Spoilers
for Batman Arkham Asylum ahead
(like
anyone but me hasn’t finished that game by now)
"Ruins”
Writer – Paul Dini
Artist – Carlos D’Anda
Colorist – Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer – Travis Lanham
Asst. Editor – Chynna Clugston
Flores
Editor – Jim Chadwick
July 2011
I
gave up a long time ago on keeping up with the gaming world. There came a brief
span of time in the early 90’s when I tried to play the “hot” games as soon as
they were released. No more. I don’t have that kind of time. Haven’t for years.
Know
that one guy that hasn’t finished Arkham Asylum? The Batman game that came out
in 2009? That guy is me.
Sorry,
but the version I have is for the PC and I can’t seem to get past the Bane
part. That dude gets me every single time.
That
means that this issue spoils the end of Batman: AA and I feel a bit bad about
that. Not that it is a real shocker that the game ending is a pumped up Joker,
seen on page one here.
No,
not really a surprise. But I do feel spoiled in knowing how it ended given I
didn’t EARN that knowledge. Here we go anyway.
Joke
was defeated, of course, even in this pumped-up, muscle-bound state. And the
effects of the drugs he took to get to this state have left him much worse for
wear.
He’s
so gravely torn up that he will die long before he can escape again, and the
ravaging effect of the drugs called the Titan Formula have left him to weak to
be a threat to Batman ever again.
Even
as the Joker accepts the bitter irony in his fate, I want to mention that D’Anda’s
art in this book fits both the game and the Batman mythos. I love every panel
of it and seeing how he renders these takes on the classic Batman characters as
vibrant, colorful beings that work in the context of real people is a credit to
his skill. Likewise, with Dini’s scripting and dialogue. I don’t know how many
of these text boxes are lifted from the game, but all of this feels like a great
start to an exciting Batman story.
We
move on to Harley Quinn, acting more like what I expect from her given the
character’s B:TAS origins. I know that DC needs winning female characters and
turning her into an anti-hero like they did Lobo works in favor of all that.
However, to me THIS is the real Harley. She’s a homicidal maniac that would
kill you in the blink of an eye to satisfy a whim of her devoted, abusive
Joker. Trying to justify any turnaround in the character has to somehow address
her mental issues and there’s where a “good-gal” Harley Quinn book falls apart
for me.
Getting
back to our storyline, hearing how bad Mr. J is doing makes Harley vow to save
her beloved psycho.
From
there we head to Mayor Sharp, the former Warden of Arkham Asylum and the guy I
was supposed to rescue in that first game. He appears to be under the mental
control of some shadowy figure showing up on his computer screen. A shadowy
figure up to no good, too.
He
jumps on the air spouting a bunch of political rhetoric about how he’s made the
city safer (he hasn’t) and how he has a plan to keep it safe (he doesn’t, his
master has a plan to take it over). Our reporter Vicky Vale (yay, History!) has
a few words to take the wind out of mind controlled sails.
That
mysterious head-in-a-Skype-window guy also has the Mayor wired for sound, using
an earpiece to feed him instructions.
Jim
Gordon, watching the broadcast, knows the true score though. That’s why he
turns to this man to help.
Given
the task of bringing in these two, Batman starts his search with Two-Face on a
hunch from Oracle that he’d likely be unable to resist hiring them.
After
a brief scuffle with Two-Face’s doormen, Batman confronts the villain face to
face (to face?... Maybe.). Dent decides to play good guy and gives Batman some
friendly information about the pair.
Great.
More Titianized enemies to fight. That’s what I needed. I couldn’t even get
past Bane. I should have saved my money instead of buying that two-pack off
Humble Bundle.
Anway,
Harvey gets some guff from his gang for letting Bats leave unscathed, to which
he answers thusly.
Yes,
yes! Those pesky Trasks are in the process of “Titianing” it up right as the
Mayor gets underway. Note that all of them are puppets dangling from the
strings of the mysterious man we saw earlier on Sharp's computer screen.
Methinks this is all part of a much grander plan.
Batman
doesn’t, knowing only the immediate threat to Mayor Sharp and the collected
journos and crowd. He arrives armed for bear (notice him swooping in way in the
background of the first panel?) and has the Trasks on the ropes.
Which
sadly plays exactly into the puppet-master’s hands.
T&T
live up to their name here…
And
the destruction they cause lays the groundwork for the beginning of Arkham City.
Sharp declares a sort of “Martial Law” in Gotham, walls off a section of the
city and begins…
…a
huge curtail of civil liberties…
And
there you have the intro to the game. I would like to point out that most of
the time I don’t buy into game tie-ins because they tend to be unsatisfying in
how they conclude. It looks as if Arkham City will actually work like a
standard comic with a true arc following the story you get if you play through
the video game. I’m excited for that and since the art and writing meet my
standards for enjoyable, I will pick up more if I find them out there.
Plus
reading these gives my button mashing fingers a much needed rest.
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