Name: Arkham Asylum.
ISBN: 9781840239096

Grant Morrison

Dave McKean

15 years ago, this enigmatic graphic novel performed its mental autopsy on Batman and his enemies, and in doing so set both its creators on the road to greatness. In Gotham City's home for the criminally insane, Batman confronts his arch-nemeses, including the Joker, Two-Face and more. Before the battle is over, Batman's mental straight-jacket will have been torn apart, exposing his every weakness and bringing him far closer to his foes than he could ever possibly have wanted! To celebrate this illustrious anniversary, Arkham Asylum has been re-launched in this sumptuous hardback that includes Morrison's complete script, original thumbnail breakdowns, samples of how the story and art came together, and much more!

Arkham Asylum.

a serious house on serious earth

Arkham Asylum

love the artist. this was a great inspiration for me.

Led by the Joker, the patients of Arkham Asylum take over the building and threaten to murder the staff unless Batman agrees to meet with them, a situation that results in Batman being pushed to the brink of madness himself.

A Serious House on Serious Earth

Briar's Reviews

I love comic books, but this one didn't do it for me.

I didn't like the art style, even if it was quite beautiful. For me, this style of comic didn't do Batman justice. It seemed very messy to me, and it didn't let me focus. I think this art style could work well with other characters, but not one where I want to pay attention to detail. It just felt to fuzzy.

There's footnotes in this edition, which seems really weird to me. Why does a comic book need footnotes? Shouldn't you be able to get the point across within the story?

At least there was a script at the end to understand what was going on. It just seemed really weird to me that I had no honest idea what was happening. It didn't seem like a Batman comic, more like a parody of a Batman comic. Having to go back and forth between the comic and the script also left me incredibly frustrated. I don't understand how this comic book was supposed to hit audiences.

The idea of having the inmates takes over Arkham Asylum seems awesome and this could make for the best story, but this art style didn't do it justice. I could barely tell what characters were who, and I'm obsessed with Batman. I also didn't understand the haunted part of the plot. 

I get this book was supposed to be a psychological thriller/horror that was supposed to attract adult and mature audiences, but it just didn't feel that way to me. The allusions and references went over my head, and I felt like there could have been so much more added to make it flow better.

Overall, this book was super frustrating for me. I wanted to love it (especially when I paid way to much to get my hands on this book) but I just couldn't. I had high expectations and it came short.

Two out of five stars.

Ryan LaFerney

Arkham Asylum is a classic for a reason. The story by Grant Morrison is two tales about the horrors of madness. In one, Batman must confront not only his deadliest foes (such as the Joker and Two-Face among others) but his own personal demons. Will he be driven mad too? The other story is about Amadeus Arkham, founder of the asylum that bears his name, and his descent into madness.

Arkham Asylum is a pure work of art, heavy on symbolism. Influence by Freud, The Brothers Quay, and Alice in Wonderland, Morrison and McKean took a variety of influences to create a fresh and mature look at Batman. Dave McKean's artwork is fantastic - and innovative. Creepy yet elegant, you can see how he was obvious influenced by The Brothers Quay as created a mixed media landscape for a comic. This (to my knowledge) had never been done before. It's a non-traditional comic to say the least.

Profound. Artistic. Disturbing. Moving. 

This might be my favorite Batman comic.

Give us the arthouse movie adaptation, please.............

The Hissing Saint

I finished reading this last night... Its going to be one of those books that I will find myself returning to time and again and then unearthing new meaning with every read.

Frankly the best way to read this book might be too finish the main body of the book and then read it again with the notes that form the second part of the book to get a deeper understanding of the art and symbols.

Loved it

Charles Siboto

If madness is the sort of thing you worry about this is the graphic novel for you, it begs the question, who are the real lunatics? The people in the asylum or those outside? And the line seems quite blurry.

Erfan Abedi

Because 1 star comics are written by incompetent writers. This wasn't a work of incompetence, it was just one of the most lackluster comics I've ever read. At no point during the story I became curious about what would happen next, which is a pretty low bar when it comes to comic books.

Eugenia Andino

La historia, regular. El dibujo, magnífico.

Jade Flynn

"Sometimes...sometimes I think the Asylum is a head. We're inside a huge head that dreams us all into being. Perhaps it's in your head, Batman. Arkham is a 
  looking glass
 and we are you." - The Mad Hatter

I for one loved the art even though it seems that this graphic novel is heavily criticised for it. Especially, the way Morrison depicted The Joker. I did knock a star off for the typography as I found it a challenge to read at times but all in all a very dark enjoyable read.

Luke Jones

Love the art style but the story and words on the page were awful. When I could read them. Legibility wasn’t an objective for the inkers here.

Arkham Asylum.

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