Arkham Asylum: Living Hell

From one of the comics business' brightest new creative teams comes a Batman tale with a twist - a giant, gut-wrenching, soul-crushing twist! Arkham Asylum: Batman's dustbin where he dumps the worst of the garbage. A melting pot brimming with the curdled milk of human madness, where the warders are as ensnared by the insanity as the inmates. And where a killer has tapped into all that maniacal energy and is channelling it to his own demonic ends! With cameos from Batman, Batgirl and a dark host of famous - and notorious - super villains, including the Joker and Two-Face, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell is living proof of the old adage - you don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps!

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Some folks just don't remember folk wisdom. Tried for the greatest stock fraud in history, Warren White--"the Great White Shark"--gambles on beating the rap by pleading insanity. With a change in venue to Gotham, he succeeds. But then he's remanded for psychiatric observation to the local slammer for criminal nuts, Arkham Asylum. White smirks, but the judge looks wolfishly pleased. Uh, Warren--didn't anyone ever tell you to be careful what you wish for? Besides, as any Lovecraftian could tell you, any place named Arkham is no place to visit. Well, Warren learns, starting with recognizing his new roommate: "That's Death Rattle! He's a cult leader and a homicidal maniac!" As for Warren's nickname, it's not Shark now, it's Fish. And then he takes a shower. The developments fly thick, fast, and gory during the rest of Warren's observation period, as well they might, given such fellow patients as Batman nemeses Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, and the rest, though the ones to watch are Jane Doe and Doodlebug--don't turn side or face, let alone back, on either of them. Though the art is just very good basic mainstream-comics-style stuff, Slott's script and the compositional variety among the separate frames are first rate for ingenuity and momentum. This, the first story arc from the magazine Arkham Asylum, is just so fun! Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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