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Title: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison ISBN: 0-930289-56-0 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 (42 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Perfect art, Wonderful dialogue, Story could be better
Comment: This bookis what we, those acolytes who are more fascinated with the villains of the Batman mythos rather than its titular character, have been waiting for. The "story" has the inmates of Arkham escaping their chains and seizing control of the madhouse that has contained them for so long. I placed the parentheses around story, for I consider it to simply be an excuse for us to wallow in the brilliant art of Dave Mckean and the fantastic writing of Grant Morrison. For the first time, the inmates of Arkham truly ARE insane, as oppossed to cackling stock villains. If you've never been afraid of the Joker (and I consider this tale to contain THE classic Joker portrayal, more so even then "The Killing Joke"), then you will be after seeing him here. Here, he IS madness. My one complaint: Batman's own character seemed a bit under-developed. For the most part, he acts as a device of introduction; through him we see the various inmates unmasked. Unfortunately, the story looses some of its cohesiveness when its main character is reduced to such a role. Still, it comes highly recomended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Insanity breeds Genius. Graphic art breeds monsters.
Comment: First off, I must say that ARKHAM ASYLUM sticks to it's guns and tells the story of ARKHAM ASYLUM. That being said, it is interesting to have the Batman and all of his foes cast into this unlikely place (in comic, graphic book terms). They have to work with being in a very modern look at OUR world through the eyes of an asylum staff, who are inexperienced, or overzealous people. The asylum is failing at it's job. The original creator of the asylum, Amadeus Arkham, is shown to be quite insane... But what is going on here? Is it the pat phrase: "the inmates are running the asylum" and that's that? Or is it saying something very primordial about insanity itself? Insanity is contagious...? Possibly. But I do know that of all the subjects I have seen or read or discussed, insanity is the most fascinating and elusive of topics. Why? Because of it's inherent nature. To be insane, is not to think CLEARLY, or (duh) sanely. You would constantly differ from any and all opinions thrown at you.
Which brings me to discuss the art that gets such black marks from many people. The art is shown as it is to keep you disoriented. What happens to Killer Croc? What is the Mad Hatter talking about? Why does the Joker and his words look like a salvador Dali painting?
Let me put it this way. If there was a story about superman's fortress of solitude, would you want the storytellers to stage many epic superman battles there while you read about it? NO. (at least I say no...) You would want the story of the Fortress itself. When was it built? Why was it built? Why ice? Why not under a volcano? Or under the ocean itself? Or on the moon? But anyway, I digress... The story would be about the fortress, and superman would be a supporting character in it. In that story, superman would be directly involved in the creation of the building, firmly entrenching it as a superman tale.
In Batman's story, he was not responsible for the Asylum's creation, it is his job to fill it (unfortunately). The story behind the asylum's creation gets center stage in this novel, and if you like the films ASYLUM, SHOCK CORRIDOR, MARAT/SADE, and UN CHIEN ANDALOU (the andalusian dog), or the art of Goya, Bacon, and Dali, then you will LOVE Arkham Asylum. If not, then you are probably not still reading this review. Enjoy!
Rating: 2
Summary: Could have been much better
Comment: On paper, you'd think that Arkham Asylum had all the ingredients to be a brilliant read: a talented cast (writer par-excellence Morrison and the peerless and trailblazing Dave McKean) with a fascinating premise: what if Batman was assaulted by others'- and his own-insanity? Is Batman a mentally stable person to begin with; is his persona created and defined by his own inner psychological turmoil? While previous graphic novels have previously raised these questions when confronting the Batman mystique (the penultimate example being Miller's seminal The Dark Knight Returns), none ever placed them at the heart of the narrative.
I particularly enjoyed the first half of the book that traced the growth of both Amadeus Arkham and his Asylum. The latter seems to be the alter-ego of the former, the embodiment of his buried fears, much as Batman is the embodiment of Bruce Wayne's (and our?) innermost insecurities. Morrison is at his best here when he plays with the heavy symbolism of the themes involved; when he takes his time as a storyteller and enriches the world he's creating. It's only when things progress to the second half that he loses me. Without giving too much away, the narrative descends to a typical good guy vs. bad guy dualism where Batman has to battle the big, bad Joker. We're not provided any enlightening insights into any of the characters. The uninspiring resolution of this battle also ends rather awkwardly. By this point, I felt rather disappointed and empty.
It's all really quite a shame, too, because McKean seems at the top of his game. His visual renderings of Arkham Asylum and Joker are particularly noteworthy, brilliantly capturing the menace and pathos of both. Had it not been for his efforts, I would have liked the book even less than I actually did.
The fact that this is one of the most popular graphic novels ever created demonstrates that there are quite a few things that Arkham Asylum did right. For me, however, there are far too many things that went wrong.
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