Of the most serious dangers in the Asylum. Their games, before finding the opportunity to use his skills to evade several Instead, Batman reluctantly surrenders to the inmates and submitting to That would have been a conventional superhero story, but a much Might imbue Batman with the ability not to choose, to storm Arkham like aĬommando, freeing all the hostages, re-caging all the inmates and achieving Have hostages they can torture and kill if he doesn't comply. So much with a mystery as with a simple, compelling scenario: The inmates, ledīy the Joker, have taken over Arkham they want Batman to come to them, and they Psychological, and if it does not provide an actual account of human psychology,īut the reader begins the present-tense story confronted not

The Batman story itself also diverges markedlyįrom the pre-existing norms of the superhero genre, and is something else, more Theīackground plot, which runs from 1901 to 1929, and centered in 1921, is somethingĭifferent than a superhero story, and can appeal to readers who prefer, The main story, set in the present, shows Batman enteringĪrkham in response to an inmate riot, and getting more than he bargained for. Stories are very tightly related, and wonder if they might be related in aĭeeper way still. It is only near the end when we learn that the past and present Specific experiences of Batman on a night seven decades after Amadeus wrote in Parallels between the insane ravings written down by a man in the past and the Stories we know at the beginning that they are related in that they occur in Graphic novels to influence the zeitgeist AA's impact, however, may have gone beyond the world of Batman and The title itself, borrowing from a poem by Philip Larkin, compares Arkham Asylum to a church. More as decoration than they contribute to the structure. References to Lewis Carroll, Parsifal, mythology, and religion perhaps operate To mythology and literature outside of the superhero genre, although the many Significant as it is for its place in this larger web of BatmanĬonsidered alone, and many of its references, starting with the title, are owed So much as it was squarely part of a Batman renaissance in progress, the greatįilm starring Michael Keaton ruled the box office and a new series, Legends of the Dark Knight, debuted in But to a reader picking it up new, AA did not relate to a past or a future Novels of the Eighties, but also the first significant work in Morrison's long AA may be thought of as the last of several impactful graphic One building on the outskirts of Gotham City. Graphic novel here, to distinguish it from the place) redefined more than just Retro Review: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Se.ĭenny O'Neil created Arkham and Len Wein gave it an origin,Īsylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth made Arkham a place to remember.

Arkham asylum novel