Well, it appears that eventually Arkham Asylum is going to re-emerge out of it's devastation. It's just a matter of Dr Jerry Arkham rebuilding it with his Uncle's vision. Jerry is the nephew of Amadeus Arkham. He's long dead, but he was the original constructor and vision behind the Asylum. However, after residing a working here for so long, even his vision was changed. According to his journal . . "The house is an organism, hungry for madness." And, "Madness is born in the blood. It is my birthright." Obviously this place had a profound affect on him. He also left behind plans for his 'ultimate' Asylum. It looked like it was drawn in a fever-dream and had influences from many different sources. However, with the destruction of Arkham at the hands of the Joker, this 'new' Asylum has become Jerry's dream. We also find out, as he roams through the fallen walls and timbers, that deep underneath the Asylum was a place where Jerry held only his most special patients . . people that we've never even heard of. There's Alessio Morandi an Italian artist that had his face ripped off, as a young man, by his father. Also someone Jerry calls the Mirror Man. Five years ago he walked out of a forest in Haiti. No one knows his name or history. He spends all of his time in contemplation of his own reflection . . in the mirrors. Hence the name. And then there's the Hamburger Lady . . Myrna. She's been a resident here since before Jerry came along. Her face is said to be so disfigured as to drive the viewer mad. Basically, upon surveying the wreckage, Jerry finds only 2 things to have survived . . the blueprints of his Uncles, and . . his children . . his 3 favorite patients. He takes them out of the wreckage to begin anew, but asks Alessio to put on a happy face before they leave. On the final page we see that the face he's drawn looks eerily like the Joker's. I thought this was a great book. It'll be interesting to see where Arkham goes from here. David Hine, as usual, did a terrific job with the story. And I really loved Jeremy Haun's pencils. I can't wait to see where this goes from here.
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