Arkham Asylum is a complete middlefinger to realism, and puts Batman at odds with himself and the very things he once thought were "logical".

The fact that the author and artist basically fought to tell their own perspective for the comic, adds to the story unintentionally lol.

As a young kid I found this at a local library and I had nightmares after reading a handful of pages.
I couldn't even bear to look at The Joker in ANY iteration without thinking on that image of Batman ramming a piece of glass into his hand...

"Originally the Joker was gonna dress like Madonna and be in Stilettos"
Honestly that is easily the most horrifying thing Joker could do. Reminds me of the comment from the game Arkham Asylum "What are you really afraid of? Failing to save this cesspool of a city? Not finding the commissioner in time? ME IN A THONG?"
Honestly gets more horrifying the more I think about it.

I actually think the artwork being harder to follow works to this story’s benefit. It’s like the book itself is mad, and we - as readers - are tasked with piercing through the veil of lunacy in order to discern what is happening.

I think that two face let batman live because it was him who gave him a clear choice eliminating all other options leaving a clearer picture for him and therefore helping him pull himself together so letting him live is more of a thank you from his part,

Regarding Joker’s flamboyant personality. I’ve personally always believed that labeling him as a homosexual takes away from the mystique and intrigue behind the character. He acts out and behaves in a way that he knows will make people squirm. It’s psychological warfare, and solidifies that nothing matters to him. In his eyes, life is nothing more than a giant stage performance.

Calling him gay suddenly adds sense to his flamboyant behavior, and dissolves a big part of the mystery that makes the character so compelling. He’s just a crazy clown that only cares about understanding and relating to The Batman.

He’s never wanted to literally hook up with Batman… unless we’re talking about the demented fan fiction writers from Tumblr/Twitter, then yes all the time he wants nothing more than Batman’s batarang… thank god they’re not employed at DC Comics… ok some might be… sadly..

I played Batman Arkham Asylum as a kid and I played the return to Arkham asylum again. Learning about Amadeus and Elizabeth is truly haunting but makes the game feel real.

One of the most frightening parts of this story was just how inconsequential the hostages were to either Batman or the Joker.... saving them became completely unimportant through the course of the story

That creepy picture from Psycho is actually a legit still of the movie, very iconic. It was Norman Bates mother overlayed over his face, signifying his split personality and him adopting her personality. Could be a good nod and inspiration to the character Mad Dog in this story, and the motif of Mothers too. Fascinating artwork and story.

For those of us who grew up on the 1960's version of Batman and actually look forward each week to tuning in at the " same bat time"'same bat station" this arkham asylum comic you speak in great depth about , brought pictures of the original villains to me because at ages 6-8 those were that dark to me. Two coins has got to be the riddler and I pictured Frank Gorshin.

It’s almost like the darkness of the story carried over into the clash of creative differences between artist and writer . Which makes the intrigue so much more heightened . The graphic novel is one of my all time favourites

The fact that Dave McKean thought that doing this comic book cheapened his integrity goes to show how amazing he is as an artist

This is the comic that got Christian Bale interested in Batman.

Arkham Asylum being based off of real life mental asylums from the 1920’s -60’s does a really good job at showing how terrifying they really were. All of these peoples minds isolated from the real world for years thinking they were getting help but we’re actually getting psychologically tested. So many people went to these asylums needing serious help but were instead mind fucked for years. The only difference between Arkham Asylum and the real life asylums was that Arkham Asylum had fictional characters, and some having supernatural powers. Arkham Asylum is the root for almost every Batman villain and it’s because mental asylums at one point in history were hell on earth. What better place to stem some of the most evil villains in comic book history than that.

I can't even consider a sequel of Arkham Asylum without Dave McKean's art. Much of the success of this particular story comes from the unique visual style it have, and how it works with the script. I would read that sequel, but it's gonna be it's own thing, much like Joel Schumacher's Batman have really nothing to do with Tim Burton's films, even if they're supposedly the same.

I would never have guessed you were new to content creation. The quality and information is something I’d want from a more experienced creator doing a video essay like this, I truly mean that. I genuinely can’t wait to see what else you make, keep it up man

The picture of Norman bates I believe is taken at the end of Psycho when the last scene of Norman bates smiling transitions to the car being pulled out of the water. There is a very brief moment in that transition you can see a skull on Norman bates very briefly. I think that's a snap shot of that brief moment

I saw the ending as Two Face thinking “should I let Batman live and live in hell of the madness of the world or kill him and free him from madness” the marked side was live in hell, the clean side was death and freedom.

I don't like the idea of Joker's "supersanity", but only two comics cover it well.
This and Under the Red Hood comic, where Jason tells Joker "You are not as insane as you want everyone to think."