batwatch's Legends of the Dark Knight #21 - Haunted Arkham, Part 3 of 3 review

    Avatar image for batwatch

    The Psychotic Perspective: Legends of the Dark Knight #21

    Haunted Arkham

    I am a big fan of Legends of the Dark Knight in general, but this arc has been really superb. Last week, I was desperately curious as to what would happen next, but of course a great story can always be ruined in the last act. Does this issue deliver the goods or take a dive?

    In this issue, the poltergeist finds some playmates with the inmates of Arkham Asylum.

    Up Until the Final Panel…

    I was in love with this story up until the final panel, and then it just kind of lost me.

    For those of you who have not yet read the issue, let me just say that the story does not finish as strong as it began, but it is still a much more interesting story than most of the Batman arcs going on at the moment, and that is high praise.

    To me, the logical conclusion of this series would be that Dr. Green wanted to contact the afterlife for some reason and therefore tortured the unnamed girl in the hopes that she would haunt him. Instead, Joker (whose characterization I really enjoyed by the way) states that Dr. Green wanted the inmates to do everything they did, and they appeared to have lobotomized him. We can reasonably assume based on the blood splatter that they tortured him as well.

    Why would he want this? Who wants to be tortured then lobotomized? If you want to kill yourself, there are much easier ways. If you are a masochist, there are easier schemes. Why would the ghost oblige him?

    The only thing I can think that makes any sense is that Dr. Green may have wanted to be lobotomized so that he could be alive yet disconnected to his body to reach some sort of spiritual state, but that makes a big assumption and assumes a continuation of the story which is most likely never coming. Even if that random guess were what was intended, it still does not explain the torture.

    Conclusion

    I hate to say it, but this issue dropped the ball in the last arc. It was still thrilling, and it has definitely provoked my curiosity, but I would have preferred at least a somewhat less ambiguous end for the story.

    Other reviews for Legends of the Dark Knight #21 - Haunted Arkham, Part 3 of 3

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.