Arkham Asylum: A Serious House 15th Anniversary Edition Cover By Dave McKean Origins of Arkham AsylumĪrkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth released on October 5th 1989 as a graphic novel from DC Comics. The Dark Knight makes his way to the madhouse to confront The Joker, and once inside, he faces his famous list of villains in a maze-like asylum when The Joker begins a deadly game of hide and seek. The inmates of Arkham have taken over the asylum, and the Joker has an important demand: he wants Batman.

Like Celine Dion asks in her song, “what if walls could talk?” Well, that’s what Morrison and McKean set out to answer. Enter Grant Morrison, Dave McKean, and 1989’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth. Arkham wasn’t always so established, though. This shows that, yes, a location can tell a story. There aren’t many instances where the general public can name the prison/asylum that characters go to, but this is one of them. For Batman, it’s Gotham, but even more so is the fabled asylum - Arkham. When someone mentions Metropolis, people think Superman. But, what about locations? Yeah, you could just plop a character in a well known city/state (like New York), but to give life to a story, the landscape should breath on its own. Interior Page by Artist Dave McKean, Letterer Gaspar Saladinoīatman has a multitude of villains, and throughout the collective characters’ 80 years, most have their defining or well known stories. Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum celebrates its 30th anniversary this year let’s take a look back and see what makes the story such a spooky, satisfying, and enduring read.

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