Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

I am not a Batman fan, let’s get that out of the way first. I mean, I don’t mind Batman comics like Dark Victory or the Killing Joke, but I’m not a “fan”. But, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison, was simply amazing. One of the best, although very short, graphic novels I’ve read.
Arkham Asylum is located on the outskirts of Gotham city and is where those of Batman's foes that are considered legally insane are incarcerated.

Batman gets lured into the asylum by the Joker, who has taken over the place along with Killer Croc, Clayface, the Scarecrow, Doctor Destiny, Two-Face, Maxie Zeus and the Mad Hatter. Batman fights his own demons as he fights the “demons” in Arkham. The book also tells the “Origin Story” of Arkham and of the original administrator, Jeremiah Arkham.

The graphic novel presents very different versions of several characters in the DC Universe:
* Maxie Zeus has messianic delusions and is obsessed with electric shocks and the consumption of
Feces.
* Clayface is rapidly wasting away due to the lack of “feeding”.
* the Mad Hatter’s obsession with Alice in Wonderland has pedophilic overtones
* Killer Croc is more of a deformed person like The Elephant Man.
* Doctor Destiny is a frail, yet creepy man in a wheelchair.
* Two-Face is reduced to a gibbering wreck as a result of weaning him away from a dualistic way of thinking.
* Batman who is driven close to the breaking point by the Asylum itself.

Dave McKean’s art is astounding. His brushwork (and perhaps use of mixed media; there are places where I can't even tell if he built collages on the top of his art or just painted it that way) is gorgeous. Grant Morrison is an awesome story teller, and I loved his work on this book as well as 52 and Final Crisis, both DC Comics series. The combination of two of the best people in comics makes for a jaw-dropping book.

Read this book!