The profiles at the end are either insightful, pretentious or just padding to fill pages, depending on your point of view. The symbolism within the story can be too much at times and almost forced, detracting from the story instead of adding to it. The Joker’s portrayal is over-the-top and strangely predictable, but at least an explanation is given as to why he behaves the way he does. So Batman is, for the most part, just a bystander in the story. The mystery of how everything happened isn’t solved through any detective work on his part, and even the resolution to the story is out of his hands. After just talking with various inmates, there’s a shift in tone from the moment he battles Killer Croc and he takes control. He broods, he mopes, he relives the memory of his parents’ deaths once again and ultimately… well, he does very little.
#Batman arkham asylum a serious house series
Included at the end was a series of character profiles, with insights into their innermost thoughts. He plays one last gamble to determine his fate, allowing one inmate to make the decision for everyone. Is it the madness that drives them, or are they being driven into it by a greater force? Throughout the story, we get the origin of the asylum itself and the madness of Amadeus Arkham, the man who built it.īatman is on the defensive for most of the story until he finally confronts his own fears of what this place means, ultimately taking a stand for order and sanity in this home of chaos.
The stories overlap back and forth, and we glimpse the symbolism of the various characters and what makes them function. Throughout the story, we get the origin of the asylum itself and the madness of Amadeus Arkham, the man who built it. They want to play a game of hide-and-seek with him, with his life being at stake. The Dark Knight is willing to go in and face them, despite objections from Comissioner Gordon, but the reception that he gets isn’t quite what he expected. Led by the Joker, their demands have been strange but they want one more thing: The Batman. It’s April 1 st in Gotham City, and the inmates have taken over Arkham Asylum. This is the 29 th anniversary of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, one of the best-selling original graphic novels of all time and a book that’s been hailed as one of the most important Batman stories of all time.