Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

[cyberghostface]

"The original first draft of the script included the character of Robin as Batman's sidekick. Robin appeared in a few scenes at the beginning then remained at Police Headquarters for the bulk of the book, where he spent his time studying plans and histories of the house, in order to find a way in to help his mentor. Dave McKean, however, felt that he had already compromised his artistic integrity sufficiently by drawing Batman and refused point blank to bend over for the Boy Wonder — so after one brave but ridiculous attempt to put him in a trenchcoat, I wisely removed him from the script." - Grant Morrison

As an introduction I'd add that if this is your first time reading this and if you like it, you should definitely seek out the full version. There's an entire subplot involving the origins of Arkham Asylum and the recent editions include the script with commentary that explain all the psychological and religious symbolism and what the heck is going on.

The story begins with Gordon telling Batman that the inmates have taken over Arkham Asylum and are holding everyone hostage. Their final request is Batman.





Joker's face is referenced from a mask sculpted by McKean which you can view here. There are a few variations but it's why he has the same expression for most of the book.







An interesting aside: the original script had Joker dressed up like Madonna from the 'Open Your Heart' music video.

Comments

[alicemacher]

One of my favourite Batman books. And yes, Morrison's annotated script is pretty much required reading in order to fully appreciate the work. Especially crucial is the author's clarification that the story is a dream Batman has one night. A cathartic dream that enables him to work through his more psychologically debilitating issues and thus become the more grounded Batman seen in Morrison's JLA run. (That it's a dream also explains why the Caped Crusader apparently kills Killer Croc and, earlier, Doctor Destiny in cold blood, then sets the remaining inmates free.)

I agree with Morrison that cutting the Robin subplot was for the best. Even more so was editorial nixing his idea to have Amadeus Arkham react to the sight of his violated and murdered wife and daughter by cannibalizing them, while dressed in his wife's wedding gown, in some sort of shamanistic ritual. (The only hint of that in the published version, as Morrison points out, is Amadeus, still wearing the gown, throwing up afterwards.) That would've been a bit too much, taste-wise, even for a novella already featuring a pedophilic Mad Hatter. The latter can at least be justified as a dark extension of the whole "arrested childhood" thing Jervis has going on with his Alice obsession. Ritual cannibalism, though... yeah, that's rather out of nowhere.

That said, Joker in Madonna's "Open Your Heart" bustier not only would've been cringingly funny, it also would've fit with his getting under Batman's skin through sexual taunts ("Loosen up, tight ass!", "How is the Boy Wonder? Started shaving yet?").