Now that Bruce has returned home, and determined to solve a double homicide in the newly formed “Arkham Manor” things can really get started. This month we’re treated to a briskly paced adventure through the former safe haven that offers further psychological analysis of what makes Batman tick.
WRITTEN BY: Gerry Duggan
ART BY: Shawn Crystal
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: November 26, 2014
It’s going to be hard for “Arkham Manor” not to compare itself to the seminal classic “Arkham Asylum” from Grant Morrison. Each story has a variety of similarities, and I applaud Gerry Duggan for being so bold as to emulate the story in his own way. Now that Batman is fully immersed in another personality, much akin to Matches Malone he can begin to understand the inner workings of the labyrinth.
It’s nice to see an oddly confident Batman in light of what Scott Snyder is doing on “Batman.” Duggan showcases his protagonist as overly confident to a point, and plays with the idea of reducing him down to nothing. Inside Arkham Manor he may have a home field advantage, but he’s got none of the tools he’s used to.
Instead we see Bruce attending group therapy and given what we know now about the identity of the Joker, things have an especially sinister tone in this issue. I can’t help but giggle when the whole group notices that Jack Shaw is hiding something. What’s more is their laser focus on Batman. They have him figured out there, even the petty thugs know why he does the vigilante thing.
Shawn Crystal is a sight to behold. His muddy pencils add a certain level of gritty charm to the newest member of the batman mythos: Arkham Manor. His pencils bring the property to life with such vigor that the building itself feels like the newest character in the book. Over the course of twenty two pages we’re treated to the inside, the outside, and the grand halls of Wayne Manor.
Combined with the dark sunken in eyes of the characters you really have something different and approachable. “Arkham Manor” doesn’t look like most other Bat books and it’s a good thing. It’s got a darker charm on its sleeve than it first lets on. It’s perfect too, because the final showdown on the last few pages plays with the darkness in such a perfect way that you’ll be on edge right until the final panel.
This book doesn’t do much yet to justify its own existence. We’ve learned nothing new, and so far it just reads like an extension of the Bat-book formula which is to say a different writer taking Batman on monthly adventures against a different set of backdrops than the core series. I can’t help but wonder where things will go when the trapped inside the manor storyline resolves itself. Because this book could survive without Batman, in fact at this point it’s just what the Bat-books need: less Batman.