Arkham Asylum: Living Hell [Paperback]

Dan Slott (Author), Ryan Sook (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

From one of the comics business' brightest new creative teams comes a Batman tale with a twist - a giant, gut-wrenching, soul-crushing twist! Arkham Asylum: Batman's dustbin where he dumps the worst of the garbage. A melting pot brimming with the curdled milk of human madness, where the warders are as ensnared by the insanity as the inmates. And where a killer has tapped into all that maniacal energy and is channelling it to his own demonic ends! With cameos from Batman, Batgirl and a dark host of famous - and notorious - super villains, including the Joker and Two-Face, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell is living proof of the old adage - you don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps!

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Some folks just don't remember folk wisdom. Tried for the greatest stock fraud in history, Warren White--"the Great White Shark"--gambles on beating the rap by pleading insanity. With a change in venue to Gotham, he succeeds. But then he's remanded for psychiatric observation to the local slammer for criminal nuts, Arkham Asylum. White smirks, but the judge looks wolfishly pleased. Uh, Warren--didn't anyone ever tell you to be careful what you wish for? Besides, as any Lovecraftian could tell you, any place named Arkham is no place to visit. Well, Warren learns, starting with recognizing his new roommate: "That's Death Rattle! He's a cult leader and a homicidal maniac!" As for Warren's nickname, it's not Shark now, it's Fish. And then he takes a shower. The developments fly thick, fast, and gory during the rest of Warren's observation period, as well they might, given such fellow patients as Batman nemeses Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, and the rest, though the ones to watch are Jane Doe and Doodlebug--don't turn side or face, let alone back, on either of them. Though the art is just very good basic mainstream-comics-style stuff, Slott's script and the compositional variety among the separate frames are first rate for ingenuity and momentum. This, the first story arc from the magazine Arkham Asylum, is just so fun! Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Dan Slott has written for X-Men, Justice League Adventures and The Punisher. Ryan Sook's pencils have graced B.R.P.D: Hollow Earth, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike and Dru and Spectre. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401201938
• ISBN-13: 978-1401201937
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.3 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now entering hell, March 15, 2004

By 

Simon (Brampton, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkham Asylum: Living Hell (Paperback)

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell was something I picked up on impulse; I'd decided to buy Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum, and thought that any trade paperback featuring Arkham Asylum would be an interesting read. After reading both, I've decided that I actually like Living Hell better.

When the finance world's "Great White Shark" Warren White pleads insanity to get out of an embezzlement charge, he finds himself in Arkham Asylum, living with dangerous psychos like the Joker, Two Face, Killer Croc, and a host of others. At the same time Warren is being attacked, chief of security Aaron Cash is dealing with the loss of a co-worker and his hand, torn off in a vicious attack.

Writer Dan Slott weaves between these two plot threads, as well as a third, with little effort. As Batman, Batgirl, and even the more notable villains only show up as cameos, Slott treats readers to the day to day life of Gotham's madhouse. Guards do prisoners favours, contraband is swapped, secret rendevous are formed, and all of it can only be dealt with with tranquilizers and "unscheduled nap times". Slott also manages to introduce a couple of new villains with worthy origin stories. Humpty Dumpty is a mild-mannered egg-shaped man who takes his obsession with fixing things a bit too far. Junkyard Dog sifts through garbage and finds value in discarded objects. Jane Doe assumes the personalities and lives of those she kills. And Doodlebug will kill for his art.

Speaking of art, it's all very well done. Maybe nothing eye-catching like Morrison's Arkham book, but it really fits the tone of the story. My only gripe with Living Hell is the last chapter, where things really take a bizzare twist. Without spoiling too much, it involves an appearance by Jason Blood (and the demon Etrigan) and ancient rituals involving the undead. This part of the story threw me off, and while I eventually understood it, it's not the direction I wouldve taken the book in.

Still, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell is a great read. The focus is on Arkham, not a Batman story involving Arkham, and the result is something that adds depth to the Batman universe.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent exploration of Batman's world. Far from perfect, but still a GREAT read., March 20, 2006

By 

Jorge (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkham Asylum: Living Hell (Paperback)

This book is good, creepy fun! Much like the old HBO show OZ, this is the story of all the inmates in a prison, but this time around it's the prison for all of Batman's villains. We follow an all new character, the Great White Shark (a white collar criminal), as he is thrown into the loony bin with the rest of Batman's bad guys. Will he make it out alive? How will this experience change him? Or is he possibly a new Bat-villian in the making? Those are the questions that keep you flipping page after page in this book.

The first half of the book is some of the best Batman/Gotham City stories I've read in a long time. What makes it even more impressive is that Batman is barely in it! And most of the characters (Humpty Dumpty, Death Rattle, Jane Doe, and Junkyard Dog) are new. But they FEEL like they've been Batman characters for YEARS. That's where this book really excels. I had to go online and make sure that there weren't Batman stories that I'd missed over the years. And that, right there, is something very special that the writer and artist pulled off effortlessly. I bought that these were longstanding Bat-villains. And they are SO good, that I hope future Batman writers incorporate them into future stories.

The second half of this book takes a drastic and sudden turn into, what I feel, is a wrong direction. The rug gets pulled out from under us and the prison drama we were reading suddenly turns into a horror film. It's the same drastic turn like the movie Dusk Till Dawn. And, in this case, it really doesn't work.

However, even in the later half of the book, there are STILL priceless Bat-villain moments-- like the Joker's escape, his subsequent palindrome crimes, and his eventual "run in" with Batman. With that in mind, I'd recommend buying this book. Because even though it takes a wrong turn and slightly stumbles, even then it's still better than most of the Batman books out there. And the first half of the book (especially the Humpty Dumpty issue) when everything's working, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell is some of the best Batman work I've ever read!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Stuff, July 29, 2008

By 

Nick (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkham Asylum: Living Hell (Paperback)

It was because of the other graphic novel based in Arkham Asylum that I heard of this one. Sure enough, they are different. "Arkham Asylum: Living Hell" is definitely a most enjoyable book. The text is good, the drawing style is nice, and if you're Batman baddies, you'll find plenty.

You'll see very little of Batman in there. The story is entirely based in Arkham and focuses on a new inmate in there, and various subplots involving other inmates, the classical Batman villains.

I can't compare with other books based on Batman, because I only read one, but I sure can say this book is an enjoyable read.