Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

From DC Database

"A Serious House on Serious Earth"

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
1989

Cover Artists

Dave McKean

Writers

Grant Morrison

Pencilers

Dave McKean

Inkers

Dave McKean

Colourists

Dave McKean

Letterers

Gaspar Saladino

Editors

Karen Berger, Art Young

Appearing in "A Serious House on Serious Earth"

Featured Characters:

• Batman (Bruce Wayne)
• The Joker

Supporting Characters:

• James Gordon

Villains:

• Two-Face
• Killer Croc
• Doctor Destiny
• The Mad Hatter
• Clayface
• Maxie Zeus
• Professor Milo
• Black Mask
• Doctor Cavendish (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

• Jeremiah Arkham
• Amadeus Arkham
• Harriet Arkham
• Constance Arkham

Locations:

• Gotham County

• Mercey Island
• Arkham Asylum

Items:

• Two-Face's Coin

Vehicles:

• None
  
  

Synopsis for "A Serious House on Serious Earth"

The story opens with a flashback sequence featuring Amadeus Arkham, the architect and first administrator of Arkham Asylum, detailing Arkham's renovation of the family manor into an asylum following the death of his mother Elizabeth and his subsequent inheritance of the property.

On April 1 Commissioner Gordon informs Batman that the patients of Arkham Asylum have taken over the building, and will murder the staff unless Batman agrees to meet with them. Among the hostages are a young woman named Pearl, who works in the kitchens; the current Administrator, Dr. Cavendish; and Dr. Ruth Adams, a therapist. The patients are led by Black Mask and The Joker, who kills a guard to spur Batman to obey his wishes. Two-Face, meanwhile, has degenerated even further into madness as a result of Adams' well-intentioned therapy; she replaced his trademark coin with a 6-sided die, and then with a tarot deck of cards rendering him incapable of making simple decisions such as going to the bathroom.

Batman is forced into a game of hide and seek, and told he has one hour to make his way through the maze-like corridors and find a way out before his old foes are sent to find him.

Batman fights his way through Arkham and his own subconscious until he reaches a secret room high in the towers of the asylum - a room left unchanged from the days when the property served as Amadeus Arkham's childhood home.

Inside, Dr. Cavendish is dressed in a bridal gown and holding a straight razor to Dr. Adams' throat. He is revealed to have been the one to orchestrate the riots. When questioned by Batman, he prompts him to read a passage marked out in Amadeus Arkham's secret diary.

The hidden room turns out to have been Elizabeth Arkham's bedchamber. For many years she suffered delusions that she was being tormented by a supernatural creature, and would call to her son to protect her. One day, however, he finally sees what his mother saw - a great bat, a spectre of death. Taking a pearl-handled straight razor from his pocket, he cuts his mother's throat to free her from her suffering. He then blocks out the memory, and attributes her death to suicide. Years later, his wife and daughter are murdered by one of his former patients, a serial killer named Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins. The tragedy brings back the memory of killing his mother.

Traumatized, Amadeus puts on his mother's wedding dress and takes out the pearl-handled razor. Kneeling in the blood of his family he vows to bind the evil spirit of "The Bat", which he believes inhabits the house, through ritual and sorcery. He continues his mission even after he is incarcerated in the Asylum himself; he scratches the words of the binding spell into the walls and floor of his cell with his fingernails until the day he dies.

Discovering Amadeus Arkham's journals, the razor and the dress, Cavendish begins to believe himself to be the one destined to continue Arkham's work. On April 1, the date Arkham's family was murdered, he lures Batman to the asylum. Believing Batman to be "The Bat" itself, Cavendish accuses him of feeding the evil of the house by bringing it more insane souls. Grappling with Batman, Cavendish drops the razor, and Adams picks it up. Reacting instinctively, she slashes it across Cavendish's throat, killing him.

Batman returns Two-Face's coin back from Dr. Adams, stating that it should be up to Two-Face to decide his fate. Two-Face then declares that if the coin lands scratched side up they kill Batman, otherwise they let him go. Two-Face flips the coin and declares Batman free. Two-Face then looks at the moon and it is revealed that the coin landed scratched side up.

Notes

• No special notes.

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• Discuss Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth series

Recommended Reading

• Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
• Batman: The Last Arkham
• The Joker's Asylum

Links and References

• "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" at Wikipedia.org

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