Batman: Arkham Asylum Anniversary Edition [Special Edition] [Paperback]

Due to the creative liberation that the graphic novel is able to provide as a format, it's no surprise that sometimes a book is produced which feels more like an artistic experience than simply a comic. Grant Morrison provides a story which explores the mental recesses of several well-known Batman regulars, there's a fine line between a sound mind and insanity, 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' questions where that line is drawn.

The front cover and the pages preceding the start of the first chapter hint at something incredibly different, a style of artwork you rarely see in graphic novels and something I wasn't expecting. The Lewis Carroll quote from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' concerning madness is the perfect way to open the story. Instead of the usual frame structure we get incredibly detailed pictures with long column-like frames overlaying them, many pages are read up-down rather than left-right. The illustrations are remarkable, beautiful - the most exquisite drawings I've seen in a graphic novel. They have a hastily scratched look to them as if they were feverishly etched in a moment of mania. You get the impression that rather than viewing a standard run-through of events, you are instead seeing someone's recollection of events with some memories more clouded than others, and some memories evoking a hyper-emotional state which is captured in the drawings themselves. Conveying mood is often tricky but artist Dave McKean literally makes an art of it, it's difficult to describe the style of the illustrations here, so I'll stop trying - they have to be seen to be experienced.

Arkham Asylum straddles two timelines, as Batman enters the institution at the request of The Joker we are also shown the origins of the asylum. It's not often that we get an 'origins' story for a building but if any deserve it then it has to be Arkham Asylum. Amadeus Arkham has his own internal demons and his story is fitting of the notorious house. This isn't a linear story and some may be put off by the surreal aspects of Arkham Asylum, instead of a smooth flow of action we get a dissection of Batman's mind. The Joker is evil in a deliciously twisted way, but he isn't the main threat to Batman - his main weakness is self-doubt. The Joker sows the seeds of doubt in Batman's mind and it proves effective, Batman questions his own mental state and at one stage even comments that walking through the doors of the asylum will be "just like coming home". It's a worry he shares with Jim Gordon, their time together in this comic is brief but you understand that being able to open up and offer such personal concerns is almost cathartic and Gordon is probably the only one he could speak with so frankly, it's a level of isolation which could easily drive you mad.

In a nutshell: This is a standout comic which feels like an interesting experiment. It's dark, very dark and hints at the true horrors committed by some of the 'inmates'. The Joker is particularly eerie yet brilliant, explanations are provided which marry together the different way his behaviour is often portrayed - from playful to downright evil. It can be read relatively quickly but the artwork is best digested slowly, it's a book you'll want to revisit simply to look at the illustrations. Interesting questions are asked about Batman: Does a man with a dual life who dresses in such a costume belong in a madhouse?

I feel there's a need to respond to the review that calls Arkham Asylum "UTTER RUBBISH". Frankly, that statement is ridiculous. Books like Arkham need to be taken in context. They exist to show something different. For the publishers to show off a little, to display a bit of extravagance. To showcase talent they may have in the stables and give a character the treatment they deserve. Personally I think the script for Arkham gives it a greater dignity than many of the so called "landmark" titles achieve (Digital Justice anyone?).

I first bought Arkham on its release when I was an impressionable teenager but have returned to it on numerous occasions as an adult and even bought it again when my original copy went awol. Whilst I would concede that it might not be the strongest plotline in a Batman story, in my opinion that's just missing the point.

Arkham is a prime example of the type of literary indulgence that has been used to flesh out the world of Batman or explore a different vein on numerous occasions. That is, there's no new characters, no major turn of events that will register on the Batman richter-scale (eg Death in the Family, Killing Joke) but it does go someway into presenting aspects of the character that help some readers see him in a different light. In Arkham's case that is to really emphasise the dark, psychological element of Batman and the space he occupies. The fact that, like his nemesis, he exists in a form of complete psychosis so utterly defined by the death of his parents, the resulting feelings of solitude and his almost scizophrenic dual identity ("Mommy's Dead. Daddy's Dead. Brucie's Dead"). Though all of this may have been explored in other stories, Morrison and McKean have, like several others before them, been given the oppurtunity to attempt to do something different.

The artwork plays a key role in this. The whole book is a thing of real beauty. Alex Ross may rule for out and out brilliance of illustration but in my experience, only Bill Sienkiewicz in Elektra:Assasin has done anything so astounding as Dave McKean's work here using varying media. Yes, some frames may not drive the story forward much but hell, just take them in and enjoy them. Those drops of blood in the glass shard scene are just exquisite. The character profiles at the end of the book that serve no real purpose but as an excercise in superb graphic design.

Arkham Asylum should be in anyone's collection whether a Batman fan or not.

Just because something looks deep and meaningful, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is. This book looks great, but scratch beneath the surface and you'll find that it's just shallow cliches and brooding 'darkness' that tells you as much about life as a Hollywood serial killer movie. The narrative is set in a mental institution, and as the paper thin plot progresses we learn that the mad are mad, the psychiatrists are mad and Batman, or society itself, is also mad. Really, what a revelation. Next time please inform me where bears defecate as the question has always troubled me. And equating madness with criminality and violence? That's just ignorant and betrays a very basic lack of understanding about the realities of mental health issues. It's a bit like equating protesting with violence, or peace activism with drug abuse. It's opinions without real world experience. Opinions that come from staying indoors watching a flicking box in the corner of your room. It has the stinky odour of accepting views on reality that come from sources that you really shouldn't be trusting. Hey, how about leaving the room and experiencing life for yourself? Just an idea.
As a work of art the book looks great, but wrapped up in it's own sense of cliched revelation the dialogue and plot become blurred, difficult to understand and ultimately just confusing and irritating. To summarise. The book is an 18 year old suburban teenager. It wants to be different. It wants to express it's own uniqueness. It wants to comment on society, but above all it just wants to be praised as original, intelligent and cool. It gets two stars for teenage coolness, but none for originality or intelligence, and it has nothing to say about society that isn't already a dull and tired cliche. It's like trying to comment on the world when the only life experience you have had is watching television, it just doesn't work. Reliance on cliches has made this book completely unrelated to the real world, and ultimately just something to waste your time reading (or looking at, as there's not much to read here) before you decide to actually interact with the world and people outside of your suburban teenagers closeted existence. This is bad teenage poetry. A bit embarrassing, and not something that anybody with any real life experience should bother wasting their time with. Dark, twisted, intelligent and intense? Nope. Disappointing, tame, insulated from reality and idiotic? Yes.