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Dec 29, 2014 Web Exclusive By Cody Ray Shafer

Everything changed for Batman in the ‘80s. Frank Miller famously took the character to his extreme and logical conclusion in The Dark Knight Returns, comic book fans voted to kill off Jason Todd’s Robin, and Tim Burton brought the brooding superhero to the big screen for the first time in 1989’s Batman.

The same year that Michael Keaton donned the cape and cowl, Grant Morrison was climbing out of relative obscurity in the indie comics scene with his run on Animal Man. In 1989, he penned the one-shot graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth, beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean. Now we have a brand new deluxe edition to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Arkham Asylum is one of the most essential graphic novels ever published, but the standout in this edition is Morrison’s complete annotated script. The addition helps the reader penetrate some of Morrison’s dense concepts and experimental plot structure. If you’re looking for a reason to revisit the serious house, this is it. (www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10