He reaches a secret room in the towers, where he finds Cavendish holding Adams hostage. Through the asylum, Batman encounters Clayface, Doctor Destiny, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Maxie Zeus, and Killer Croc. The Joker forces Batman into a game of hide and seek, giving him one hour to escape Arkham before his adversaries are sent to hunt him down. Instead, the treatment renders him incapable of making even the simplest decisions, such as going to the bathroom. At the asylum, Batman discovers that Two-Face's mental condition has deteriorated as a result of Adams' therapy she replaced Two-Face's trademark coin with a six-sided die, then a tarot deck, increasing the number of choices he has in the hope that he will eventually not leave any of his choices up to chance. Charles Cavendish, Arkham's administrator, and Dr. On April 1st, Commissioner Gordon informs Batman that the patients of Arkham Asylum, led by the Joker, have taken over the facility, threatening to murder the staff unless Batman agrees to meet with them. The critically acclaimed, similarly titled video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, the first game in the Batman: Arkham series, was partially influenced by the graphic novel. The graphic novel would later become the definitive story of Arkham Asylum, a critical part of the Batman mythos. Morrison's narrative and Dave McKean's artistic style were described as more mature, unique, psychologically-driven and horror-oriented take on the Batman mythos and the distinctiveness from other conventional superhero works. Upon its release, the graphic novel garnered commercial and wide critical acclaim and is considered by many to be one of the greatest Batman stories of all time, and one of the best works in Grant Morrison's career. As Batman ventures deeper, he discovers the origin of how the asylum was established, the history of its founder Amadeus Arkham, and the supernatural and psychological mystery that has been haunting the mansion. Inside, Batman confronts many of his enduring rogues gallery, such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Killer Croc. The story follows the vigilante Batman, who is called upon to quell a maddening riot taking place in the infamous Arkham Asylum, a psychiatric hospital housing the most dangerous supervillains in Gotham City. Perhaps the next Arkham Asylum anniversary - such as the 35th, which will be coming in 2024 - will finally give Bambi his due.Cover of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.Īrkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (often shortened to Batman: Arkham Asylum) is a Batman graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean.
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And given DC's tendency to mine its past, this also means the audience never saw Bambi's likely return in the monthly comics titles, the Animated Series cameo, and boss fight battles in the Arkham games. Based solely on the printed pages, it's hard to discern that Bambi even exists. Morrison's intent is lost without an actual character rendered on-panel, watching a television set with Psycho onscreen.
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(While also subverting the usual portrayal of Bruce's trauma, which tends to focus more on his father, Thomas.) The occasional quotes from Psycho that appear throughout the story are meant to be Bambi watching the movie on television, though the visuals don't make this clear at all. Morrison intended to play the deceased mothers of Bambi and Psycho against Batman's traumatic remembrance of his mother's murder.
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The Bambi of Arkham Asylum is watching the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho on the hospital's TV set, introducing another connection between this story and popular cinema. They exit Bambi because Bruce is traumatized by the onscreen death of Bambi's mother, used here by Morrison as foreshadowing the imminent death of Bruce's mother. The wrinkle in Batman's origin story found in Arkham Asylum has the Wayne family initially going to see Bambi at the theater, then leaving for a showing of Zorro instead.