The Creepiest Batman Story

Okay, so this Batman story may just be one of my favorites. Not just for the writing, but for the art. It was written by Grant Morrison, who is a legend in the comic book industry. He's written epic stories like the Multiversity Event for DC comics, Batman & Robin (With Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin), All-Star Superman, and more. And that's just for DC Comics, he's written New X-Men for Marvel Comics and Spawn for Image Comics. He's also written his own fiction novels. Another interesting fact, this was his first Batman story, and after this story, he became a regular Batman writer.

The illustrator, Dave Mckean also has a great track record. In fact, apart from this story, he's done art for The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. His art in this story is fantastic, and most definitely suits the tone that is meant to be portrayed in this storyline. Creating art that matches the story's tone is not uncommon, but what is common is seeing a comic that has art that looks like it was meant for children TV shows, but the story is as dark as you can get. Anyways, let's jump into this story, shall we!

The story centers around the inmates being led by The Joker at Arkham Asylum taking over the mental hospital, and they essentially hold all the staff hostages unless Batman comes to the Asylum and "plays a game" with The Joker and the other inmates. I won't be telling you what the game is or what happens next because I want you to read this story. However, what I am about to say is a bit of a spoiler, but not too much. Right now we are going to talk about Harvey Dent (Two-Face). Some of you may have seen The Dark Knight 2008 film with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, and some of you may remember that Two-Face was in that movie as well, just to give you a basis from something you guys may have watched. In the comics, Harvey Dent was a lawyer who was also running for mayor of Gotham City, but someone threw acid in his face and exactly half of his face scarred, and half of his face remains unscathed. This event torments him psychologically and he develops a second identity, and the way that he makes decisions is by flipping a double-heads coin. One side is normal, the other is scratched. Well, here's how messed up things get in the AA:ASHoSE. Someone gives Two-Face a tarot deck and a six-sided die, so instead of having two choices from the coin he usually uses, he has... well... a lot of choices. This makes him so much more indecisive than people in front of me in line who decide what they want to order when they get to the register. But seriously, Two-Face become so indecisive that he can't even make the decision to go to the bathroom. And the story just gets more messed up from there! Also, the story will screw with your mind (most of Grant Morrison's work does), and this was a source of criticism by some because all they wanted to see was Batman punch the Joker a bunch of times. I mean the story was designed to freak you out and blow your damn mind, not to show the Batman punch bad guys like he does in every. Other. Comic. Anyways, let's move on before this becomes an essay rant.

Let's talk about the influence that this comic has had over time. The most notable is that Heath Ledger based his version of the Joker off of the Joker from AA:ASHoSE. But here's something else that's super interesting, Batman: Arkham Asylum, considered one of the greatest superhero games made, was actually based off this story by Grant Morrison.

I highly suggest you read this story, and really anything else that Grant Morrison has written because his writing, in my opinion, gives you the characters you like to see but also forces you to use your brain while reading the story, and after it for the pondering and the philosophical questions he brings up.

Anyways, I'm debating on whether my next post should be about Kamala Khan's family or Sideways (A DC Comic). Either way, I'll be seeing you in my next post!