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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Liked the story well enough and loved the art, but some of the dialogue (particularly jokers) was just unreadable like I zoomed in to 150% on chrome and still struggled to read it
I have not read too many of the DC Comics, but this one was really good. Batman is one of the few DC heroes that I like, so it was cool to see this side of him through the Joker's eyes.
Okay, so in this comic, the Joker is trying to turn Batman crazy by exposing him to all kinds of horrifying things, namely the villains he has put away.
We get Arkham Asylum's backstory. We learn that the owner, a man who had lived in the house before turning it into an asylum after his mother had died after going insane herself. After many years of trying to help those admitted into the asylum, he ended up going crazy as well and locked himself inside one of the rooms scratching a story into the ground with his fingernails. Gruesome, right?
I really enjoyed getting to see the patients in their natural state and seeing them trying to fight Batman and make him feel as they felt was strange, but really interesting.
The artwork is what really set this comic apart. It set the mood perfectly, capturing the creepy, haunted, and ominous tone of the asylum while still keeping a sense of beauty to it. All in all, it was absolutely stunning, if not unnerving.
I enjoyed the story, even if I was a little confused at first, but it all comes together in the end.
There will be some spoilers in this next bit. This comic comes full circle in the fact that it, the comic, the asylum, and the old Doctor Arkham, all foreshadow Batman's involvement in the asylum itself. He is the one to bring people in, deeming them insane, and bats are what drew Old Arkham insane. It was very well thought out.
Overall, I really enjoyed this comic book and I want to see if there are more that are told in this style!
Okay, so in this comic, the Joker is trying to turn Batman crazy by exposing him to all kinds of horrifying things, namely the villains he has put away.
We get Arkham Asylum's backstory. We learn that the owner, a man who had lived in the house before turning it into an asylum after his mother had died after going insane herself. After many years of trying to help those admitted into the asylum, he ended up going crazy as well and locked himself inside one of the rooms scratching a story into the ground with his fingernails. Gruesome, right?
I really enjoyed getting to see the patients in their natural state and seeing them trying to fight Batman and make him feel as they felt was strange, but really interesting.
The artwork is what really set this comic apart. It set the mood perfectly, capturing the creepy, haunted, and ominous tone of the asylum while still keeping a sense of beauty to it. All in all, it was absolutely stunning, if not unnerving.
I enjoyed the story, even if I was a little confused at first, but it all comes together in the end.
There will be some spoilers in this next bit. This comic comes full circle in the fact that it, the comic, the asylum, and the old Doctor Arkham, all foreshadow Batman's involvement in the asylum itself. He is the one to bring people in, deeming them insane, and bats are what drew Old Arkham insane. It was very well thought out.
Overall, I really enjoyed this comic book and I want to see if there are more that are told in this style!
Some of the artwork was interesting, but I had a really hard time telling what was going on in a lot of it. Story was kind of a mess, with mostly cameos from the usual villains. Didn't enjoy this one at all, really, which was a bummer, since it seems to be so popular.
I thought this book was well illustrated and well written, but it was a bit too dark and disturbing for me. I’ve always been fascinated with Arkham Asylum, but this was pretty dark and abstract. I actually accidentally downloaded it, but it had been on my list, so I went for it. However, I would recommend reading it in a non-digital format as some of the font and drawing style was hard to read on a tablet.
dark
fast-paced
Stylish but unconvincing.
It gets an extra point for the art, which is the visual equivalent of slurring over pages and really quite effective, but the story leaves me cold. This edition has the script reproduced in the back, footnoted to illustrate the mythological inspirations, but clever doesn't necessarily equal compelling, I'm afraid. It feels as if a number of (admittedly myth-connected) elements are thrown at the wall and intended to produce an effect of madness, but the book's just too short for Batman's journey into insanity to be at all credible - and I say that knowing he's not the most stable character in the first place. I'm aware that length is a limitation of the graphic novel format, but the story went too quickly for me to take any of it seriously, especially as it was occasionally studded with elements that were so simplistic that they didn't work for me either. I'll never like fridging - it's a terribly overused shorthand to motivate characters - and the word association technique that Dr. Adams uses on Batman is presented as something shocking and deeply revealing of his character. It's not. It's blatantly obvious low-hanging fruit; I have to admit that my reaction was "No shit, Sherlock."
This has got such a good reputation, so clearly other people find it compelling and good for them. I was glad when it was over, though.
It gets an extra point for the art, which is the visual equivalent of slurring over pages and really quite effective, but the story leaves me cold. This edition has the script reproduced in the back, footnoted to illustrate the mythological inspirations, but clever doesn't necessarily equal compelling, I'm afraid. It feels as if a number of (admittedly myth-connected) elements are thrown at the wall and intended to produce an effect of madness, but the book's just too short for Batman's journey into insanity to be at all credible - and I say that knowing he's not the most stable character in the first place. I'm aware that length is a limitation of the graphic novel format, but the story went too quickly for me to take any of it seriously, especially as it was occasionally studded with elements that were so simplistic that they didn't work for me either. I'll never like fridging - it's a terribly overused shorthand to motivate characters - and the word association technique that Dr. Adams uses on Batman is presented as something shocking and deeply revealing of his character. It's not. It's blatantly obvious low-hanging fruit; I have to admit that my reaction was "No shit, Sherlock."
This has got such a good reputation, so clearly other people find it compelling and good for them. I was glad when it was over, though.
Yep, borrowed this one from my local public library too. I think this would be another one I would buy for myself though.
See my brief note on it:
[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/11/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-7.html]
See my brief note on it:
[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/11/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-7.html]
I liked the story but the art, while good, disturbed me. I didn't like it. I also disliked the font used for the Joker's speech - I had a difficult time reading it.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced