Great story, really shows a different side of Batman. I like how it shows where he has come from and what he is really fighting for. This is the Batman that I love and it shows how much the Bat-Fam really cares for each other. I mean, even the other "Batmans" from around the world show up. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has even a mild love for Batman.

Fun fact: this was the first Batman collection I ever read back in the day. Definitely a wild place to start and I’m here to say it really hasn’t changed.

Bad story, great Robins angst

sigh. I've never been more disappointed at a comic. It's one that I really wanted to ready because of the idea of batman going insane and off the deep end, unfortunately that was the only thing that even made me give it 2 stars instead of one. Usually when im in korea for uni i read comics in the car or between stuff because they are easy and light, as i keepy novels for when im more relaxed. But this comic just gave me such a rough time having me finish it in 2 weeks! It was so confusing and all over the place i couldnt make sense of the plot. If it wasn't for the concept of batman's insanity and the joker doing what he always does, this book would join "faces of death" as one of the worst comics ever. I know it is Grant Morrison and he is such a fantastic comic writer.. but this was just, so off. All this stuff with the black glove and robin and alfred none of them felt tied in. Its like a bunch of ideas crashed into each other so he tried to fit them all in.... anyway... wouldnt recommend it, unless you like seeing nice art of the joker because this version of him is great. 2/5 meh

Worse artist and the plot became more contrived and uninteresting. Rather not continue.

Fun but in a way that touches on backstory I have no idea of, and in a way that plays fun at homophobia and mental illness. Morrison always has the same artist but some issues have a sub in, which I actually preferred to the main one. All in all, pretty much what I expected from the title.

In my recent foray into the realm of Batman comics, I’ve mostly had luck. Initially rather reluctant to take interest in the character’s universe, The Killing Joke and Year One convinced me to give it a chance. So I guess it couldn’t be that simple. Arkham Asylum suffers from pop culture’s terribly restricted and restrictive understanding of psychology and mental illness. It’s a succession of clichés, weak dilemnas and failed attempts to spark uneasiness in its reader. It’s superficially spooky and profoundly vain. I’m a sucker for storylines interrogating Batman’s own (in)sanity so I appreciate that the authors were trying to do just that but they don’t go very far and, rather, rely on fairly hackneyed gimmicks which fail to truly delve into Wayne’s psyche. There remains a few intriguing pages (I did like the narration of the parts focused on Amadeus Arkham, in spite of his unoriginal fate; the psychiatrist’s strategy with Dent is interesting) and some nice artwork. I liked the blurriness of Dave McKean’s trait and his design of Batman; it does however get quite gimmicky and, problematically, barely legible at times notably because of the aggravating font which is used for the Joker’s lines. Not entirely uninteresting but barely more than passable.

honestly there is no dynamic duo greater than dick grayson batman and damian wayne robin. i'm so happy i could finally read it <3

I am vengeance. I am the night. I am the Batman of Zur-en-arrh!

A A a a a a a a bc a a.c. F f f f f f b b f f

The biggest thing I got out of this was how much Dick didn’t move like Bruce, even in the Batsuit. Was he even trying to pretend? And also that Talia is completely horrible. Not that I didn’t know that before, but it’s always nice to be reminded.

What a hot mess. About the only characters that didn’t feel extremely OOC were Nightwing and Alfred. Even Talia wasn’t in character.

What...the hell did I just read. Thank god it’s over.

Did not enjoy the first couple of issues in this. Loved it once I twigged what was going on. Kinda love Talia even more for exacting that revenge.

Modern certainly was different from New 52. Been a while since I picked up anything from that era but I decided since I was stuck on New 52, and now it's no longer 52 but Rebirth I need to move forward some way and so I returned to trying to read what I can of Modern. This story is dark, twisted, and fraught with dark magic. This is the dark side of Batman that you rarely see anymore, as he sorta softened over time. While it can get dark, it rarely gets this dark. Batman is facing an immortal killer (no, not Ra's Al Ghul) who specializes in killing kids, who is also from his past. He has to dive into the occult to face him. While this is rather dark, the plot is pretty solid. It's a bit predictable, but this is from the early 90s when Modern was a baby and they were just getting into their style. I didn't enjoy it as much as The Mad Monk, which ended hilariously, but it was nice. I particularly liked the very end, when Batman freed that first victim. 3.5-4 stars.