from its pages quite like “Arkham Asylum”. Every page embodies the madness of its subject and conjures a sense of utter dread and psychosis from every piece of surreal artistry or scrawled word. More than a story, it is a expressionistic deep-dive into the simmering insanity that trawls Gotham’s streets. And I loved it.
This was more fun to read the endnotes about than to read the thing itself.
I really like the art style and form of storytelling in this graphic novel. It's not really so much a typical Batman comic though, in that it doesn't really include a lot of the stuff people care about when it comes to the character, and Batman's characterization is vastly different from his usual self.
The actual superheroics are incredibly subdued. There isn't much fighting, and when there is, neither Batman nor the villains seem much more impressive in combat than an ordinary person. With the typical superhero stuff laid aside though, the comic instead leans super heavily into the psychedelic and gothic horror elements of Batman. The entire book is a surreal dreamlike trip.
The actual superheroics are incredibly subdued. There isn't much fighting, and when there is, neither Batman nor the villains seem much more impressive in combat than an ordinary person. With the typical superhero stuff laid aside though, the comic instead leans super heavily into the psychedelic and gothic horror elements of Batman. The entire book is a surreal dreamlike trip.
This book wasn't for me.
Gorgeous art from Dave McKean but the story felt undercooked
Gorgeous art from Dave McKean but the story felt undercooked
adventurous
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
as someone who doesn’t read comics and doesn’t really care much about batman, i wanted to read this pretty much just because of the stylization. and upon finishing this, i’m surprised at how much i really fucked with batman here. i was really happy to learn that this batman doesn’t really do any of the batman shit i find boring. this man is pushed to his breaking point, and not in a “he almost kills someone but decides his code of honour is more important,” way. he’s as dangerous and unhinged as the inmates here. which is the point, and i love that.
it’s an incredibly dark depiction of this world. a house that’s been haunted for decades, and everyone that was forced inside just happens to be rotting anyway. it’s kind of gorgeous in it’s own twisted way. the way batman’s villains are depicted is so fucking fun. they’ve all completely lost any sense of humanity. two face sticks out to me the most, the idea of him being unable to decide anything after getting his coin taken away by the asylum director is just… perfect. i’m not a batman fan but god i can gush about this characterization all damn day.
and i mean the art. c’mon man. absolutely jaw dropping. it’s so fucking terrifying the way the panels feel as melted and grotesque as everyone inside the asylum is. they meld together and twist in a way that just boggles my brain, but in the best way imaginable. those panels of the joker man. fucking hell. nightmare inducing, and that’s exactly how it should be.
i knew i would like this, but i’m really pleasantly surprised at just how much i ended up connecting with it past that. it could probably stand to be a little longer, but i’m not unhappy with the length as it stands. short and sweet. or short and frightening more like.
it’s an incredibly dark depiction of this world. a house that’s been haunted for decades, and everyone that was forced inside just happens to be rotting anyway. it’s kind of gorgeous in it’s own twisted way. the way batman’s villains are depicted is so fucking fun. they’ve all completely lost any sense of humanity. two face sticks out to me the most, the idea of him being unable to decide anything after getting his coin taken away by the asylum director is just… perfect. i’m not a batman fan but god i can gush about this characterization all damn day.
and i mean the art. c’mon man. absolutely jaw dropping. it’s so fucking terrifying the way the panels feel as melted and grotesque as everyone inside the asylum is. they meld together and twist in a way that just boggles my brain, but in the best way imaginable. those panels of the joker man. fucking hell. nightmare inducing, and that’s exactly how it should be.
i knew i would like this, but i’m really pleasantly surprised at just how much i ended up connecting with it past that. it could probably stand to be a little longer, but i’m not unhappy with the length as it stands. short and sweet. or short and frightening more like.