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''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth'' (often shortened to ''Batman: Arkham Asylum'') is a ''Batman'' graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean. It was originally published in the United States in both hardcover and softcover editions by DC Comics in 1989. The subtitle is taken from Philip Larkin's poem "Church Going." The graphic novel was the first Batman story to be written by Morrison before becoming a regular writer in future Batman titles. Inspired by previous works like ''The Dark Knight Returns'', Morrison conceived the story to be his own different approach to the character, using heavy symbolical references and the deconstruction of many iconic Batman villains. The story follows the vigilante Batman, who is called upon to quell a maddening riot taking place in the infamous Arkham Asylum, a psychiatric hospital housing the most dangerous supervillains in Gotham City. Inside, Batman meets and fights many of his enduring rogues gallery such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Killer Croc, many of whom have changed since he last saw them. As Batman ventures deeper, he discovers the origin of how the asylum was established, the history of its builder Amadeus Arkham, and the supernatural and psychological mystery that has been haunting the area. Upon its release, the graphic novel garnered commercial and critical acclaim, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest Batman stories of all time, and one of the best works of Grant Morrison's career.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Best of Grant Morrison ) August 22, 2011〕 The graphic novel would later become the definitive story of Arkham Asylum, a critical part of the Batman mythos. ==Conception and influences== The graphic novel was writer Grant Morrison's first work on Batman, making it the earliest installment in the Morrison's Batman saga. Morrison would later note in the annotated script of how the graphic novel was to be the start of his own undertaking of the Batman comics.〔Booker, Will. ''Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon'' (Bloomsbury Academic September 18, 2001) p.268. ISBN 978-0-8264-1343-7.〕 Line 55 of Philip Larkin's poem "Church Going" was used as a subtitle.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=COMICS REWIND: 'Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth' ) June 11, 2011〕 In his original script printed in both the 15th Anniversary (2005) and 25th Anniversary (2014) editions, Morrison remarks on several details behind the genesis of the work: An additional reference to the work as a "response" to trends of the time is made in a later note: "The repressed, armored, uncertain and sexually frozen ()man in ''Arkham Asylum'' was intended as a critique of the '80s interpretation of Batman as violent, driven, and borderline psychopathic."〔 Morrison goes on to explain that his symbolic conception of the character is for this book alone, and that his other work involving Batman has cast him in a far different light.〔 He explains, During an interview with Alex Carr, Morrison stated that Frank Miller's ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was a huge influence during his development of the story. Morrison liked what Miller did with the Batman, creating a whole new different character who was a more driven and obsessed vigilante, and Morrison wanted to make his own "different" take on the Batman comics. Morrison also added that they tried to stay away from the original hardboiled pulp influence of the Batman and those seen in American cinema adaptations, but instead use more themes and style from European cinema.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Graphic Novel Friday: The Grant Morrison Interview: All Things Batman (and More) )〕 Morrison admitted that he preferred Brian Bolland to have been the novel's artist,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Serious House on Serious Earth: Commentary ) October 7, 2005〕 complementing that McKean's art doesn't have "the most terrifying expressions of the real."〔Singer (2011) p.71〕 Morrison liked Bolland's art in ''The Killing Joke'', and initially wanted him to have drawn the comic, while criticizing McKean's choice of making the novel more abstract, adding that the novel would have been better if it was more concrete. In Morrison's assessment, his writing and McKean's art styles clashed and competed with the novel's symbolic systems, which he said to be its greatest weakness. In the 15th Anniversary and 25th Anniversary paperbacks, Grant Morrison recalls how an early version of the script was passed around for people to look at. Most of them thought the psychological horror and heavy symbolism was not only a failure, but the dumbest Batman story ever, many of whom laughed at the idea. After the release of the graphic novel and the paperbacks, Morrison ends up asking them 'who's laughing now, @$$hole??'〔 Morrison would also add that the people "who don't read comics regularly seemed to really enjoy the book."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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