History ComicBook / ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth

A 1989 Franchise/{{Batman}} graphic novel written by Creator/GrantMorrison [[MushroomSamba at his crackiest]] and beautifully, creepily illustrated by Creator/DaveMcKean.

* TakeThat: In the 15th Anniversary edition, in the beginning of the script, Morrison writes that the script was passed around to many others before the project was completed, and that they all laughed at his attempts to integrate serious psychological symbols into a comic. Look at him now, "@$$holes!".

The title is taken from Creator/PhilipLarkin's poem "[[https://www.shigeku.org/xlib/lingshidao/waiwen/larkin.htm Church Going]]".

The title is taken from Creator/PhilipLarkin's poem "Church Going".

The video game ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' also takes many cues from the graphic novel (along with ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'').

The title is taken from Philip Larkin's poem "Church Going".

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: And Jungian. Batman and Arkham are both fucked up because of their parents, and there's a lot of vaginas.

--> '''Joker''': What's the matter? Have I touched a nerve? How is the Boy Wonder? Started shaving yet?

* BodyHorror: Clayface, who looks like he's flaking apart. "Batman... my skin is sick..."

** Not only Amadeus's parents, it's implied Amadeus Arkham and his wife sexually abused their daughter, Harriet. This is backed up by the drawing she did of her parents, which if you look closely also appears to be external female genitalia.

* FreudWasRight: If you read Grant's notes, you'll find that a LOT of the scenes in this story have to do with [[ChasteHero Batman's screwed-up sexuality]]. And it was mostly based on Jungian psychology, an outgrowth of Freud's work. Even {{Lampshaded}} in the comic when Arkham goes to study with Jung in Europe.

** It is hinted that Amadeus Arkham's parents sexually abused him, specifically in the "Tunnel of Love" imagery from his childhood dreams, and the way his face is situated in said image.

** In the part where Amadeus Arkham describes his carnival nightmares, the "Tunnel of Love" is meant to remind you of a woman's genitals.

* ComingOfAgeStory: The story is essentially this. The story is about Batman coming to peace with his personal demons and progressing from a sexually stagnant, fragile manchild to a true hero of Gotham.

* CreepyCrossdresser: Amadeus dresses up in his mother's wedding dress after discovering the corpses of his wife and daughter. Dr. Cavendish wears a bridal gown during the climax. Finally, the Joker a more downplayed case as he is seen wearing high heels. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Although, in the original script, Joker was supposed to dress similar to Music/Madonna in her "Open up your heart" music video.]]

* ComingOfAgeStory: The story is essentially this. The story is about Batman coming to peace with his personal demons and progression from a sexually stagnant, fragile manchild to a true hero of Gotham.

* AGodAmI: Maxie Zeus, to rather disturbing effect.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The comic dives into the psychological issues surrounding the mentalities of the Caped Crusader and his rogues' gallery. Batman's rigid and stoic demeanor is just his way of covering his severe emotional issues and sexual repression, Mad Hatter's love of blond little girls is taken to [[{{Lolicon}} outright pedophilia]], and Maxie Zeus is a weak skeletal man with [[AGodAmI a huge messiah complex]] and who has developed an addiction to electroshock therapy.

* {{Lolicon}}: Morrison ran with the idea of the Mad Hatter having an obsession for young blonde girls.

The title is taken from Philip Larkin's poem "Church Going".

** The bearded, white-clad, beatific-expression-wearing Amadeus Arkham's last words following his years-long effort to scratch a binding spell into his cell with his fingernails: "Finished. [[{{Jesus}} It's finished]]."

* BodyHorror: "Batman... my skin is sick..."
* BuildingOfAdventure: Arkham itself.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The Joker is ''not'' the main villain.
** Then again, the cover above is that of the 15th anniversary UpdatedRerelease. The original 1989 cover instead has a ''very'' detailed drawing of a bat flying by Arkham Asylum.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Oh yeah. Batman's rigid and stoic demenor is just his way of covering his severe emotional issues and sexual repression, Mad Hatter's love of blond little girls is taken to {{Lolicon}} levels, and Maxie Zeus is a weak skeletal man with a huge messiah complex and who has developed an addiction to electroshock therapy.

* GuiltByAssociationGag: Professor Milo
* HollywoodPsychology: The brilliant idea that ComicBook/TheJoker reinvents himself every day because he finds reality so overwhelming, so that he might be a harmless prankster one moment and a homicidal maniac the next, which amongst other things reconciles the wildly different versions of the character that have appeared since the 40's. The problem is the doctors call this "Super Sanity" and imply that perhaps he is perfectly sensible to live this way, maybe more so than the rest, and that this "Super Sanity" is unprecedented. Apart from not knowing what sanity means, the doctors are actually describing a very much precedented condition, namely dissociation or a psychotic break from reality, albeit an extreme case. Maybe {{justified|Trope}}[=/=]{{subverted|Trope}} since the doctors are obviously quacks, but the term has become popular in the Joker's fandom.
** It's 20 years later, but in his ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman and Robin]]'' series Morrison has Joker admit to the new Robin, Damian Wayne, that he isn't really crazy ("just different sane") and affirms Damian's accusations that he really isn't as crazy as he lets everyone think he is, confirming that these doctors are not meant to be taken seriously and ComicBook/TheJoker is supposed to be nothing more than a sophisticated ManipulativeBastard and an evil, murdering psychopath. Again, this is ''20 years later'', so its not exactly the best authority on the subject, even if it is the same author.

* {{Lolicon}}: Morrison ran with the idea of the Mad Hatter having an obssession for young blonde girls.
* MentalTimeTravel and StableTimeLoop: According to Morrison's script, the madness of the asylum's inmates echoed back through time which drove Mrs. Arkham (and, later, her son Amadeus) insane. But Batman's anger and confusion is what drove the two Arkhams over the edge, which leads Amadeus to write about the Bat, so [[spoiler:Cavandish]] would set the events of the comic in motion, which caused the Arkhams to go insane. All because Dr. Destiny's dream-based reality-warping powers had allowed the Asylum to turn into a nightmare landscape where the veil of time was thin to begin with. And that only happened because the inmates had taken over, and ''that'' only happened because Batman had in his anger and confusion put them in there to begin with. Finally, Cavendish finishes Arkham's spell, which is intended to exorcise the mad demon that infests the asylum, but because it's April Fools' Day, everything works backward and he instead is the one to send it back in time and infest the asylum in the first place.
* MindScrew

* PsychologicalHorror

'''The Joker:''' Oh, don't be so predictable, for christ's sake. That ''is'' his real face. And I want to go much ''deeper'' than that.

* SmallReferencePools: No and yes. We have UsefulNotes/CarlJung, ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', Literature/TheBible, Creator/AleisterCrowley, TarotMotifs, quantum mechanics, and much, much more.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Well there are therapists, just not ''good ones''...

* SmallReferencePools: No and yes. We have UsefulNotes/CarlJung, ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', Literature/TheBible: Jungian psychology, Creator/AleisterCrowley, TarotMotifs, quantum mechanics, and much, much more.

* SmallReferencePools: No and yes. We have UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud, ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', Literature/TheBible: Jungian psychology, Creator/AleisterCrowley, TarotMotifs, quantum mechanics, and much, much more.

Amadeus Arkham ended up living the remainder of his life in the asylum he founded, after losing a battle with his own private mental illness which started at childhood and was fueled by the murder of his wife and daughter. Many years later, the inmates have taken over [[CardboardPrison (as opposed to just getting out like usual)]] and threaten to kill the staff unless Batman comes. As they plan to exact revenge, Batman runs into the depths of the asylum. What follows is a surrealist, heavily atmospheric sequence of symbols based on everything from Literature/TheBible and Egyptian mythology to Jungian and Freudian psychology.

* WorldOfSymbolism: Morrison's script was chock full of pop psychology, Tarot, Egyptology, medieval Christian mythology, and more. [=McKean=]'s creepy-ass surreal artwork just takes Morrison's three-layers-deep mythology and turns it into swirling horror. [[ThrowItIn Morrison didn't mind.]]

* TheComicallySerious : The Batman herein is intentionally depicted at his most humorless, as a commentary on his borderline psychotic 1980s incarnations.