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A review by caitcoy
Arkham Asylum: Madness by Sam Kieth
4.0
I'm struggling with rating this one because parts of it I loved and parts of it bored/confused me so 3.5 stars it is.
I honestly think that my expectations were just too high. I was just left wanting more by the end of it. Arkham Asylum: Madness follows the story of a nurse named Sabine who works in Arkham Asylum. I honestly think they're all fucking crazy just for setting foot in that building but guess you gotta get money however you can in Gotham.
Kieth does an excellent job portraying the creepy, fucked up feel of Arkham in both the writing and particularly the artwork.
Batman doesn't show up at all in this but that's honestly a good thing as the focus here is really on the interaction between the psychopaths and the nurses and doctors. The thought of Joker collecting things (and the way that turns out) was so perfectly dark and messed up that I couldn't help but love it.
And Harley! She was so damn wonderful that I was left wanting so much more of her.
But I found that the people who worked at Arkham bored the shit out of me. I mostly liked Sabine but the personal drama between nurses, doctors and guards just didn't interest me.
And I will admit that parts of this book confused the hell out of me. That could easily have been Kieth's intent (God knows I didn't understand [b:Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth|22374|Batman Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth|Grant Morrison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388209338s/22374.jpg|1807553] either but McKean's artwork majorly won me over on that one). It just kept me from fully engaging and being super happy with the story.
Overall, still a very dark and fun story about how the creepiness and dark past and present of Arkham Asylum infects not only the building but all those inside it.
I honestly think that my expectations were just too high. I was just left wanting more by the end of it. Arkham Asylum: Madness follows the story of a nurse named Sabine who works in Arkham Asylum. I honestly think they're all fucking crazy just for setting foot in that building but guess you gotta get money however you can in Gotham.
Kieth does an excellent job portraying the creepy, fucked up feel of Arkham in both the writing and particularly the artwork.
Batman doesn't show up at all in this but that's honestly a good thing as the focus here is really on the interaction between the psychopaths and the nurses and doctors. The thought of Joker collecting things (and the way that turns out) was so perfectly dark and messed up that I couldn't help but love it.
And Harley! She was so damn wonderful that I was left wanting so much more of her.
But I found that the people who worked at Arkham bored the shit out of me. I mostly liked Sabine but the personal drama between nurses, doctors and guards just didn't interest me.
And I will admit that parts of this book confused the hell out of me. That could easily have been Kieth's intent (God knows I didn't understand [b:Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth|22374|Batman Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth|Grant Morrison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388209338s/22374.jpg|1807553] either but McKean's artwork majorly won me over on that one). It just kept me from fully engaging and being super happy with the story.
Overall, still a very dark and fun story about how the creepiness and dark past and present of Arkham Asylum infects not only the building but all those inside it.