1989 was a monumental year for the caped crusader. In June, Tim Burton’s cinematic interpretation of the character hit multiplexes and became a runaway blockbuster. After the previous year’s now-classic (if too sadistic for this reviewer) “The Killing Joke” was almost immediately hailed as the definitive origin of Batman’s arch-nemesis The Joker, another writer from across the pond followed in Alan Moore’s footsteps by taking a swing at a dark reinterpretation of another aspect of the Batman mythos as well as relaunching one of DC’s C-list characters, Animal Man. It was a strategy that had worked for Moore’s reinvention of Swamp Thing a few year’s earlier and one I like to think paid homage to Jack Kirby’s decision to launch his Fourth World mythology in the humble pages of “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen” when he made the move to DC from Marvel in the previous decade. Grant Morrison’s “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” was met with near universal acclaim in 1989, and like Moore’s partnership with 2000AD alum Brian Bolland for “The Killing Joke,” Morrison was paired with British illustrator Dave McKean for the uniquely dark painted visuals of “Arkham Asylum.” Morrison took over the writing chores on DC’s “Doom Patrol” soon thereafter, and the rest is comic book history.
Written by Grant MorrisonCover by Klaus Janson
Illustrated by Klaus Janson
Colored by Steve Buccellato
Lettered by John CostanzaIn this epic from BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #6-10, the Dark Knight Detective must defeat an immortal killer while dealing with a terrifying horror from Bruce Wayne’s youth. While plagued by nightmares about his childhood, Batman investigates the murders of crime bosses in Gotham City. But what will he do when he discovers that the macabre killer is actually the headmaster who tormented Bruce Wayne as a boy?
Also in 1989, DC launched a third standalone Batman title to capitalize on the character’s increased popularity generated by his box office success. “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight” was intended to plumb the early stages of Batman’s career as well as lean toward more experimental and dark, arc-driven storytelling by different creative teams in comparison to the eponymous and “Detective Comics” titles. Morrison’s first serialized take on the character was the second five-issue arc in the series. ‘Gothic: A Romance’ (as originally titled on its ornately illuminated title pages) is not a love story. From the onset, Morrison fashioned his comics to stand up to the rigor of the definition of literature, in this case the definition of medieval romance literature (a quest with mystical or spiritual elements) and cannily tied into Morrison’s early fascination with pairing Batman and ancient architecture. A monastery in Vienna, Austria and the Gotham Cathedral play pivotal roles in the proceedings, but the most memorable aspect of the story is Mr. Whisper, a trench-coated villain whose own history spans centuries and is inexorably linked to Bruce’s. It’s equal parts heady and gonzo stuff that unfurls with the panache of a writer who’s been given the keys to his father’s sports car.
Mr. Whisper is the stuff of nightmares, an understated, sunken-eyed bogeyman that haunts Gotham’s criminal underworld as a way to pass the time, a diversion for his true aim, an admittedly boilerplate villain scheme of infecting the city’s populace with a contagion that (and here’s where we get Morrison’s flourish) would extend his life as part of his Faustian bargain with Satan. It was rich stuff for a young, fertile mind, but it still holds up today. The villain’s singular motivation is greed and self-preservation, and while DC’s currently finds itself mired in Joker overexposure, it’s nice to remember when a Batman villain’s goal wasn’t just anarchy or a result of ill-defined psychopathy. This villain is not unhinged; he’s just self-servingly evil. It also helps that he’s more than a match for Batman’s physical prowess even if he is prone to flairs for the overdramatic. There’s a scene in the series that takes joy in a Rube Goldberg death device that is so cheeky that it threatens to take readers out of the story, but instead it serves to further introduce a writer unafraid to take outlandish risks by doubling down on a fantastical premise with an equally fantastical plot contrivance. Say what you will about the consistent effectiveness of Morrison’s storytelling, but it’s almost always memorable, even at this early stage.
Continued belowThroughout Batman’s modern publishing history, many writers have had inserted forgotten bits into the character’s history in an effort to make their marks on his legacy. For example, DC’s New 52 relaunch wedged the heretofore-unknown Court of Owls into Batman lore. Morrison’s efforts here fell short of an installment into canon, but the story’s decisive and definitive ending indicate that it was never intended to reach beyond a footnote to the dark knight’s career which is one thing that gives the tale its grim fairy tale glee. Klaus Janson’s scrawled and scratchy expressionism doesn’t hurt either, augmented by a messy Bronze-Age aesthetic and standing in stark contrast to Jim Aparo and Norm Breyfogle’s more refined styles on the flagship titles. Nevertheless there are pages in this story that have been burned into my brain since first experiencing them thirty years ago. In the early days of comics’ brawny, slick, and stylish decade, “Batman: Gothic” feels more like it’s pulled from the last days of disco.
The detective aspect to Batman’s character is also on full display here, and it’s fun to see how far he’ll go to track down a lead juxtaposed with a piece of the puzzle that comes from his boarding school days that puts an interesting twist on corporeal punishment. In short, there’s a lot to love in Morrison and Janson’s tale. It’s easily Morrison at his most accessible, and it’s a Batman story that could confidently be handed to an adventurous new reader who has already exhausted the “Dark Knight Returns” and “Year One” prerequisites. It’s a fine feat, especially as it has zero reliance on Batman’s legendary rogue’s gallery.
The chilling finality of the story along with its supernatural coda puts it squarely in the realm that many demand to be called an Elseworlds tale, but those are the types of people that don’t want to admit that some of the best comics blur the line between reality and fantasy. Somehow only reality is serious literary business. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy insisted on being taken seriously even as the final segment sagged under the weight of a ponderous notion of a real-life caped vigilante. I have friends who like to say that comics should be ridiculous, but that only works if people remember that ridiculous things should be fun. While Morrison has sometimes given us the former without the latter at the expense of enjoyment, “Batman: Gothic” embraced both and began to cement the reputation of a serious writer on serious Earth on American shores.
