Don't drop the soap or the Joker will kill you
Since I'll be spending the holidays in my hometown and will not be able to get to the comic store as easily each week, to fill the time, I've decided to write a retrospective of one of my favorite Batman stories, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, though "Batman" story is a bit of a misnomer, it takes place in Gotham, specifically Arkham but Batman himself and the main players of Batman's Mythos have little to do with the plot. The real main character is some Bernie Madoff stand in named Warren White, "The Great white Shark." He pleads insanity to stock fraud charges and due to either a really crooked lawyer or a REALLY stupid jury, it works. The judge, of course, doesn't buy White's crap for a second and because he wants to screw with the little weasel he ships his sorry ass off to Arkham. Once we get to the mad house, we get the first of many new characters in this story, the prison guard Aaron Cash, who went on to appear in the Arkham Asylum video game. This is actually my favorite character in this story. We don't learn much about him in the first issue, we just know that he's a hook handed badass who takes no crap from anyone. He tosses White into a cell with a psychotic cult leader named Death Rattle and White tries to get some sleep. (Guess what, it doesn't work) Throughout the night all the inmates are chanting "Fish Fish Fish." White is naturally freaked out but he thinks he can handle it. Then he drops the soap while showering with the Joker. Yeah, he's pretty screwed. He tries to convince the head of therapy, Anne Carver, that he doesn't belong and she does try to help him and actually starts falling for him, or so we think. We learn that she approved his transfer to white collar resort prison and they start making out. Then Batman shows up and reveals that "Dr. Carver" is actually another new character, Jane Doe, whose gimick is killing people and living they're lives. Batman talks her down and the guards drag her away. So now Warren White is still stuck in Arkham with the inmates torturing him and his room mate keeping him up at night by being a creepy son of a bitch.
What Works:
I'll admit, the first issue is a bit of a weak start to this series but it has a lot of great moments, particular the Joker in the shower moment. I especially like the judge at the beginning and how much perverse joy he takes in throwing Warren to rot in Arkham. You can just see how satisfied he is, like I would be if I just kicked Bam Margera in the happy sack.
What doesn't:
Like I said it's not a strong start. Also, the moments where he see how taxing being a therapist at Arkham has been on Dr. Carver's own Psyche is pretty much invalidated when we learn that she was Jane Doe the whole time.
Overall:
4/5
This series does get a lot better and this is still a pretty decent start. Tune in later when I review the rest of this 6 issue mini series