Well, it’s been a long time, I and I feel that I should’ve
left you a dope beat to step to. Yeah, I’m throwing a Timberland reference in a
Batman review. It’s called “Random Thoughts,” after all. While I did touch on
something Batman related back in January, it does feel like I haven’t done much
Batman on here lately. Heck, I used to have a month devoted to the Cape
Crusader, but that really fell by the wayside. I guess it shows who truly has
my mind when it comes to superheroes: Superman. While I won’t do a month
dedicated to Batman, the next few posts will definitely be devoted to the Dark
Knight.
One of the things that actually brought this mindset was
this graphic novel I’m about to talk about. I was in McKay’s for the first time
in a while and came across this GN.
There are a lot of seminal Batman stories I haven’t read and this is one of
them. Batman: Arkham Asylum – A Serious House on Serious Earth was a graphic novel released in 1989 right around
the time of the Tim Burton Batman movie. It was the first time that Grant
Morrison, a writer who’s done much in the comic world, wrote Batman. It was
illustrated by Dave McKean who’s probably known for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. The
book also served as an inspiration for the video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. So,
what happens when Batman takes some PCP and goes into Arkham Asylum? Okay…
there was probably some meth involved too.
Batman: Arkham Asylum – A Serious House on Serious Earth
Writer: Grant Morrison
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Letters: Gaspar Salidino
SYNOPSIS
We basically have two stories going on in the novel. The
main story involves Batman being summoned by Commissioner Gordon to deal with a
riot at Arkham Asylum. Someone freed in the inmates and they’re running things.
Joker summons the somewhat bewildered Batman into the Asylum. We end up seeing
the what the inmates of the Asylum have done to the doctors. We also see what
the doctors have tried to do to inmates like Harvey “Two-Face” Dent. The Joker
forces Batman into a “deadly game” scenario. He has one hour to escape Arkham
while his villains chase him down.
I wonder what the uber-BatGod fans would think of this.
Things go awry and the villains chase him down anyway. We
end up seeing even weirder versions of Batman’s rogue’s gallery. It takes a lot
of blood, sweat, and tears, but Batman is able to find out who caused the riot.
It turns out that this doctor, Dr. Cavendish, read the diary of Amadeus
Arkham and went mad. Eventually,
Cavendish is taken down (by someone else), and Batman is able to escape in
time. Joker tries to pull one more trick on Bats by using Two-Face, but the
odds were in Batman’s favor. He leaves the Asylum with Joker telling him that
he’ll always have a place here.
The other part of the story involves the diary of Amadeus
Arkham, the creator the Asylum. Amadeus talks about how dealing with his mother
inspired him to want to help the mentally ill. Unfortunately, things didn’t
turn out well for the good doctor. One of the inmates escaped and killed his
wife and daughter. This ended up making Amadeus go mad, and it also unlocked a
memory that showed how twisted he could really be. He ended up getting admitted
himself and had delusions of a giant bat demon…. Yeah, this stuff is rife with
the darkness!
Those diary entries were... something.
OPINION
This was an interesting read. If you’re used to the Grant
Morrison of today who did all sort of stuff with Batman, then you’ll be
surprised by this one here. It was his first take on the character and it’s
probably the weirdest path he could do down. Instead of a fantastical world or
even a more grounded world, we see Batman get thrown into a disturbed horror
movie. It kind of makes you wonder if all of this is even happening. It seems
like a dream, a horrid hallucination, or one of those old German Expressionism
films. The diary of Amadeus Arkham plot
was also pretty interesting. I see where the idea of Arkham’s diary from the
video game came from. It also brought the horror in more ways than the Batman
story did.
The takes on Batman and the rogues’ gallery were interesting.
The villains are much more disturbed here. You can look at ones like Two-Face
or Mad Hatter for example. Batman and the Joker are the ones who seem the most
weird. Instead of the steadfast, brave, meticulous hero, Batman is afraid, a
bit weakened, and not too heroic. It’s one reason why I consider the story
itself to be a weird dream of Bruce’s. As for the Joker, he’s the Joker you
pretty much know but darker. Heck, he feels like the Joker that Morrison
eventually used in his run on Batman in the 2000’s.
Man, this stuff is hard to read at times... the dialogue, I mean. Batman freaking out at a pass from Joker is hilarious!
The artwork is another thing that’s… interesting. It’s helps
throw this already weird story into some hellish dreamscape. The Asylum and its
inhabitants look deformed, deranged, and just outright weird. The Joker looks
demented. Even Batman looks like he’s some black figure from the underworld. Action-wise, McKean definitely took liberties
when it came to certain characters. While his artwork was weird, it made me want
to get it all.
As for the negatives, the story can feel a little light. I
wonder what Morrison would’ve been able to do with more page space. Then again,
I don’t know if it needed to be too long. Some villains also only get a small
bit, and that’s it. One big problem I
had was with Joker’s lines here. They were highlighted in red and didn’t look
that appealing. That may have been the point, but I could barely read that crap
at times. While the artwork was interesting, there were times where you couldn’t
tell what was going on. At times, it was either too dark (literally) or too confusing.
In the end, this was
an interesting read. I do like it, but I can see others not having that same
reaction. I’ve seen differing views online and they are valid. It’s not your
standard Batman story. Heck, it’s not even your standard Batman. The artwork
and weird nature can also be a turn off for someone who wants a more traditional
comic story. Still, it does work as a skewed look into Batman, the Joker, and the
asylum. I do recommend it on that front. Plus, it’s Grant Morrison doing Batman
for the first time. It wouldn’t have been the last time, and I’m grateful for
that. Anyway, I’m off to see what else I haven’t talked about yet. Until then,
Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
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