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snugglor 's review for:
Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth
by Grant Morrison
I really enjoyed this book. If possible, definitely pick up the anniversary edition because the extra features are worth having.
In this graphic novel, Batman enters Arkham Asylum at Joker's invitation, and spends a night there confronting both physical and metaphorical enemies. Woven through this is the sorrowful tale of the Arkham family and how the asylum came to be.
This is quite unlike anything else I've read, both in terms of story and art. Batman isn't portrayed as invincible here, but rather as a man who is physically strong but mentally flawed. It lent a lot to the story. At times, due to a combination of the art and the script, it can be a little hard to tell what is going on, so some sections may need to be read more than once.
The lettering is quite cool in that there are different fonts for the various characters. I thought this imbued the text with more personality. However, the Joker font is sometimes hard to read.
The art is really the best thing about this work. There's a lot of mixed media work going on, which was, and still is, unusual in comic books. I feel like the artist wasn't constrained by panels or convention and did things as he interpreted them.
In the anniversary edition there is copy of the final script along with notes from the author (Grant Morrison). This helps clarify any scenes that were unclear in your first reading, as well as explaining some of the more esoteric art choices and subtle references. It was great to have an insight into what the author was leaning towards and what mythologies he felt were relevant to his story.
In this graphic novel, Batman enters Arkham Asylum at Joker's invitation, and spends a night there confronting both physical and metaphorical enemies. Woven through this is the sorrowful tale of the Arkham family and how the asylum came to be.
This is quite unlike anything else I've read, both in terms of story and art. Batman isn't portrayed as invincible here, but rather as a man who is physically strong but mentally flawed. It lent a lot to the story. At times, due to a combination of the art and the script, it can be a little hard to tell what is going on, so some sections may need to be read more than once.
The lettering is quite cool in that there are different fonts for the various characters. I thought this imbued the text with more personality. However, the Joker font is sometimes hard to read.
The art is really the best thing about this work. There's a lot of mixed media work going on, which was, and still is, unusual in comic books. I feel like the artist wasn't constrained by panels or convention and did things as he interpreted them.
In the anniversary edition there is copy of the final script along with notes from the author (Grant Morrison). This helps clarify any scenes that were unclear in your first reading, as well as explaining some of the more esoteric art choices and subtle references. It was great to have an insight into what the author was leaning towards and what mythologies he felt were relevant to his story.