Arkham Asylum
Ratings75
Average rating3.9
Led by the Joker, the patients of Arkham Asylum take over the building and threaten to murder the staff unless Batman agrees to meet with them, a situation that results in Batman being pushed to the brink of madness himself.
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McKean's art makes this book. I only read this once, maybe fifteen years ago. The image of Maxi Zeus still sticks with me. Two-Face's tryst with the I Ching was a fun idea.
It starts off with a bang and ends off with a whimper, with such an incoherent and terrible story line that doesn't know what to do with itself. Even to an unfamiliar reader, the portrayal of Batman just feels...wrong. Nearly every character interaction aside from the Joker just feels so shoe horned into a mess of a story; it bends over backwards trying to include as many Batman references as it can in the madhouse, but it ends up being ridiculously convoluted without any payoff.
But the art is great; it captures the grotesque imagery as well as putting the reader into the POV of insanity, with such garish colors that are hand painted. It does go overboard at points, where it becomes so macabre that it borders on self parody - but the art remains consistently good.
Still, this was not the comic book I wanted to read after my hiatus. Disappointing at the very least.
An absolutely insane piece of experimental horror. I absolutely loved this. Instantly one of my all time favorite Batman stories.
