Symbols & Shades
"sometimes it's only madness that makes us what we are" (104).
Grant Morrison's & Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum (1989)
Points of Reflection
G. Morrison's & Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum (1989), pp.63-122
Batman's Journey . . .
1. is Amadeus’s idealistic belief that violent criminals’ “only real crime is mental illness” (24) inherently supported by this story?
2. does Ruth Adam’s attempt at explaining the Joker’s mental condition past muster with you, the reader, or does it feel like a failed attempt to rationalize the irrational (36-38)? Consider the Joker’s actions throughout the story in your response, along with McKean’s stylized drawing and inking of the Joker, and his lettering of the Joker’s dialogue (e.g. 40).
3. Morrison & McKean very deliberately reimagine Batman’s rogue gallery of criminally insane supervillains. Clayface here appears as a leprous, greenish-hued, unclothed figure whose skin exudes acid that burns walls and flesh alike (63-64). Is Batman’s violent response to Clayface’s overture deserved? Does Clayface appear to be a threat?
4. in the comics, Doctor Destiny has the power to turn the substance of dreams into reality, and has psychic powers that can manipulate others’ perception of reality. Why might Morrison & McKean place him in a wheelchair, and then have Batman attack him from behind, pushing him down the stairs (65-66)? Does this make Batman look like a criminal?
5. if you haven’t seen Batman Begins (2005) and know nothing about the Scarecrow, perform a quick web search to learn the basics. Why might Batman avoid engaging the Scarecrow altogether in this tale (67-68)?
6. early in this story, Amadeus Arkham writes in his journal that he once felt the home he inhabited was more real than he himself was, that the building had a kind of personality and presence of its own (11). The opium-smoking Mad Hatter picks up this idea, suggesting the asylum resembles “a huge head that dreams us all into being,” that this head might just be Batman's, providing the vigilante with a “looking glass” in which he sees--in them--himself (70). Does this observation ring true?
7. Morrison suggests in his notes at the back that Batman’s encounter with Maxie Zeus (who literally believes himself to be the god Zeus) is yet another confrontation that is “resolved” without violence. Do you agree? Is anything worked through at this moment? Why does Batman once again step away without engaging?
8. Morrison’s notes suggest that Maxie Zeus’s characterization should play on both meanings of “AC/DC”—both the bit about alternating current, and the suggestion that he is bisexual. Do McKean’s drawings effectively capture both meanings?
9. why does Croc never speak? Consider the nature of his encounter with Batman, and the words from Amadeus’ journal threaded throughout this dramatic confrontation.
10. the final villain Batman encounters claims that Batman is the bat that has haunted Arkham for decades, and Batman responds that he’s “just a man” (95). Does Batman uncover, or lose, his humanity throughout this tale?
11. why does Cavendish chant “Mommy’s boy” as he attacks Batman (101-102)?
12. what do you make of the fact that Batman proves too weak to fight off Cavendish on his own? How do we explain this?
13. on what does Batman use the axe he finds, and why does the axe have blood on it afterwards (106-107)?
Amadeus Markham's Journey . . .
14. does Amadeus Markham find refuge from reality in his dreams?
15. what does the “accidental” execution of Martin Hawkins, and Amadeus’ reaction to this death, reveal about the state of the psychologist’s mind?
16. how large must Amadeus’s estate—now Arkham Asylum—actually be to accommodate his endless perambulations throughout its corridors (73-74)?
17. as Amadeus winds through the hallways of his house/asylum, we run across a portal with the words “discover thyself” written in Greek above it. Do Amadeus and Batman discover similar things about themselves by the end of this book?
18. note that, briefly, the graphic novel moves away from flashing back and forth in time to the simultaneous presentation of two moments in time (81-95). As Amadeus configures his psychological journey as a mandate, a need to “confront the unreason that threatens [him]” and “confront the dragon within” (81), Batman confronts Croc—a dragon-like villain—and deals with him in violent fashion. Do both Amadeus and Batman “win”? Do the revelations which follow both narrative threads mirror one another (90-95)?
19. is Amadeus’ act of violence on pages 93-94 directed at the bat or his mother? Does this act constitute a rejection of that madness which he believes “is born in the blood” (94), or an acceptance of it?
20. Amadeus seeks to contain madness within the contours of his asylum (94). What means does he use to accomplish this?
21. circular and indecipherable as the spells Amadeus scribbles on the floor (98)? “I see now the virtue in madness, for this country knows no law nor any boundary. I pity the poor shades confined to the Euclidean prison that is sanity. All things are possible here and I am what madness has made me. Whole. And complete. And free at last” (98-99).
Symbols . . .
22. in raising a statue of the angel Michael triumphing over Satan, the dragon, onto his inherited property, Amadeus seemed to accept the principle that mental illness involves the supernatural—that “world of fathomless signs and portents” (13)—and that God is on the side of reason over and against the irrational (41). Does the book bear out this assertion?
23. Amadeus returns at Christmas to find that his wife, Constance, has added Japanese clown fish to his aquarium, the males of which species can change sex if necessary. What do you make of the passage that immediately follows this discovery, in light of later events? “For some reason, I am reminded of the French name for the victim of an April Fool prank. Poisson D'Avril. April fish. I experience an inexplicable frisson [thrill] of déja vu [already seen]. And then the telephone rings” (47).
24. after ingesting part of three amanita mushrooms, Amadeus’ begins to feel that the house is communicating with him, and sees the clown fish—as if suspended in air—together making the sign of pisces, “the astrological attribution of the moon card in the Tarot Pack [. . .] The symbol of trial and initiation, Death and rebirth” (80). Does Morrison apparently intend the reader to see this vision as a meaningless delusion, or as a vital hallucination that reveals some fundamental truth?
25. reconsider the opening question in the last class about the book’s apparent attitude towards Christian iconography and details. Can you reach a conclusion? Consider Maxie Zeus’s appropriation of Jesus Christ’s words at the last supper (78), McKean’s use of Christ’s image (95), the reappearance of the cathedral blueprint (97), and so on.
Arkham Asylum (1989), pg.98
Dave McKean
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu