Today we dive into the haunting halls of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Grant Morrisons psychological horror Arkham Asylum A Serious House on Serious Earth.
I actually think the artwork being harder to follow works to this story’s benefit. It’s like the book itself is mad, and we - as readers - are tasked with piercing through the veil of lunacy in order to discern what is happening.
Right. Conceptually I like it for that reason but if you're gonna ask me to read it or enjoy it as a story, I can't bring myself to do that but I'm glad others can.
Enjoy it as a story? How would you serperate the story from the concept? The whole point is that things are unreliably narrated, and this is boosted when you consider that the artist and author were at war with their different perspectives they wanted to show
Its what I thought as well. Dense with symbolism, with a art style that seems like you are seeing the ideas or emotional context of the scene rather than just the scene itself. It comes togethet in a chaotic, primal way that makes the most powerful moments all the more memorable.
I think that two face let batman live because it was him who gave him a clear choice eliminating all other options leaving a clearer picture for him and therefore helping him pull himself together so letting him live is more of a thank you from his part,
I took it less as a thank you and more his final step of the therapy. With batman being understandably questioning of his previous treatment, giving him the coin was the catalyst for change, where as his decision to ignore its results was the final spark of growing past the neurosis. If he listened to the coin he'd be no different than where he started, thus making it so he really didn't have a choice, either live or die, and he chose to live. Batman was doing the Batman thing of putting his life on the line to quite literally force his patients into seeing things his way, and as a result growing because of it. To me if it really is Harvey's way of thanking Bruce, it undermines the whole point of the "therapy session"
@@HighTechPioneer Honestly re-reading it to myself, I'll find myself conflicted at the thought of Dents' state if he HAD killed batman. Perhaps it was the catharsis of giving up the duality, or even Batman forcing him to retrospect on his actions; but I believe it was a mixture of them all, its crazy to go even further but two-face always alludes to Batman being the other side of his waste-disposal coin, perhaps we saw Dent at his core, afraid, not necessarily raging by his own persona, but broken. Dent hates batman, but he is ALWAYS the side who spares him. To me its like how he entertains Jokers' need to be indulged, he drags the element of chaos into it, solely because he knows the Joker can't resist. It is a comic book, but a damn good one at that. Ill admit I have a soft spot for classic look scarecrow, but it chills my mind to recollect Maxie still believing himself to be Zeus, WITH a taste of the ancient elemental flair of comics, injected with realism and terror.
I played Batman Arkham Asylum as a kid and I played the return to Arkham asylum again. Learning about Amadeus and Elizabeth is truly haunting but makes the game feel real.
@@MrKing-771 They could make the character designs look like horror movie monsters instead of people. (Hell, the brief glimpse of Joker's design we get in the movie would fit perfectly in this comic.)
@@RobocopStealerOfFridges I believe that having the characters actually look like the ones in the comic would be a BIG mistake. The whole point of the comic is to see how Batman’s mental state deteriorates, and how reality gets distorted. Pattinson’ Batman is a relatively realistic Batman, so having them look like the ones in the comic would not fit the tone. What they’d need to do is to get a really artistic director that knows how to do horror, and let him give the movie the R-rating he needs.
@@RobocopStealerOfFridges The director would have to put special detail into the characters, and how each others mentality and actions affect each other. Especially how Joker slowly kills Batman mentally. The reason the director would need to be artistic is because he would need to have a crazy amount of vision in order to make the movie feel like a nightmare, like the comic does. Having it have an R-rating would be key for this. Show as much blood, gore, deformation and degenerocity as needed for the movie to be truthful to the source material.
For those of us who grew up on the 1960's version of Batman and actually look forward each week to tuning in at the " same bat time"'same bat station" this arkham asylum comic you speak in great depth about , brought pictures of the original villains to me because at ages 6-8 those were that dark to me. Two coins has got to be the riddler and I pictured Frank Gorshin.
The 60s Batman is still good, very campy but fun to watch. I like both versions of The Bat. But I also feel like Batman is one of the few major ‘super’ heroes that does well with a gritty story, so I like when it leans into that more
Regarding Joker’s flamboyant personality. I’ve personally always believed that labeling him as a homosexual takes away from the mystique and intrigue behind the character. He acts out and behaves in a way that he knows will make people squirm. It’s psychological warfare, and solidifies that nothing matters to him. In his eyes, life is nothing more than a giant stage performance. Calling him gay suddenly adds sense to his flamboyant behavior, and dissolves a big part of the mystery that makes the character so compelling. He’s just a crazy clown that only cares about understanding and relating to The Batman. He’s never wanted to literally hook up with Batman… unless we’re talking about the demented fan fiction writers from Tumblr/Twitter, then yes all the time he wants nothing more than Batman’s batarang… thank god they’re not employed at DC Comics… ok some might be… sadly..
The Joker’s sexuality is “giving Batman the business” and poor harley quinn has trouble understanding that 😅 they shoulda gone with that madonna thing, that’s a hilarious bit and it definitely gives batman the business
@@chexfan2000 nah bro. His sexuality doesn’t matter, but if you want to go down that rabbit hole, he has shown legitimate interest in Harley Quinn a multitude of times. Obviously he’s not fit to be a loving boyfriend to her, as he doesn’t 100% love her as a soulmate… and is in fact just a crazy clown that only cares about causing chaos, and antagonizing Batman. If anything, Joker’s biggest fantasy is Gotham’s destruction… similar to how Batman’s biggest fantasy is Gotham’s salvation.
I mean i'd throw out there are actually a few iterations of Joker who is infatuated in a sick and twisted way with Batman or it's implied. This comic is a perfect example of that. I'll also throw out there it was played pretty straight in early issues because gay = bad guy back then, not so much him being attracted to batman but more the "oh my lord he's queer, he's carries his own lipstick! Look how evil he is." I do like how it's developed over the years though to be like you said. Also I don't ship it and find it a weird pairing but I have no animosity towards those who do, who are they hurting bro, they just doing there own weird thing that makes em happy. Find any joy in life that doesn't hurt others, I say.
@@Parasolhyena thank you. ❤ Honestly, I was with the OG comment until that last part. That's just vitriol and for what? The most compelling and interesting conversation I had have been with BatJokes fans because they are open minded. If you squirm away so much from a certain interpretation, I'm sorry but you're not going to be objective in your analysis. Now to the point - He has expressed genuine sexual interest in Batman and saying he does that only as a "weapon" is making their relationship more shallow imo. He's OBSESSED with Batman. To the point he actively wants to die from Batman's hands. That's why he goes further and further. Yes, it's proving his philosophy but proving it against the one person that really matters to him because Bats is an exception to the rule. It's an all consuming obsession that can be easily confused with romantic feelings (which is an angle that has been shown a few times) and just because you can't see it doesn't mean everyone who does is just "crazy hormonal tumblr user". OP repeat after me - your interpretation is not the ultimate. My favorite monologue about this has been in Arkham Origins. Not only the Joker explains that Batman is the only person he can relate to (which is interesting by itself but also imagine living in a world where there's only one other person that's "real" to you. Imagine the bond you would develop with them), but the monologue by itself makes Harley think he's talking about her and makes her fall in love with him. That's just romantic, no matter if you interpret the feelings themselves as being such.
"Originally the Joker was gonna dress like Madonna and be in Stilettos" Honestly that is easily the most horrifying thing Joker could do. Reminds me of the comment from the game Arkham Asylum "What are you really afraid of? Failing to save this cesspool of a city? Not finding the commissioner in time? ME IN A THONG?" Honestly gets more horrifying the more I think about it.
It’s almost like the darkness of the story carried over into the clash of creative differences between artist and writer . Which makes the intrigue so much more heightened . The graphic novel is one of my all time favourites
Arkham Asylum being based off of real life mental asylums from the 1920’s -60’s does a really good job at showing how terrifying they really were. All of these peoples minds isolated from the real world for years thinking they were getting help but we’re actually getting psychologically tested. So many people went to these asylums needing serious help but were instead mind fucked for years. The only difference between Arkham Asylum and the real life asylums was that Arkham Asylum had fictional characters, and some having supernatural powers. Arkham Asylum is the root for almost every Batman villain and it’s because mental asylums at one point in history were hell on earth. What better place to stem some of the most evil villains in comic book history than that.
I would never have guessed you were new to content creation. The quality and information is something I’d want from a more experienced creator doing a video essay like this, I truly mean that. I genuinely can’t wait to see what else you make, keep it up man
@@IntotheDepths511 ^ same thoughts as well, the flow of your video is smooth and never feels dragged on. Thought you’d have like like 200k subscribers at least by the quality of this vid.
Still surprised to hear people say that in RU-vid comment sections. Most of the time the best content creators are the ones with few subscribers and views.
That scene where he's calling for the doctor for help gave me the same chills as the panel where Superman started to cry when he learned he was going to die, all those media spending hours deconstructing or humanizing them and these two moments really just kinda telling you all you need to know, they fight monsters and lunatics and giant robots on a daily basis but at the end of the day they're still human just like us and they have their limits.
I saw the ending as Two Face thinking “should I let Batman live and live in hell of the madness of the world or kill him and free him from madness” the marked side was live in hell, the clean side was death and freedom.
I remember having this comic as a kid. This was the ONLY Batman comic I owned. I had a lot of Spider-Man comics cause of my grandparents, and I loved them. I didn’t own any other comics at all. To this day, I’m not exactly sure where it came from, but I also had Batman: Arkham Asylum-A Serious House On Serious Earth The story, the environment, the artwork…especially the artwork…it was so fucking creepy. At that time, I saw Batman just like any other superhero, cheeky and comical (I clearly didn’t know much about Batman at the time, this was just my overall view of Superheroes) so reading this comic with that mindset made even more unsettling for me. It felt so otherworldly.
The picture of Norman bates I believe is taken at the end of Psycho when the last scene of Norman bates smiling transitions to the car being pulled out of the water. There is a very brief moment in that transition you can see a skull on Norman bates very briefly. I think that's a snap shot of that brief moment
It's not unheard of for an artist to play a large roll in developing a comic book story. Jack Kirby usually had to do the bulk of the story in his Marvel comics because Stan Lee was a big picture guy and provided very thin story outlines.
I got into Neil Gaiman's Sandman right before reading this so the artwork, while out of this world, was very comfortable to me and I didn't realize at the time how special both this and Sandman were.
i am 54 years old, and I bought this comic in college, i didn't understand the depth that you did. it was written over my head, very nice explanation and a memory I had long forgetten.
I never really understood why Joker is considered insane. He is not, he understands his actions and consequences that will follow him. He is a psychopath, not an insane person. Maybe I'm wrong.
It's because insanity is a broad spectrum diagnosis. Technically speaking "insanity" is defined as "a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior." Notice that at no point does it specify 'awareness of consequence'. If someone suffered from severe hallucinations and committed a mass murder, they would still be tried as insane even if they were aware they were committing a crime while doing so. In the case of Joker, the fact he sees his actions as a joke would be defined being unable to distinguish fantasy from reality.
I think the confusion makes the novel a more compelling read. The artwork is beyond mind blowing and adds a beautifully macabre texture to an already compelling story, but I will say that if a reissue of this story was printed with Morrison approved artwork was released, I would buy it.
Yea, that was pop music of the day. You couldn’t get away from it. So, you didn’t have to be a fan of either to have crossover But yea, that was a dumb idea to think that
Dave McKean is the greatest; his art is so earie and beatiful. It's just the kind of visuals I try to bring into my stories sometimes, and its perfect for Batman and Sandman. So gorgeous!
I love Dave McKean's artwork. I love that surrealist style and his work on Hellblazer covers really made me a fan. Also minor note, but Crowley's philosophy was Thelema, not Thelma.
This masterpiece is just THE quintessential Batman graphic novel. Groundbreaking in it´s genre and for it´s time. The graphics alone are just pure art from page to page. Almost hard to follow the brilliant storyline when one just admires all the panels. Each unique, like paintings in a museum. Mesmerizing, confusing and distracting. If you haven´t read this book. Do it!
I got this pretty close to its release. I'd only been collecting comics seriously for a couple of years, and I recognised Grant Morrison's name from 2000AD, on the strip Zenith... This was mind blowing. Coming from 2000AD, I was primed for more abstract art styles, where they had Steve Yeowell doing pure chiaroscuro on Zenith, Simon Harrison doing some strange distortions on Strontium Dog, and Bisley and Will Simpson doing full paints... I took it to school and showed everyone. I even lent it to my English teacher, along with Batman:The Cult. I dig the experimentation DC were doing at the time...which of course led to Vertigo... Anyway, this is a great vid. I'm surprised it's your first...and I've given you a sub...
This is my favorite Batman one shot comic, even if I often feel I don't understand it, that just adds to the feeling. Hearing other people talk about it always gives me more and more insight about it This is a beautiful, informative video, I'm beyond shocked it's your first upload to the channel
One aspect I like about the comic is how even the extremely minor characters leave an unsettling feeling. Black Mask barely has a few lines yet the complete etching out of his face and that his character bio after the ending is just a frame of pure darkness. Doctor Destiny's also barely says and does anything , but the one frame of his victims frozen in a dream stasis is chilling. His bio is also sad but foreboding. It is only a smokey white smudge admis darkness, the only description saying: "In dreams, I walk with you."
I read some of this comic online while listening to Michael Giachinno's Soundtrack for "The Batman (2022)" and I highly recommend it! It amplified the read SO much! (At least for Me) Great video man!!!
Dude this comic is freaking amazing. I was never into comics that much but this one is so surreal and bold with its artistic and narrative choices. So cool, thanks for sharing this and leading me to this masterpiece.
Dude. Beautiful video essay. I CANNOT wait to get this book and read it and goddamnit have I ALWAYS wished they would do an Arkham asylum inspired movie. I hope they do it down the line with the reeves Batman and take inspiration from this book
Thank you for making this in depth look at "A Serious House...". This is one of, if not the most memorable and definitely most surreal Batman comic I ever read. I recommended it to so many people, but found that most of them just couldn't finish it. Either because they were put off by the art style, or because they just weren't able to follow the story because of it's unusual (to say the least) arrangements of the pages. I love it and go back to it every couple of years, just because I find something new in it every time I do. Thanks again!
i like it caue it makes batman so vulnerable and human (he bleeds, hes fucking terrified (who wouldnt be in that situation lmao), hes injured af, he runs away) but he also exhibits that enver give up, perseverance attitude. and the ending is just birlliant. it really shows why the no kill rule is not a weakness.
That artwork is insanely gorgeous. Each panel looks like it could be put up on the wall of an art gallery for a pretty penny. So much style and emotion poured into the pages. Definitely captures that dream-like quality he was going for.
3:03 my man this is where you tell people to pause and go read for themselves. I can’t believe you really hit us with the “then you should stick around”
McKean and Morrison could’ve had their cake while eating it too. The original plans in McKean’s style, going in tandem with McKean’s vision. This would be the two perspectives of the same events. Batman’s and Joker’s, with which one being which entirely up to speculation. This would’ve basically given us two comics for the price of one, and two incredible stories that would work together by clashing at their most fundamental values. “Super sanity” vs “clear insanity”, creating a very distinctive story on both sides of the perspective.
As a writer, I would never tolerate for one moment an artist changing my story creation. The instant I found out that was going on, I'd immediately fire him, and find someone else to draw the story panels.
Man, seeing the snippets of Batman TAS now makes me want an animated version of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. I wonder if it’s been done, I loved the comic.
Wow, this was an absolutely incredible video. It’s impossible to believe that this is the first video on the channel. With this level of quality, I feel like it would be a crime if this channel does not blow up and become a big hitter in the future.
I wish there was mention of the final moments of the comic. Two Face referencing Alice in Wonderline with the closing line of “Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards” always stuck with me.
"Why so serious?" from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is lifted from Arkham Asylum A Serious House on Serious Earth. Edit: In fact the antagonist from the first Manhunt game mockingly asks James Earl Cash "Come on now Cash you hate your family, why so serious all of sudden" after finding his family was killed after successfully completing the mission at hand.
As an eleven-year-old kid when it first came out I was able to follow the story without too much of a problem. I may had to have gone back and reread a page or two but it made sense to me at the time .I was too young to pick up on a lot of the symbolism.
McKean's artwork was incredible. It was like looking through the eyes of a mad man or living a nightmare. And the part about Batman being afraid he would feel at home amongst the inmates makes sense. Batman belongs in Arkham just as much as the Joker or Killer Croc.
I gotta be honest i do think the main thing that makes this as memorable as it is comes down to McKeans art, the story is fantastic and theres definitely a lot of moments where the art clashes with the clarity of storytelling, but the haunting depictions of the villains, the incredibly unique artstyle and the nightmarish feel to everything the eye perceives including batman himself is what cements this as a one of a kind unforgettable piece of batman mythos/lore/ethos/psyche/lens im not even sure which word to use. it is just too unique
One of my favorite comics and I'm a huge fan of Morrison's. The mckean-morrison clash is incredibly fitting given the book's themes of magic spells gone awry due april fools. In a sense Morrison and McKean are like Amadeus and Cavendish trying to exorcise the bat through their own methods but only succeeding in strenghtening. Keep up the great work.
This is one of those things that usually go wrong, or nothing interesting happens. But having the storyteller's neurosis improve the story is how you get high art.
Yep! I agree! My brother and I collected comic books and we have two of these original graphic novels. One that we opened to read and the other still in it's plastic wrap. Really disturbing story. Incredible art work too. Great post and discussion here.
I prefer most of the time for stories to be easily followed, but when it comes to horror, it actually helps to be a little obscurantist here and there. Dave McKean’s artwork truly made this story memorable a little more so than Grant’s writing. The journey felt like a scary acid trip, and when you got the chance to make out what you were looking at, you tended to be in for quite a shock. I really can’t imagine a sequel the same way without Dave McKean’s style. The story being up for interpretation is a nice touch too. It’s the way classic Silent Hill games would go about delivering horror. On the subject of the ending. Optimistically it could taken as a sign that the psychiatrists’ methods were working, and that Two-face was getting better, and making his own decisions. However, classically as in most stories, when the coin lands scratch-side up, Two-Face makes an evil decision. The backstory revolved around Amadeus Arkham evoking what he thought to be a bat demon monster. He believed that the ground was supernaturally cursed by such a thing. In this story, Batman is artistically portrayed as a spooky dark monster whose face and super heroic emblem you can’t see. He is also far more unforgiving and vindictive in this story than in other stories. It is brought up that Batman’s methods( punching crazy people in the face and throwing them in slammer) may not be as practical/ethical compared to treating them with psychotherapy. Joker even hints that Batman may be as crazy as his enemies and that he belongs in the asylum as everybody else. And perhaps if Amadeus’ bat demon visions were not delusions, and Batman really is an incarnation of the Bat demon… …Then maybe Two-Face made an evil decision by letting by letting Batman go.
Thank you very much for this video. I owned a comic bookstore when Arkham Asylum was released and ordered thirty copies from my distributor. They all sold out in a week--except for the copy I kept for myself. Of course, this was the original edition and didn't include the script you mentioned. This led to many discussions over many beers and bong-hits. I remember that we all felt that the artwork made the book--that its unique visual style and layout transcended the more conventional comic art.
As both a writer and an artist, I'm split on whether or not Dave McKean was "right" to ignore Morrison's art direction. He certainly took the initiative, unleashing his artistry on the page and made something truly memorable; on the other hand, simply ignoring your writer is a pretty arrogant thing for an artist to do. I think it's important to really hammer out what your relationship is before you collaborate: are you, as the artist, just the "hands" of the writer, or do you have your own artistic leeway? I'm just glad the creative friction ended up creating something so unique and iconic.
Grant Morrison has been a polarising figure in the comic book industry for years. I love his work. I can't love everything he does the same way as Arkham Asylum or Final Crisis. I just love reading his work regardless because I just love what he brings to the table. He's crazy, and I enjoy it when it's on a comic page.
Polarizing is right, I guess. He just says shit he knows will sound good to people. Personally it feels like he puts no thought into the meaning behind his writing, he lets the audience put something together for him. There’s something to be said for that for sure but it feels like he’s a massive hack. He just likes to confuse people into solving the deeper meaning when there never was one to begin with.
I think Mckeans art is definitely too hard to follow at times, but I think it’s also clear that without him, this would have been just another Batman graphic novel in a sea of other Batman novels.
Very in depth review and commentary on this masterpiece. I love Arkham Asylum too. It's one of my all-time favourite graphic novels, originally gor the unique and haunting artwork. However, your commentary on it has given me a newfound appreciation for how much depth the is to the story. I want to go read it again right now! Great job, thank you mate.
Mckeans art immortalized the story beyond a normal batman story in a way to be admired beyond the story but by just the striking imagery and techniques alone.
One of the best Batman tales ever told. Grant Morrison and Dave McKean were on top of their game with this one 👌 And Morrison did some incredible work for 2000AD before his jump to DC and his serial Zenith with Steve Yowell is recommended.
Honestly the 60’s Batman along with the 89 Batman each served a different purpose. Which it needed to become more than a comic book for kids. Both these Batman characters are perfect examples of a Batman character who can change with the times, while being true to his roots, while capturing the imagination of people of all ages, of all backgrounds and from all types of interests of the humans unlimited mind of possibilities…..
"Sometimes we have to tear down in order to rebuild" thats basically the same thing my therapists used to tell me and all the other kids i was in placements with and they for sure tore us down but never tried to build us back up. Out of all the kids i was in that place with (about 30 over a years time) 25 of us are dead now and over half of them killed themselves and mentioned that place the last time i talked to them
Ruth Adams is also a nod to the Ruth Adams from the classic movie This Island Earth where Ruth acts as a kind of double agent, aiding the protagonist Cal while working both with and against the aliens searching for the best ultimate outcome
I’m absolutely in love with the art in this book. It’s one of those art styles that cannot be properly replicated in animation, and especially not live action. It has to be read in it’s original book form to get the full experience from it which I find kinda cool.
I think it was a good call, its one of the most unique and fitting art styles I have ever seen. You don't feel like you are seeing the scene itself, rather you perceive the ideas and the emotional context, which let you piece together the raw zeitgeist into a scene.
This got me into comics. I was a huge batman fan. Film, games, tv, animation but never got into comics I loved Arkham Asylum so I bought this. It legit changed my life. I finished it twice in one sitting
McKean gave us a unique experience...I cant imagine it any other way. It reminds me of German silent horror films like The Cabinet of Dr Caligari which influenced Burton's film too. Burton's film actually re-used set pieces from Metropolis.
I feel like the conflict between Morrison and McKean is the sort of rivalry that produced something greater than either one could have achieved on their own. Heck, Saladino's lettering itself brings it up a notch as well. To my eyes, this comic is an absolute masterpiece.
proper vision always outweighs the source material, Kubrick is perhaps the most visionary person within the film industry and he did whatever it takes to make that vision happen the way he saw it in his mind
One part of me hates most Batman writers’ fear-mongering, fanciful, and stigmatizing takes on mental illness. The other side of me loves the commentary on epistemology and meta-physics. It forces fans to grapple with questions like ‘What is real?’ and ‘What is truth?’ and ‘Does Truth exist?’ I’ll let the coin decide…
Arkham Asylum was published the same year I was born, but I first saw it in a public library in their Comic Books section. I was ten at the time, but I read every Batman comic I could get my hands on. Not sure if that was a good thing or not.
And still the best Batman story today. The art style sublime as it is surreal. Every panel is claustrophobic and uncomfortable... We see the world through the eyes of the insane. And it also challenges us with a question; "is Batman actually making things better, or worse?"
This was one of the few Batman stories I thought was any good. The storytelling is more cinematic-visual than literary-textual. I had no problems with it. The Joker is wearing heels, by the way, perhaps a nod to the original design.
I don't like the idea of Joker's "supersanity", but only two comics cover it well. This and Under the Red Hood comic, where Jason tells Joker "You are not as insane as you want everyone to think."
@@SpicyTexan64 Not to argue semantics, (as I personally find it a rather philosophical difference.) Serious House is indeed a Graphic Novel, with the 25th anniversary paperback, (the version of which is used as a reference point for this video) bosting some 200+ pages. A quick search will reveal it under this classification on both the Wikipedia and the DC Fandom pages respectively.
Even as a super hero, the idea of having to go through a dark crumbling hellhole of an asylum crawling with one of the freakiest takes on an already pretty scuffed rouges galleries is actually horrifying. Hell, maybe being a super hero actually makes it worse, because it means they’ll wanna kill you. I think that the parts that really stood out to me were the parts with clay face and two face. The way clay face kinda just walks in as this sad sack of disease with no explanation and just dies gives me chills. And then the mystery with two face at the end really ties into the whole theme about mental illness and if the asylum is really doing anyone any good, or just taking away what shreds they have left. Makes you think a lot
I have always thought Batman the cult was a lot darker Asylum being the semble for the human brain and the psychos being differnent kinds of thought is a confusing book with better art then story.
Read the original Hardcover a few months ago due to hearing so much about it. The art was absolutely fantastic, eerie and sinister. I feel like that art style was a perfect fit for a trip into the Arkham Asylum, but i will agree some pages can be harder to distinguish than others. On my first read I honestly couldn’t follow the story too much so I greatly appreciate this breakdown. I wish we got an alternative version with Bollands art.
i bought this comic when BvS movie came out. To me, its special, because I have never seen such a unique medium and it blew my mind at the time and to this day, i dont see anything coming close to it in comparison
Imaginary Axis did a great video on the Joker and his behavior. In it he posits that the Joker is, like Marvel’s Deadpool, aware that he is a comic book character. There’s a lot of evidence to support that idea, such as Joker turning the pages in his own comic book by reaching through and past the panel, and even grabbing hold of his own word balloons. He breaks the 4th Wall because he knows that he’s a comic book character, but he breaks the 4th Wall far less often than Deadpool does. So Joker isn’t insane - he has no problem murdering thousands of people in the comics and other media because he knows that they’re not real people! It’s a great episode and I recommend it to any fan of Batman and/or Joker. Great video, my dude. Thanks for breaking down one of the best Batman stories ever put to paper.
This is so crazy because i was just talking about The Arkham Asylum comic!!! This answered all my questions and gave me new insights. Thanks so much man. PLEEASE, keep them coming !!!
