Book Review David Hine Batman Arkham Reborn
The lunatics have taken over the Asylum, again.
BOOK REVIEW DAVID HINE BATMAN ARKHAM REBORN 2010 DC
Spoiler alerts.
There are two kinds of villain in Batman. The evil, and the simply insane. When captured alive by the Caped Crusader, the wicked go to prison. The mad have always gone to Arkham, Gotham City’s asylum for The Criminally insane.
It has been a centre of controversy, with escapes, riots, and doctors going as mad as their own patients.
At the close of a previous adventure the Asylum was physically destroyed and this adventure follows the work of its new owner, and chief psychiatrist, Jeremiah Arkham, a descendant of the mad founder, Jeremiah Arkham, rebuilding the asylum. His plan is for a utopian treatment centre, albeit a maximum security one, with an aim towards curing the inmates rather than simply keeping them imprisoned forever.
Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon support the project but the new Arkham proves dangerous. Patients have accidents, and many believe the good Doctor is really the Black Mask, a crazed killer who destroyed the asylum in the first place.
Batman uncovers the shocking, genuinely surprising truth.
There are memorable characters and situations here. Familiar villains like Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc and Clay-Face appear in cameos. Batman makes only a few appearances to solve the problems that arise, as this is really Jeremiah’s tragic tale. His three good and cured patients, the Narcissistic Mirror Man, a boy with no face and a woman who sees herself as too ugly to be seen are to face a dreadful but poetic fate.
Arkham takes its name from the Chulhu mythos work of H P Lovecraft, which deals with madness inducing monsters. It seems apt for the cursed hospital that seems to always send its crazed patients out more psychotic than when they arrived. Fortunately Batman puts them back again, in time for their next escape.
Arthur Chappell
Liked it
