Arkham Manor Review

Finished reading Arkham Manor, this book sees writer Gerry Duggan putting Batman undercover inside his own home that has now become the current residence of Arkham after the asylum was destroyed during the events of Batman Eternal. The book opens with the destruction of Arkham Asylum which leads to the Mayor of Gotham moving the former inmates to Wayne Manor which is retrofitted into the new Arkham after Batman blocks all of the manors entrances to the Batcave. While returning to his new apartment after stoping a mugging, Bruce Wayne receives news that something terrible has happened at the manor and when Batman discovers that an inmate has been murdered he goes back to the manor under the disguise of Jack Shaw to find out who's behind the killing and to try to stop them from killing again. Overall this was a great book as it puts Batman into a different situation from which he is typically in as he goes into Arkham undercover as a patient which brings across some interesting character interactions with how the inmates and the manor's staff are. The twist of a jokerized Clayface is great especially with how Batman and Mr Freeze team up to defeat the monster by throwing it into Freeze's cell which is the former freezer to the manor. Which brings some great interactions between to two while Freeze's position after is very funny as he begins to live outside of the manor during the cold winter weather as he builds an igloo and even appears to be barbecuing outside as well. The art accompanies the story incredibly well as Shawn Crystal's designs for characters like the killer and Clownface and the manor with its many rooms and even secret rooms are great especially with how the manor's killer uses the building to his advantage throughout the book. While Dave McCaig colours helps to bring an totally dark feel to the book thanks to the darker shades which work well for characters like the manor's killer and even for Batman himself. 8/10.