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Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth

(Batman: One-Shots)

Grant Morrison,

Dave McKean (Illustrator)

4.10 · Rating details · 60,133 ratings · 1,969 reviews

In this groundbreaking, painted graphic novel, the inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over Gotham's detention center for the criminally insane on April Fools' Day, demanding Batman in exchange for their hostages. Accepting their demented challenge, Batman is forced to live and endure the personal hells of the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and many other sworn en ...more

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Paperback, 15th Anniversary Edition, 216 pages

Published January 11th 2005 by DC Comics (first published 1989)

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· 60,133 ratings · 1,969 reviews

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Dec 07, 2015 Jeff rated it it was ok

Shelves: comix

The Caped Crusader with footnotes!?!

or Art for Art’s Sake.

or Holy Histrionics, Batman, I’d rather have listened to an opera…

Grant Morrison gets “serious” – it’s even mentioned in the title twice in case you need a reminder – and if Carrot Top wants to star in a remake of Death of a Salesman or Billy Joel wants to write a concerto for flugelhorn and triangle, I don’t want to hear about it.

Wait, Jeff, did you say footnotes?

Yes, Goodreader, this is why I love you, because nothing ever gets by you. ...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Anne rated it did not like it

Shelves: graphic-novels, read-in-2012, comics, i-lost-brain-cells

Sorry, guys. Didn't like it.

description

I have a headache and my eyes hurt.
Not joking here.

description

One of my eyes is actually throbbing.
Yes, only one.
I'm going to take some Tylenol... ...more

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May 28, 2012 Eric rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: graphic-novels, batman

What a fucking mess. The painted artwork was appalling, the story-line was incoherent, the dialogue was barely legible, and, most importantly, the portrayal of Batman was all wrong. This felt like a second-rate haunted-house horror that Batman was wedged into, and poorly at that. Batman's encounters with various villains felt thrown-in, in a cheap name-dropping way, his decision-making was baffling to non-existent, and the story's resolution -- hanging on a coin-flip -- was absurd.

The back-stor ...more

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May 24, 2011 Keith rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

So after buying this book for the third time in my life today (the first, a hardcover edition that all the pages eventually fell out of; the second, the paperback edition sans script that now sits across the country with the rest of my books) I decided it was worth going on Goodreads to wax poetic about it. Because goddamn I love this book. I got it right after the '89 movie came out, of course, and was absolutely terrified of it -- it sat on my nightstand and gave me nightmares regularly, until So after buying this book for the third time in my life today (the first, a hardcover edition that all the pages eventually fell out of; the second, the paperback edition sans script that now sits across the country with the rest of my books) I decided it was worth going on Goodreads to wax poetic about it. Because goddamn I love this book. I got it right after the '89 movie came out, of course, and was absolutely terrified of it -- it sat on my nightstand and gave me nightmares regularly, until I put it away for years before revisiting it again in my late teens.

But I'd never bothered to wonder what anyone else thought of it. It's so weird and relatively incomprehensible that I wouldn't recommend it to people trying to get into comics, and most people who are into comics have already read it, I imagine (despite, as I said, never having talked about it with anyone).

So yeah! Goodreads! Goodreads kinda hates this book! I mean, not everybody, but a lot of people! And Batman comics are not the kind of thing that generally creates polarized opinions, if ya know what I mean. There's The Bat-Books Fans Like and The Bat-Books Fans Hate, and every so often there's some idiot who goes "I just think Alan Moore over-intellectualizes" and we all beat up that one guy. And sure, everyone argues if Killing Joke or Year One or Dark Knight Returns is the best one, but it's generally assumed that ONE of them is your favorite (and then a couple n00bs in the back start saying that either Hush or Long Halloween is the best, and we throw them out with the Alan Moore whiny guy). But Arkham Asylum? I dunno man. It's a weird friggin' book. It's apparently like the best-selling graphic novel of all time. It rarely comes up in discussion. And Goodreads kinda hates it.

Everyone who complains that Grant Morrison's cleverer-than-thou new age fruitiness is too naked here is right. And that Dave McKean clearly rendered Batman as a black splotch because he couldn't figure out how to draw him, that's also obvious. And that Batman acts completely out-of-character -- he doesn't save anyone, he lets people kill each other, he has no discernible plan, he admits he's just scared and then leaves at the end -- yeah, those folks are right too.

But dammit. People like Batman because we all kind feel like we ARE Batman, I think. Not like we have hero complexes - but like we're alone on the edge of an abyss, either the sanest or the least sane in a strange dark world? You don't have to be thirteen in your bedroom listening to the Cure to grok that, man. And yknow, I'm glad there's a fucked-up scary Bat-book where Batman is just doing all he can to stand upright in the face of muddy horror, you know? With its facile Crowley references and lame-ass anglocentric Tarot-based page layouts or whatever. Cuz good lord, some days your whole world feels like an ominous Tarot reading, no matter how far you get from that little kid who was scared of his own comics twenty years ago. I'm glad there's a book out there where my buddy Batman has a bad day too.

Loves you, booky-book. Loves you. No matter what the little piggies say. ...more

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Dec 03, 2020 Tim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed

Upon occasion I have been asked what my favorite Batman story is. I ask immediately afterwards if they mean favorite story involving Batman or favorite story about Batman. The answers are different. Favorite story involving Batman is The Killing Joke, but that is Joker's story not his. My favorite about Batman is Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.

So much has been written about this comic that honestly at this point reviewing it accomplishes nothing. For the most part people know wh Upon occasion I have been asked what my favorite Batman story is. I ask immediately afterwards if they mean favorite story involving Batman or favorite story about Batman. The answers are different. Favorite story involving Batman is The Killing Joke, but that is Joker's story not his. My favorite about Batman is Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.

So much has been written about this comic that honestly at this point reviewing it accomplishes nothing. For the most part people know what it is about and they already know if they love it or hate it (there seems to be no in-between). Rather than reviewing it in a traditional way, let me just break down five things that I love about it.

1. The art. Dear sweet Dave McKean the art!

It's beautiful. It's chaotic. It's symbolic. It's hard to follow. It's the perfect way to describe the book as a whole and I love it!

2. A completely psychological take on Batman. Here the villains are less people than ideas, horrible ideas and doubts in Batman's head. Those looking for Batman punching a villain in the face should look elsewhere. There are a few fights in it, but they are not the point and indeed often come off anti-climactic. It is the dialogue and the thought process one is supposed to go through which are the real battles here.

3. The backstory of Arkham Asylum. That is a horror tale in and of itself, and it contrasts with Batman's struggle so beautifully.

4. Grant Morrison's writing. From the dialogue to the symbolism of the characters, it's a joy to read. If you have a hard time figuring out how everything in it works (as most do including the writer it seems) check out the script included in most newer editions of the book. It's a fascinating read with Morrison's own notes.

5. A fully mature Batman story. Oh, I know that's been done plenty of times, but this one is essentially an R rated horror story in Batman form. It was one of the first to do that and it is still one of the best.

Will my review win people over? Probably not. As I said, the reputation of this book is so well known that you likely already have a few strong opinions on it. That said, if you've never heard of this book, or are considering it, I highly recommended it for anyone looking for a dark and psychological horror story involving superheroes and self doubt. For my money, it's never been done better... just don't go in expecting Batman to be his usual self. This is a very different sort of tale. 5/5 stars. ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Shannon rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels, fantasy-scifi, books-reviewed

This is not your traditional Batman tale. Some people won't like it. In fact, Batman seems like a normal man when confronted by the horrors within and acts in very non Batman ways. There's a two part story here where we switch back and forth to the founder of Arkham and why he turned his mansion into a facility for the mad and Batman trying to navigate his way through the madness of Arkham.

Batman action is minimal. This is much more of an emotional journey.

There is distinctive letterin ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Alex ☣ Deranged KittyCat ☣ rated it it was ok

Shelves: adult, mental-illness, mystery-thriller-horror, comics-manga-manhwa-graphic-novels, dc-comics

I'm not quite sure how I feel about Batman: Arkham Asylum. The story isn't to my liking (although the Joker grabbing Batman's arse is something one doesn't see often).

Also, I found the art style too weird.

description

...more

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Mar 28, 2016 Gianfranco Mancini rated it it was amazing

Shelves: comics-and-graphic-novels, superheroes-and-supervillains, dc-comics

Absolutely not just a graphic-novel.

This is a dream-like lynchian descent into madness.

Best Dark Knight story ever with "The Dark Knight returns" and "The Killing Joke".

A masterwork. ...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Sam Quixote rated it it was ok

Based solely upon his 2006-2013 run, Grant Morrison might be the greatest Batman writer of all time. But he wasn’t always so brilliant as his first Batman book, the mega-selling Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, shows.

The inmates have overrun the asylum and are holding civilians hostage. With Joker running free with a knife, Batman goes into the asylum to stop him and enters a nightmarish netherworld. Meanwhile, the troubled life of the asylum’s founder, Amadeus Arkham, is explor Based solely upon his 2006-2013 run, Grant Morrison might be the greatest Batman writer of all time. But he wasn’t always so brilliant as his first Batman book, the mega-selling Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, shows.

The inmates have overrun the asylum and are holding civilians hostage. With Joker running free with a knife, Batman goes into the asylum to stop him and enters a nightmarish netherworld. Meanwhile, the troubled life of the asylum’s founder, Amadeus Arkham, is explored.

The story is one long rambling mess, which is part of Morrison’s intent. It’s designed to be dream-like and to read like a song and therefore, as a comic, it’s difficult to follow or really understand. I get the impression the symbolism of the tarot is important but the book didn’t make me interested enough to want to pursue a deeper understanding of it. Batman’s characterisation is a bit off too – how was he beaten by a deranged doctor!?

Some readers might scoff that Morrison’s comics are always like this with his drug use, but he actually wrote this before he began using drugs and alcohol – he writes in his afterword that he stayed up for hours on end to achieve the altered state of consciousness he wanted before sitting down to write. So it’s official: with or without drugs, Morrison writes weird comics! Hear that, poseur artists, you don’t need vice to produce art!

Dave McKean’s artwork matches Morrison’s bizarre story well but it still looks a bit too avant-garde for a comic. McKean’s best known for being The Sandman’s cover artist and his art is well suited to that format. But for page after page of interior art? It’s just headache-inducing! And when he does draw distinguishable figures, they look like poor Simon Bisley facsimiles.

I liked Morrison’s idea to have the Arkham doctors try weaning Harvey Dent off of the two-sided coin and onto the I Ching. It seemed like an original and viable means of treatment for Two-Face. But other ideas like the Joker calling the outside world the asylum and the world inside Arkham the real world was just corny, and the Amadeus Arkham storyline just read like a poor man’s Psycho. Morrison’s comics usually have more substance to them but Arkham Asylum is all surface texture with few great ideas.

Arkham Asylum is a visually interesting book but it looks and reads like an art student’s project, ie. a pretentious mish-mash of nonsense, than a good comic. I definitely wouldn’t rank it among Batman’s classics! If you want to read Morrison’s best Batman books, start with Batman and Son and go forwards from there. ...more

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Jul 14, 2008 Andrew Webb rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I have read many a poor/overrated Batman story in my ten-odd years as a fan, but this much referred to epic may take the cake. As a Batman story, this is a total failure. Batman acts completely out of character almost from the beginning. When walking into a hostage situation masterminded by the Joker, he strikes up a conversation with his archenemy rather than planning how to rescue the innocents involved. When Joker shoots a hostage in the head across the room from Batman (I think-- the bizarre ...more

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Oct 15, 2007 Marc rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: intellectual art lovers

Arkham Asylum is the best graphic novel I've ever read for two reasons: writing, and art.

This isn't your average WHACK! POW! comic book. In fact, there is almost no violence or glammed-out secret weapons. Grant Morrision takes us through a masterful exploration into the psyche of Bruce Wayne, a man who suffered a tragic loss at an early age and formed a very clear alternate identity. Is he a crime fighter, or does he suffer from MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder), and does it even matter.

Set in ...more

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Jun 07, 2020 Brett C rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels

"Until the night of 1901, when I first caught a glimpse of that other world. The world of the dark side."

From these lines on the first page, I knew this was going to be a dark ride. The artwork from the inside front-cover to the inside back-cover helped maintain continuity of oppressive psychological heaviness. It was fun to read and look at the unique artwork because of the various references and symbolisms.

I enjoyed this one from start to finish. The inmates of the infamous Arkham Asylum have ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Julian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novels

A batman tale at its best, as it reaches unflinchingly deep into the recesses of the human psyche. While the comic may be accused by some as symptomatic of an attempt at at best, pop psychology, I think the authors have done a marvellous job in portraying the differences by which Batman and The Joker are negotiating what are in essence, very similar psychological conflicts.
This is done on a backdrop literally seething with a brooding, menacing perceived threat of total disintegration, which was A batman tale at its best, as it reaches unflinchingly deep into the recesses of the human psyche. While the comic may be accused by some as symptomatic of an attempt at at best, pop psychology, I think the authors have done a marvellous job in portraying the differences by which Batman and The Joker are negotiating what are in essence, very similar psychological conflicts.
This is done on a backdrop literally seething with a brooding, menacing perceived threat of total disintegration, which was in fact embraced by another main character, that of Arkham himself. An analytically minded reader will appreciate how each of Batman's villains in fact, symbolically represent in avatar form each of his specifc fears.
These fears make him human; while also confirming that his mask etc in fact serve as a defensive character armour which keeps the underlying guilt, abandonment rage and fantasies of revenge both at bay. At the same time, the mask also allows for sublimation in his role as a 'dark knight'.
There are nice references to Freudian theories (a connecting theme here is the loss of mother-via murder and imagined/actual matricide- and its associated trauma, annihilation anxiety and subsequent efforts at psychological defence), his structural theory of the mind (illustrated concretely by the architecture of the Asylum itself) Jungian archetypes, an implicit idealizing identification exhibited by Dr Cavendish (enabled by the Asylum again functioning as a container of chaos AND an evocative object), and even the role of 'similarity; in magic as described by James George Frazier in 'The Golden Bough'. This is the way fairy tales should be told (well, especially for adults)! Super-heroes are no longer just an all pervasive, concretely 'good' force dressed in a pretty costume,partaking in a sterile and entirely logical world whereby 'evil' villains are routinely 'defeated'.
No, this is a more realistic (albeit gruesome at times) confrontation of life and its culturally suppressed opposites (or should I say, inseparable shadow): death, chaos and disintegration. ...more

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Jan 26, 2008 Madeline rated it it was ok

Shelves: graphic-novels, honors-program

i think ADHD being a form of higher evolution is an interesting theory. grant morrison thinking he is more highly evolved because he has ADHD is a less interesting theory.

morrison is no genius, in my opinion. i would attribute most of the greatness of the book to mckean, especially after reading the original "script" in the back of this book. morrison says, "According to Len Wein's original WHO'S WHO entry, Arkham died singing "the Battle Hymn of the Republic," but for some reason I got confused ...more

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Apr 12, 2017 Briar's Reviews rated it it was ok

Shelves: art, series, crime-mystery-suspense, comics-graphic-novels, fiction, graphic-novels, superhero, comics

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 p ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Daniel rated it really liked it

Honestly, at first, I didn't really know what to make of it.
However, after quite some time, I realized that it's not your traditional Batman story. Some parts in the story didn't really make much sense but if you will accept it as an homage to the Alice in Wonderland story (by Lewis Carroll) mixed with horror as its main theme. I think you will appreciate it better as much as I did.
As much as I am mixed with Morrison's work, I think this book is something special.

4/5 ...more

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Mar 29, 2016 Andrew rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: comics

Ok. I've heard about this title and I know there is a videogame inspired by this comic, but I never seen nothing, before today. While I was out of home, I stopped to comic book store, searching some good comics and I bought this.

The story start with patients of Arkham Asylum, many of them caught by Batman, that have took possession the building. The Dark Night is forced to enter, giving himself for the hostages, putting himself in the hands of his enemies. I read many favorite comments about thi ...more

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Jul 18, 2015 Donovan rated it it was ok

I did not like this mess of a book. There isn't much of a plot. The artwork and lettering is undecipherable. I understand that Morrison is trying to do a dark ethereal fantasy symbolic of Batman's psychosis, while giving Arkham Asylum a "creepy crawly" history, but that's not really enough for an entire book. ...more

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Feb 25, 2016 Roxanne rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels, read-2016

I've read this twice now and i still can't decide whether i like this or not, whether it just leaves me confused or making me feel like an old lady trying to fucking read what the fuck Joker is saying!?

The art is mayhem it sets the story up perfectly and it is beautifully if not hauntingly done so. I do think the artwork is better than the actual story though, and maybe the plot relies on the artwork too much as it's not the strongest plot and the ending is pretty weak too. Saying that i did rea ...more

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Oct 08, 2008 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

3.5 stars. Superb art by Dave McKean and a mostly good story by Grant Morrison (with flashes of brilliance) highlight this quality Batman graphic novel. The reason it doesn't rate higher overall is because there were a few "huh?" moments where the story was a bit hard to follow and I think the creators at times sacrificed story at the altar of atmosphere. ...more

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Jul 23, 2015 Ivan rated it did not like it

Shelves: graphic-novels

Worst Batman comic by far.I didn't like it's highly praised painted art style and I hated how Batman is portrayed.Bruce Wayne, man who is mentally and physically trained to perfection, man who's contingency plans have contingency plans just walks in and surrenders to Joker and becomes poor victim in this wannabe horror. ...more

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Apr 15, 2016 leynes rated it really liked it

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a very controversial comic book. Many full-fledged fans of the Caped Crusader hate this tale for its pretentiousness and over-the-top art style. Many comic book newbies find it way too inaccessible and nearly incomprehensible. And artsy people, like myself, just love it to death.

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

This Batman: Arkham Asylum is a very controversial comic book. Many full-fledged fans of the Caped Crusader hate this tale for its pretentiousness and over-the-top art style. Many comic book newbies find it way too inaccessible and nearly incomprehensible. And artsy people, like myself, just love it to death.

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

This is definitely not your typical Batman story. Bruce acts quite out of character for the most part. Usually, his main goal is to save innocent lives and make sure that everyone is unhurt in the given situation, whereas in Batman: Arkham Asylum he seems to be quite preoccupied with himself and his psyche, disregarding the fact that the Joker is threatening people left and right. On top of that, McKean's art style is something that you'll never see in comic books. He doesn't care for the conventions of the genre. I was first exposed to McKean when he did some of the cover art for Gaiman's Sandman and I fell in love with him right then. His art style is eery, hauntingly atmospheric and very diverse. He doesn't settle for one style, he is able to perfect many different facets, sometimes working with (what seem to be) almost life-like pictures and more often than not going for more of an obscure route.

Batman: Arkham Asylum tells the story of how Batman is lured into the asylum for the criminally insane on April Fool's Day. The Joker has orchestrated a chain of events that is suppose to make Bruce face his own madness and his inner demons, specifically the death of his parents and how he became the Bat (we all know and love). Once trapped in the asylum, he inhales a drug that makes him hallucinate and nearly turn mad. Whilst running aimlessly through the place, Bruce encounters all of Gotham's criminals – all the psychopaths, sociopaths and poor souls we have come to know and love.

And I’m afraid that when I walk through those asylum gates... when I walk into Arkham and the doors close behind me... it’ll be just like coming home.

Bruce faces Clayface who desperately wants to touch him and infest him with his disease. He is able to flee from the Mad Hatter and his weird paroles. He encounters Harvey Dent, now Two-Face, who is unable to make a decision without consulting his coin (...or a dice, or a pack of cards). He hears the Scarecrow shamble through Arkham's halls. And on top of that, the Joker who forces him to face it all. It is enough to even turn the Caped Crusader mad.

Interwoven into Batman's narrative, is the backstory to Amadeus Arkham, the man who founded the asylum way back in the 1920s. We learn how he lost his mother, his wife and his daughter, and how that was enough to turn him mad. The parallels to Bruce's life are clear.

Oh, yes! Fill the churches with dirty thoughts! Introduce honesty to the White House! Write letters in dead languages to people you've never met! Paint filthy words on the foreheads of children! Burn your credit cards and wear high heels! Asylum doors stand open! Fill the suburbs with murder and rape! Divine madness! Let there be ecstasy, ecstasy in the streets! Laugh and the world laughs with you!

Additionally to McKean's impeccable art style, I absolutely loved Morrison's writing. I can definitely understand why some might find it pretentious (see: “Einstein was wrong! I'M the speed of light CRACKING through shivery rainbows and GOD the sky whirls and withers like a melting RAINBOW!”) but in my humble opinion, he struck the right cord. I was creeped out by Bruce's fear. I was entertained by the Joker's madness. I loved the plot twist and the reveal about Harvey at the end. I like how the backstory to the asylum functioned as a parable to what was happening in the asylum today.

Overall, I am absolutely satisfied with Batman: Arkham Asylum and would recommend it to people who are looking for something special and more unusual. The only negative thing I have to point out is the lettering for the Joker, his dialogue was incredibly hard to decipher, and that became a pain in the ass real quick. Apart from that, I absolutely adored this! ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Kosta Voukelatos rated it it was amazing

"Arkham is a Looking Glass"
-this specific line encapsulated what I believed to be one of the key purposes of this graphic novel which was to use Arkham Asylum as a means of delving into the psyche of Batman and making the readers question whether Batman is any more sane than the inmates of the asylum. This was accomplished through the incorporation of many villains from Batman's rogue gallery with the most notable being the Joker and Two-Face. The Joker was drawn in such a way that he came acros ...more

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Dec 17, 2007 Werebot rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: the one Batman fan in the world who hasn't read it.

I know that a lot of the modern Batman mythos has a lot to do with the whole evil outside vs. darkness within motif, but this is ridiculous. What a pretentious bunch of nonsense. And I've never gotten the attraction to Dave McKean's art. But then, I'm not a goth nerd. I can never tell what's going on, everything's too dark and splotchy and covered in symbols. This is a Batman comic book. Let's not overthink it. When did we let the British take over our comic books anyway? Neil Gaiman and co. nee ...more

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Oct 28, 2019 Sud666 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: comics

A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.

-Philiph Larkin "Church Going"

In 1989, Grant Morrison took a great deal of LSD and smoked a lot of weed and created one of the oddest, dist ...more

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May 21, 2013 Brandon rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2013, comix, fiction

Batman is alerted that the inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over the premises. If this isn't dangerous enough, they're threatening to murder everyone in the facility unless Batman agrees to a face to face meeting.

I understand that a lot of people can appreciate the style in which both Morrison and McKean approached Batman, however this just wasn't for me. Maybe I like my stuff a little more.. focused? I have no idea if that's the right word. I feel like I'm almost speaking a form of blasphemy ...more

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Aug 09, 2014 Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: 2014-challenge-factory-challenge, dangerous-hero-challenge-2014, graphic-novel-comic-book, 2014-cover-to-cover-challenge, library-checkout, 2014-graphic-novel-reading-challeng

My dislike of this book borders on violent. I realize what the author and artist were going for, and I appreciate the foreward and even the screenplay with commentary. I admit I gave up on reading the whole screenplay because I was tired and wasn't feeling well, and felt my time was better spent moving on. However, even gaining insight into their thought processes didn't make me like this book any more.

I am an artist, and I love art. However, I am not a fan of art becoming so all-consuming that My dislike of this book borders on violent. I realize what the author and artist were going for, and I appreciate the foreward and even the screenplay with commentary. I admit I gave up on reading the whole screenplay because I was tired and wasn't feeling well, and felt my time was better spent moving on. However, even gaining insight into their thought processes didn't make me like this book any more.

I am an artist, and I love art. However, I am not a fan of art becoming so all-consuming that it loses meaning to the average person. In other words, I like my art to be accessible. This book wasn't. It was full of social commentary, allusions, and symbolism, which can be good in therapeutic doses. But even medicine can be toxic when overdosed. I think that is a good way to describe my feelings for this book. It was toxic with the statements of the creators, and it killed the overall book.

Some of my individual issues:

*The lettering was nearly incomprehensible, especially the Joker's words and thoughts. I am very near-sighted, and I am getting where small print gives me fits. The Joker's print was in red, and the font was very scribbly. Everyone knows that the Joker is bat*&$# crazy. I understand where Morrison and McKean were trying to go here showing how chaotic his mind was, but it fell on deaf ears since I had trouble reading the lettering. Also obscure symbology dispersed through this volume makes no sense to me. Another place where it falls flat, since it seems to have no purpose in this volume.

*Batman was played as anal-retentive to the extreme. I'm not sure I appreciated this. Admittedly, Batman does have some psychological issues he's working through--he's a control freak and is incredibly uptight and is at times intolerant. I think his portrayal in this book was unpalatable, showing him as pathologically damaged. That isn't the Batman I know and deeply respect.

*The storyline about Arkham, the founder of the Asylum was okay. Although I didn't like what happened to his family, and the view of his relationship with his mother was way too Freudian for my tastes.

*The artwork is nebulous and difficult to cipher and track over the panels. I would almost call it abstract. Does that work for a comic book medium? I'm going to say no. If I can't follow it, it has failed to convey meaning to me.

I know that this is a very highly praised and critically-acclaimed book, but I'm not a fan of it. Art is meaning to me. While art is highly subjective, the viewer has to have a lens through which to take in and process the work. In this book, the lens is cloudy and muddled. There is no avenue to look deeper. ...more

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Nov 10, 2010 Zaki rated it really liked it

I like dark, sinister and menacing stuff. Arkham Asylum threw out the rule book and invented a new one. A darker one. A cruel one.

And it tests the boundaries of your comfort zone.

I adore every twisted page. They have a rich and dark quality. My mind is full of dark thoughts. I only think in black.

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Oct 18, 2016 Maria rated it it was ok

…

I'm trying to form words to describe how I felt about this because… I really have no words.

On one hand, I liked it how different it was from the typical comic book outline, but on another hand, I found the difference unnecessary at times.

I did get what the story was trying to accomplish. I really do. But the illustrations, the weird transition from past to present, took me out of the reading experience quite a lot of times. I started this a few months ago, and I only finished it now. W ...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Sesana rated it liked it

Shelves: mental-illness, comics, superhumans

I admit, I picked this up for a re-read after playing Arkham Asylum. Fantastic game, by the way, well-written, with great action and incredible voice acting. But this is not about that game, about which I could rave for hours.

I remember loving this graphic novel when I first read it, but reading it again I can't exactly remember why. It's still well-written, and the Arkham backstory is interesting enough that it's apparently been kept. But pretty much everybody that shows up feels out of charact ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Please change the title	3	15	May 06, 2019 01:17PM
It's all a dream...	17	113	Jan 31, 2017 11:57AM
ABQ Graphic Novel...: February 2016 Batman Arkham Asylum	3	6	Jan 27, 2016 02:58PM
Goodreads Librari...: Please combine editions	2	11	Jan 19, 2016 07:47AM
Graphic Novel Rea...: Official 19th Book Club Discussion: Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison - July 2013 (may contain spoilers)	14	70	Jul 20, 2013 03:50PM

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About Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison

3,631 followers

Scottish comic book author Grant Morrison is known for culture-jamming and the constant reinvention of their work. They are known for their nonlinear narratives and countercultural leanings in their runs on titles including DC Comics' Animal Man, Batman, JLA, The Invisibles, Action Comics, All-Star Superman, and Doom Patrol, and Marvel Comics' New X-Men and Fantastic Four. Many of these are contro ...more