Batman: Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth - Grant Morrison > Reviews (3)

I have always been a fan of graphic novels, and often follow the lesser known characters just as much as the more prominent ones. Something that has always remained a bit of a mystery is the history of various characters. On the Marvel side of the fence, characters such as Spiderman are being constantly reinvented with ever emerging secrets and plot developments making the character much darker and appealing. On The DC side of things, Superman and co seem to be emerging with more plot threads that make the character a bit more exciting than the much examined common origins we are used to.

On a similar note, the origins and history of Batman have been rather obtuse in their descriptions. Those familiar with the caped crusader will be aware of his parents' death when he was young, and the wealth he inherited that allows him to galavant around with the costume on and a seemingly limitless amount of resources to design and make the funky costumes, vehicles, gadgets and secret rooms he seems to have.

Yet one thing that has remained a mystery to me has always been the man behind the mask. I don't mean Bruce Wayne, the multi billionaire FACE behind the mask: I mean the inner man, the psyche of the character who dons the mask. Here, Grant Morrison's script and Dave Mckean's artwork combine with power to give us a dual graphic novel that focuses on this mental psychology aspect of the character, focusing on Arkham Aslyum, which houses the criminally insane.

The story contained within this volume spreads over nearly 200 pages. 130 or so features the graphic novel itself, and there's the added bonus of having the remainder with original script, footnotes, artist's sketches and a final word. The story itself is twofold. We open with some impressive sketchwork which introduces us to Amadeus Arkham, the founder of the Asylum, and it takes us through his tale of family woes which lead up to his family mansion being turned into the Asylum we are more familiar with in the modern day tellings of Batman.

Alongside this runs an interesting angle on Batman, which involves him entering an overrun Arkham in return for the release of the Asylum's staff, held captive by his nemeses, led by The Joker. As he enters, The Joker wants to play a game of hide and seek with him. He hides, his enemies seek him. As this element of the story progresses, a number of these foes are drawn into the tale, even if they aren't as visually prominent as these two main adversaries. Two-Face is perhaps the most used other than The Joker, as his line is most significant to the outcome, but it is in examining the effects that the Asylum has on Batman himself that we come to realise that his biggest enemy is himself, and his inner being.

It's a fascinating study of psychology, really, and although some readers have dismissed this as being too much engendered in the 'real' world to really encapsulate the true nature of the 'Bat' we have come to know and love, I still find it sheer brilliance. I have never really given all that much thought to a storyline focusing on how his mind ticks.

For me, I have probably focused more on the do gooder within without exploring the whys and wherefores that this should inevitably bring up.

Perhaps this is as a result of just how commercialised Batman has become as a franchise. Exposure on TV has been adapted to conform with viewing figures in the TV series, and then with the feature films it has tried to appeal to a wider audience with a very easy to watch and almost 'fun' atmosphere being attempted. Here, in this graphic novel, there is no ease at all, in either tale, and this is mainly due to the artwork.

Dave McKean's contemporary illustrations have a degree of flair and skill to them that is rarely present in mainstream characters' presentations, and it's really refreshing to see a bit of difference with a common character. Heavy ink and watercolours show the age of this graphic novel, and it's nice to see something relatively untouched by the ever present computer generated imagery that we usually get nowadays. Released in 1989, it fast became the biggest selling graphic novel of all time, surpassing even Frank Miller's genius Watchmen, which I absolutely love.

There's such a huge contrast in the artwork of the two biggies though. Watchmen is full of tiny little events going on behind the main focal point of each frame, promoting a story in the pictures itself with intricacies that are clear to the initial glance. McKean's art, though, is anything but easy to the eye, and it takes a lot of effort to make out the shapes, actions, and even on occasion the words here in Arkham Asylum. McKean has thought of everything. Strokes cover strokes, slight hints of colour make all the differences, and each character has their own written style.

The colours themselves are rather dull and morose when you first look at them. There are lots of browns and greys, and rarely do you actually get a snippet of colour. However, when you do, it's mainly from the Joker, with bright reds and greens really making him stand out among everything else going on. With the Batman thread of the graphic novel, it really makes a point of contrasting the hero and the villain, putting them in a conversational aspect before sending Batman off to chase his enemies as well as his own demons. With the Amadeus Arkham thread, it reads more like a diary entry, and this is what I found more interesting. I hadn't really had any experience of realising how the Asylum came about, and it was ultimately riveting to find out the history. This doesn't mean it took over from the Batman thread, as this was an intense psychological intrusion to a dark hero, but the Amadeus thread was more of a revelation for me.

The script is good with this, don't get me wrong, and it's great to see just how the words flow and develop into the story, but it's really McKean's artwork that nails it for me. It's so intense and inviting, with subtleties that you really have to search for to recognise, and what is great about this 15th Anniversary Edition is that you also get the original script and some footnotes with it at the end.

Seeing this script gives an insight into how Morrison wanted things to look on the page, the plot developments that needed to happen through the visuals, accompanying his script. McKean's managed to bring some excellence with his brushwork, and it's really interesting to see how a lot of the artwork comes about from a scriptwriting origin.

It's good to see the intricacies included in it all, and I was just as enthralled reading the script as I was reading the actual visual graphic novel itself. The presentation was brilliant, as was the tale itself. I initially thought I was going to be disappointed with such a visually different graphic novel than I was used to, but I was riveted. I have no fault with this. Excellent script and artwork, and I'm thoroughly glad I went for it. It comes in at £10.99 retail price, which I consider to be a really good price for such a great graphic novel: no wonder its sales were so impressive! Recommended.