Arkham Asylum

Apr 29, 2013 Vanessa Wolf rated it 2 of 5 stars

What a mess, where do I start? Should I even bother? What happens in this? Well we follow a nurse around for a 24hr shift that completely violates union agreements and OSHA safety regulations, but hell, its a comic book, so maybe I can pretend that's plausible in Gothem. The rest? Its just a jumbled mess of "can you guess who this villain is after I've done it MY OWN WAY!" which actually makes most of the villains either impossible to identify from a distance or is such eye rolling obvious fan a...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, reviewed, batman

DC, which, unlike Marvel, still releases original graphic novels every once in a while, released this one, which is written, drawn, and occasionally colored by Sam Kieth, colored the rest of the time by Michelle Madsen and Dave Stewart, and lettered by Steve Wands. It’s a slim volume – not quite 100 pages long, and it retails for $19.99.

The basic plot is simple: A nurse named Sabine arrives for her shift at Arkham Asylum in the morning and ends up staying for 24 hours when she’s drafted for the...more DC, which, unlike Marvel, still releases original graphic novels every once in a while, released this one, which is written, drawn, and occasionally colored by Sam Kieth, colored the rest of the time by Michelle Madsen and Dave Stewart, and lettered by Steve Wands. It’s a slim volume – not quite 100 pages long, and it retails for $19.99.

The basic plot is simple: A nurse named Sabine arrives for her shift at Arkham Asylum in the morning and ends up staying for 24 hours when she’s drafted for the night shift as well. It is, of course, a strange 24 hours. The Joker is doing weird things, and everything kinds of comes to a head while Sabine is there. Kieth is concerned far more with Sabine and the way she and the staff reacts to the weirdness going on at the asylum, so the plot is somewhat inconsequential. In many ways, this book is a nice companion piece to The Killing Joke, in that the Joker is trying to drive many people mad, and instead of turning a carnival into a madhouse, he simply uses the madhouse in which he’s confined. In some ways, this is a far more disturbing comic than The Killing Joke, because Kieth leaves the ending more ambiguous than Moore did. We think that the Joker is proven wrong and that not everyone loses their sanity when confronted with the insane, but then Kieth forces us to reconsider what happens. The idea that Kieth is toying with is an interesting one. Sabine needs the job – she’s a young mother and she and her husband don’t make much money – but does she need it to the point where it destroys her soul? Is her love of her son enough to resist the insanity that surrounds her? Will defending her child against the Joker drive her to the point where he wants her to go anyway? Kieth brings all of these themes up throughout the book, and although they don’t always work perfectly (mainly because Sabine remains somewhat of a blank slate, emotionally – she reacts to things as we expect her to react, and so we don’t really get a sense that she might swerve), Kieth is good enough to make the ending fairly gut-wrenching. It’s a decent psychological horror story, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The problem with the story is that Kieth doesn’t really do anything new with any of the characters. I know that he can’t really do too much because this is, presumably, “in continuity” and so he can’t change too much, but he doesn’t really give us new takes of the old chestnuts. The book that this is obviously hearkening back to, Morrison’s Arkham Asylum (yes, I just compared it to The Killing Joke, but I can compare it to two different books, right?), at least gave us an odder version of the Joker than we usually see, but Kieth’s Joker is just the Joker. Even Killer Croc, a malevolent presence on the top floor, is similar to many other versions. Because of this restriction, it’s kind of difficult to care too much about what theatrics the maniacs in Arkham pull, even when it directly affects Sabine. Kieth toys a bit with the Joker – his obsession with Antiques Roadshow and old toys in general ought to become canonical – but in the end, he’s just the Joker. Kieth also hits all the common notes about Arkham – he brings up the idea that something deeper lurks within its walls, for instance – but it’s still Arkham. In other words, it’s still ridiculously understaffed even though the greatest concentration of evil in the DCU is concentrated inside it, and it’s still a wreck of a building that, even in an economic recession, is an embarrassment in a major American city. The idea of Arkham is always more interesting than the reality, and Kieth doesn’t do much with the reality.

The reason I can mildly recommend this is because the ending really does work well, as Sabine comes to understand her warped relationship with Arkham and its patients and why she acts as she does at the end, and because Kieth’s art is always fun to look at. His character design is wonderful, as he draws people as slight caricatures that reveal much more about them than if he drew them straight. He shifts from cartoony and benign to cartoony and violent very easily, making the violence stand out and more disturbing. While his Joker looks like the Joker and even Killer Croc, as malevolent a presence he is, is still a big crocodile, Kieth’s visual portrayal of Harley Quinn is brilliant, wearing her hair in dreadlocks and laconically jousting with her replacement at Arkham, while Jonathan Crane, with his stitched-up lips, is a creepy demon haunting the halls. Kieth always does a good job moving from relatively simple line work in certain panels to fully painted panels in others, and his range is breathtaking. Kieth doesn’t quite earn the final image of horror (which breaks the tension that has been building up inside the asylum), but it’s a tremendous visual. While Kieth’s writing has been better than in this comic, it’s always a treat to look at his artwork and see what fun stuff he’s up to these days.

Arkham Asylum: Madness isn’t quite great, although it’s not bad. Kieth shies away from really delving into madness, giving us the standard insane characters of the DC Universe and not going too far into Sabine’s psyche to make a grand statement. Her struggle is a gripping one, but there’s a sense that Kieth had an opportunity to really dig in, and he passed it up to give us stories of characters we know far too well. Still, it’s a fascinating book because, like Dave McKean, Kieth is an artist who can make madness visually interesting. It’s a decent read, just not a brilliant one. But it’s still nice that DC actually publishes stuff like this every once in a while!(less)

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Dec 25, 2012 Garrett rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm always thrilled to get an original take on Batman's Rogue's Gallery, and Sam Keith's Arkham Asylum: Madness is certainly that. Unfamiliar with his previous work (aside from my friend's glowing review of his creator-owned book The Maxx), I was unsure what to expect. What I got was an experiment in mixed media art that, while not my usual cup of tea, was quite enthralling in its willingness to explore such a bold visual palette.

The plot revolves around Sabine Robbins, a nurse working a 24-hour...more

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Aug 09, 2012 C.A. Bryers rated it 4 of 5 stars

The narrative and the art style is all over the place, but I think that worked in this graphic novel's favor. It gave the impression very well that Arkham Asylum is a pressure-cooker, a living thing waiting to burst. It was a slow burn to begin with, but little things like the persistent thumps coming from the walls and a clock that inexplicably bleeds pushes the feeling that such a place would be unnerving to those who endure that environment for a living. And since Arkham Asylum Madness shows...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Angel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: art-and-photography, graphic_novels_and_comics

First, what I need to say upfront: this is one of those books about peripheral characters in a series. It is the kind of story that you may or not like, and it is often a book just made to milk a franchise. With that out of the way, overall, it is a fairly good book, even though it does start very slow at first. However, once the pace picks up, it does hold on to you until the very end. In addition, the author does provide a pretty nice afterword with a dedication that is a bit of a twist. Worth...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Douglas Koehne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

Sam Kieth. So much potential, so difficult in staying with him and his work so that he realizes that potential at some point. I'm always excited when I see a Sam Kieth book, but more often than not I'm left with a sense of dissatisfaction. This book left me wondering why I just spent the last hour reading through it. Both the story and art meandered and was all over the place. Poor storytelling. And really disappointing art as well (please stick with the Sam Kieth style - no need to copy other a...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Daniel V. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

In addition to the dualism in Batman (the need to do good and the insanity of being a vigilante dressed up as a bad) and the similarities between Batman and the Joker I've found that I like prison literature - and therefore everything with Arkham Asylum is a must read/see/play for me.

Unfortunately this entire graphic novel is just "decent" - it's not deeply compelling and I took no trouble putting it down afterwards or felt any need to read it again instantaneously.

The different focus in this st...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Somewhat confusing story without much payoff. It's 24 hours in Arkham Asylum, mostly from the standpoint of the staff, who are trapped there as much as the inmates are. Perhaps they are crazy as the inmates for staying, day in, and night out, in their insane hells. I guess that was the point of the story. The art seems to be mixed media and experimental and at times seems to take precedence over the story. The afterword states this book is dedicated to everyone who hates their job. That's the on...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: batman, reviewed

DC, which, unlike Marvel, still releases original graphic novels every once in a while, released this one, which is written, drawn, and occasionally colored by Sam Kieth, colored the rest of the time by Michelle Madsen and Dave Stewart, and lettered by Steve Wands. It’s a slim volume – not quite 100 pages long, and it retails for $19.99.

The basic plot is simple: A nurse named Sabine arrives for her shift at Arkham Asylum in the morning and ends up staying for 24 hours when she’s drafted for the...more DC, which, unlike Marvel, still releases original graphic novels every once in a while, released this one, which is written, drawn, and occasionally colored by Sam Kieth, colored the rest of the time by Michelle Madsen and Dave Stewart, and lettered by Steve Wands. It’s a slim volume – not quite 100 pages long, and it retails for $19.99.

The basic plot is simple: A nurse named Sabine arrives for her shift at Arkham Asylum in the morning and ends up staying for 24 hours when she’s drafted for the night shift as well. It is, of course, a strange 24 hours. The Joker is doing weird things, and everything kinds of comes to a head while Sabine is there. Kieth is concerned far more with Sabine and the way she and the staff reacts to the weirdness going on at the asylum, so the plot is somewhat inconsequential. In many ways, this book is a nice companion piece to The Killing Joke, in that the Joker is trying to drive many people mad, and instead of turning a carnival into a madhouse, he simply uses the madhouse in which he’s confined. In some ways, this is a far more disturbing comic than The Killing Joke, because Kieth leaves the ending more ambiguous than Moore did. We think that the Joker is proven wrong and that not everyone loses their sanity when confronted with the insane, but then Kieth forces us to reconsider what happens. The idea that Kieth is toying with is an interesting one. Sabine needs the job – she’s a young mother and she and her husband don’t make much money – but does she need it to the point where it destroys her soul? Is her love of her son enough to resist the insanity that surrounds her? Will defending her child against the Joker drive her to the point where he wants her to go anyway? Kieth brings all of these themes up throughout the book, and although they don’t always work perfectly (mainly because Sabine remains somewhat of a blank slate, emotionally – she reacts to things as we expect her to react, and so we don’t really get a sense that she might swerve), Kieth is good enough to make the ending fairly gut-wrenching. It’s a decent psychological horror story, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The problem with the story is that Kieth doesn’t really do anything new with any of the characters. I know that he can’t really do too much because this is, presumably, “in continuity” and so he can’t change too much, but he doesn’t really give us new takes of the old chestnuts. The book that this is obviously hearkening back to, Morrison’s Arkham Asylum (yes, I just compared it to The Killing Joke, but I can compare it to two different books, right?), at least gave us an odder version of the Joker than we usually see, but Kieth’s Joker is just the Joker. Even Killer Croc, a malevolent presence on the top floor, is similar to many other versions. Because of this restriction, it’s kind of difficult to care too much about what theatrics the maniacs in Arkham pull, even when it directly affects Sabine. Kieth toys a bit with the Joker – his obsession with Antiques Roadshow and old toys in general ought to become canonical – but in the end, he’s just the Joker. Kieth also hits all the common notes about Arkham – he brings up the idea that something deeper lurks within its walls, for instance – but it’s still Arkham. In other words, it’s still ridiculously understaffed even though the greatest concentration of evil in the DCU is concentrated inside it, and it’s still a wreck of a building that, even in an economic recession, is an embarrassment in a major American city. The idea of Arkham is always more interesting than the reality, and Kieth doesn’t do much with the reality.

The reason I can mildly recommend this is because the ending really does work well, as Sabine comes to understand her warped relationship with Arkham and its patients and why she acts as she does at the end, and because Kieth’s art is always fun to look at. His character design is wonderful, as he draws people as slight caricatures that reveal much more about them than if he drew them straight. He shifts from cartoony and benign to cartoony and violent very easily, making the violence stand out and more disturbing. While his Joker looks like the Joker and even Killer Croc, as malevolent a presence he is, is still a big crocodile, Kieth’s visual portrayal of Harley Quinn is brilliant, wearing her hair in dreadlocks and laconically jousting with her replacement at Arkham, while Jonathan Crane, with his stitched-up lips, is a creepy demon haunting the halls. Kieth always does a good job moving from relatively simple line work in certain panels to fully painted panels in others, and his range is breathtaking. Kieth doesn’t quite earn the final image of horror (which breaks the tension that has been building up inside the asylum), but it’s a tremendous visual. While Kieth’s writing has been better than in this comic, it’s always a treat to look at his artwork and see what fun stuff he’s up to these days.

Arkham Asylum: Madness isn’t quite great, although it’s not bad. Kieth shies away from really delving into madness, giving us the standard insane characters of the DC Universe and not going too far into Sabine’s psyche to make a grand statement. Her struggle is a gripping one, but there’s a sense that Kieth had an opportunity to really dig in, and he passed it up to give us stories of characters we know far too well. Still, it’s a fascinating book because, like Dave McKean, Kieth is an artist who can make madness visually interesting. It’s a decent read, just not a brilliant one. But it’s still nice that DC actually publishes stuff like this every once in a while!(less)

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Jul 30, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, horror

I was really impressed with the fact that the artist himself was willing to say out right, this is NOT his best work. Even so, he explores the people who WORK at Arkham Asylum more than the batman-world characters like the Joker- even tho we DO get to see them in the book, and there is plot around them. It's very much an atmospheric peice, and in that, it was very enjoyable. I'd like to read other books focusing on the asylum and it's workers, actually. I liked it despite it's shortcomings!

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Sep 19, 2012 Dima Yakovenko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Интересный комикс, в котором практически все действие происходит в психушке Аркхэм. Бэтмен тут не появляется ни одной из страниц, но это отнюдь не минус. Нам опять позволяют приоткрыть дверь безумия и заглянуть в серьезный дом на серьезной земле, только на этот раз, из-за спины обычной медсестры, которой приходится работать в этом ужасном месте из-за нехватки денег.
Мрачный и серьезный том, с интересными, волнующим сюжетом, в котором появляется множество интересных героев, как знаменитых злодеев...more

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Oct 04, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

Kieth revisits the vulnerable-yet-tough health services type he originally explored with Julie in The Maxx to great affect. Here the line between good and evil might seem more clear, but by the end of the graphic novel, no one, not even the most innocent, is left untouched by madness. The DC universe in Kieth's hands is like a western in John Ford's hands, something dark and complex in a sea of cartoon uniformity.

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Oct 03, 2010 Real Supergirl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphicnovel

Not Sam Kieth's best work but still really good. His art is, as always, spectacular and haunting. The idea is a fantastic one - it's set in a prison mental hospital for all the villains Batman has put away. Where it falls a little flat is in its narrative arc. It's a little predictable, unusual for the very creative and innovative Sam Kieth. Still, it holds up well enough and it's worth checking out.

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Mar 30, 2013 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, graphic-novels, in-2013

This book is amazing.

The art and story in this book is amazing. It follows the lives of the nurses and staff who work in the Arkham Asylum. This book is really dark which I figured it would be but I think a warning should be given before someone decides to pick this book up. If you do not like dark novels then I do not recommend this book.

The novel starts by following a nurse named Sabine who is a young mother who wishes she did not have to work at the asylum. She is learning about the patients...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Jerome rated it 4 of 5 stars

Had a good quality of nightmare. Unfortunately that also extended to the actions of the nurses & police in Arkham - why would *anyone* get close enough to the Joker et. al. to get themselves in trouble? That said the art was brilliant & the contrast between the character art & building art was enough to give a serious feeling of creeping unease until the final act. Good read.

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Sep 24, 2011 Kaitie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: batman, comic, horror

Possibly my new favorite graphic novel.

A look inside Arkham Asylum from an employee's point, you can really feel the madness that the place exudes. It kind of reminded me of The Shining where the hotel feels alive and you can just feel it pressing down on you. Arkham gave that same feeling and you could just see it affecting everyone within its walls.

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Jul 17, 2011 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, bat-country, books-i-own, deliciousness, my-lesbianism-let-me-show-you-it, psychology, redrum, tab-a-in-slot-b

I really enjoyed this. The narrative is, admittedly, all over the place, but I read this as to be following the Asylum patient's thought process. I enjoyed the artwork and the sketchy type of way Keith drew. Also, Batman was nowhere to be seen- yay!

My only complaint is that I wish there had been more Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

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Jun 26, 2012 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love everything Sam Kieth, so I'm a bit biased. While this story features some of Batman's foes, including a major role by the Joker, the main character is the asylum itself and how it affects the inmates and the workers. One of my first reads coming back to comics after 15 years.

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May 27, 2012 Kyle Wendy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Apparently I don't like graphic novels. I have nothing to compare this to, and I found the plot kind of hard to follow, since it had the dialogue all over the page; nor was it particularly scary to me. Give me a good old Hannibal Lecter any day.

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May 04, 2012 harlequin {Stephanie} rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

4 Stars

Started out slow and a little boring. Began to pick up about midway and I enjoyed the ending. The art is not fantastic, but it fits with the story line.

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Jan 18, 2012 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read in one sitting - Kieth's art as gorgeous as ever, and the story was very well done, though hardly what most Bat-fans would expect or want. Still pales beside Kieth's creater-owned works.

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Aug 06, 2011 Stacey Molina added it

A little too bizare for me. Had no real story line, just a last minute one that wasn't completed.

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Feb 01, 2011 Morbus Iff rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, dc-comics

Tick, tick, tock, it didn't walk the walk.

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Mar 03, 2012 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, 2012-for-sure

Gave me the creeps.

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Mar 18, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cthulhu, headology, graphic-novel, madness

Clocks are creepy.

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May 06, 2012 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Awesome.

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Nov 28, 2010 Trey rated it 1 of 5 stars

Terrible.

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Sep 11, 2011 H_alfo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

los dibujos son excelentes el cambio de dibujos llenos de vida a totalmente sombrios pero siguiendo el mismo estilo grafico es imprecionante, es unq lastima que la historia sea tan pobre si no seria perfecto

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Jan 22, 2011 Hunter Camp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really eerie story about a doctor in Arkham Asylum. Sam Keith does a great job of sucking in the reader with his writing, and uses his art to terrify them. I couldn't put it down.

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Aug 01, 2010 Jared rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, batman

Better than Secrets, and leaps beyond the stale Lobo VS., this still lacks that extra oomph! That I associated with Kieth's earlier horror classics.

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Arkham Asylum: Madness (Batman La Colección #63)

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