The Joker's Asylum

[Kirk Langstrom]

yes I think i'll be buying that

via amazon

Zoinks!

Looks totally demented. I love it!

 

[Watson]

Is it just me, or does Joker look like Chucky in this?

Just you

I love it personally. He looks rabid, but he still has the daper clothes going on. Very nice.

 

[Comics N' Toons]

i hope they make a TPB of this!

 

[zahanbil]

July is much too far away...

 

[BubbaGump]

Penguin isn't insane...

 

[Aristotle]

He's been in Arkham before.

 

[RobC]

Isn't he usually sent to Blackgate? I seem to remember him being in Arkham as well though, maybe whilst Blackgate was being rebuilt?

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Penguin isn't insane...

And Poison Ivy and the Scarecrow, too.

 

[Nepenthes]

Poison Ivy is only occasionaly insane, but when she is, she's full blown. Scarecrow I dunno he looks pretty mental to me. He speaks in nursery rhymes and he's motivated by deep personal deep problems than obscure his sense of right and wrong.



Alot of artists or writers just throw Penguin into Arkham scenery because he's a classic villain. I doubt it occurs to many people that he isn't actually crazy. Why would it?



.

 

[sclabguy]

yes I think i'll be buying that

via amazon

that AWESOME!!!!!

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Penguin isn't insane...

Isnt he criminally insane?

 

[SenseiofCheese]

I, for one, wouldn't categorize him as being insane. Not anymore, at least.

 

[PyroChamber]

I always thought that Penguin would get put in Arkham because he thought it would be somewhat better than actual prison.

 

[Nepenthes]

I think he'd rather be around normal crooks at Blackgate- they're easier to do business with, manipulate, extort, whatever

 

[Riven]

Looks and sounds amazing!

The Joker as the ultimate unreliable narrator... should prove an interesting read. I just hope they don't go the clichéd route of "I'm the Joker, this other villain is a total loser compared to me, cause I'm so brilliant"... Obviously the Joker assumes he's utterly superior to everyone, but he shouldn't feel compelled to spell that out all the time. He should be poking fun at the other rogues, without taking away from the threat they pose.

 

[Keyser Soze]

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/121033969042668.htm



David Hine: Two-Faced Creator Reveals More About Batman Series

By Chris Murman

Chris Murman: It would appear that we have a big series on our hands with Joker's Asylum, which you are writing the third issue of. What can you tell us about the series as a whole? Is there a central writer dictating the beats of this series?

David Hine: I saw Mike Marts at the San Diego ComiCon last year and he offered me an issue of Joker’s Asylum. He gave me the list of Batman villains and I jumped at Two-Face. No question, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the greatest villain in the DC Universe. There isn’t a central writer as such. Mike is the anchor for the series and he seems to have pulled in a very mixed bunch of creators. I think that’s appropriate because these characters are all unique, so there should be a wide variety of approaches.

I haven’t read all the other scripts but I see the series as a 21st century version of the hosted horror anthologies of the past, like Tales from the Crypt or Creepy and Eerie, with The Joker replacing The Crypt Keeper and Uncle Creepy. DC have very cannily avoided the pitfall of producing a monthly anthology, by making this a weekly series of one-shots. We all know that anthologies don’t sell but everyone loves a dose of weekly number ones. Clever marketing, guys!

CM: How did this story get started, and how do you fit in?

DH: The book is actually the fifth and last of the series. The way the story ends makes it the perfect book-end for the series. You’ll see why when you read the story.

CM: Your particular issue focuses on Two-Face. What is your take on the character and how does he fit into the Batman mythos?

DH: Two-Face is the perfect character for me. Most of my work deals with moral ambiguity in some way and Two-Face is the personification of that split between good and evil. He actually abdicates all responsibility for moral choice by leaving those decisions to fate and the toss of a coin. Batman has always been about psychosis. Batman himself is barely in touch with reality. He created the Batman persona to keep his tenuous grasp on his own sanity. All his adversaries have similarly created personas as an expression of their own mental condition, only in their cases they’ve abandoned any pretence of being compos mentis.

My story revolves around a guy who suffered a similar injury to Harvey Dent. Holman was a fireman and had half his face burned off. Now he’s a motivational mentor and personal counselor for people who have radical injuries. He has this crazy idea that he can rehabilitate Two-Face by restoring his self-esteem. He totally misses the fact that Two-Face has no problem with his self-esteem. Two-Face is so offended by the guy’s self-righteousness that he sets out to dismantle Holman’s belief that you should live your life according to a moral imperative. He puts Holman into a situation where moral choices become meaningless and watches him fall apart.

It’s also a really fun story with a lot of twists and a classically two-faced ending.

CM:You are paired with Andy Clarke on the book, how have his pages looked so far?

DH: I had a lot of fun playing with duality in the story and Andy really picked up on that visually. A lot of the pages can literally be split down the middle so one side is a distorted mirror-image of the other. I think this is Andy’s first work for DC. He comes from that traditional breeding ground for British talent, 2000AD and you can see his roots in the art – very high-contrast black-and-whites that again reflect the subject matter.

 

[GlasgowBat]

ugh.

why the green?

i liked the two-face on the front cover/promotional art.(?)

you know, that thing up there with them all on it?


ahh, forget it.

 

[SalaciousVC]

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/121033969042668.htm



David Hine: Two-Faced Creator Reveals More About Batman Series

By Chris Murman

Chris Murman: It would appear that we have a big series on our hands with Joker's Asylum, which you are writing the third issue of. What can you tell us about the series as a whole? Is there a central writer dictating the beats of this series?

David Hine: I saw Mike Marts at the San Diego ComiCon last year and he offered me an issue of Joker’s Asylum. He gave me the list of Batman villains and I jumped at Two-Face. No question, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the greatest villain in the DC Universe. There isn’t a central writer as such. Mike is the anchor for the series and he seems to have pulled in a very mixed bunch of creators. I think that’s appropriate because these characters are all unique, so there should be a wide variety of approaches.

I haven’t read all the other scripts but I see the series as a 21st century version of the hosted horror anthologies of the past, like Tales from the Crypt or Creepy and Eerie, with The Joker replacing The Crypt Keeper and Uncle Creepy. DC have very cannily avoided the pitfall of producing a monthly anthology, by making this a weekly series of one-shots. We all know that anthologies don’t sell but everyone loves a dose of weekly number ones. Clever marketing, guys!

CM: How did this story get started, and how do you fit in?

DH: The book is actually the fifth and last of the series. The way the story ends makes it the perfect book-end for the series. You’ll see why when you read the story.

CM: Your particular issue focuses on Two-Face. What is your take on the character and how does he fit into the Batman mythos?

DH: Two-Face is the perfect character for me. Most of my work deals with moral ambiguity in some way and Two-Face is the personification of that split between good and evil. He actually abdicates all responsibility for moral choice by leaving those decisions to fate and the toss of a coin. Batman has always been about psychosis. Batman himself is barely in touch with reality. He created the Batman persona to keep his tenuous grasp on his own sanity. All his adversaries have similarly created personas as an expression of their own mental condition, only in their cases they’ve abandoned any pretence of being compos mentis.

My story revolves around a guy who suffered a similar injury to Harvey Dent. Holman was a fireman and had half his face burned off. Now he’s a motivational mentor and personal counselor for people who have radical injuries. He has this crazy idea that he can rehabilitate Two-Face by restoring his self-esteem. He totally misses the fact that Two-Face has no problem with his self-esteem. Two-Face is so offended by the guy’s self-righteousness that he sets out to dismantle Holman’s belief that you should live your life according to a moral imperative. He puts Holman into a situation where moral choices become meaningless and watches him fall apart.

It’s also a really fun story with a lot of twists and a classically two-faced ending.

CM:You are paired with Andy Clarke on the book, how have his pages looked so far?

DH: I had a lot of fun playing with duality in the story and Andy really picked up on that visually. A lot of the pages can literally be split down the middle so one side is a distorted mirror-image of the other. I think this is Andy’s first work for DC. He comes from that traditional breeding ground for British talent, 2000AD and you can see his roots in the art – very high-contrast black-and-whites that again reflect the subject matter.

His Drawing of the scarred side Sucks

 

[Nathan Petrelli]

Two-Face looks Asian LOL.

I will be picking these up.

 

[Cobblepot]

No it doesn't! I like to see the old Harvey back!

 

[Nathan Petrelli]

He looks reptilian, I hope somewhere in the story David Iike drops in and gawks at him

 

[Carmine Falcone]

****ing Hell I love that.

 

[Amazing Afroman]

Looks to be an interesting read.

 

[BubbaGump]

Isnt he criminally insane?

Not even criminally insane. He's just a gangster with a bird motif.

 

[Advocate05]

Why no Riddler?