Comic Title: Arkham Asylum HC
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: 1989
On Sale Date: October 3, 1989 Shipping Date October 3, 1989
Source: Amazing Heroes, #168, 172

Shipping Date October 5, 1989
Source: Advance Comics, #9

Direct Market Date October 5, 1989
Source: Comic Shop News, #106, 119

Cover Price: $24.95
Page Count: 128
Editor: Karen Berger

See Also: The Guide to Graphic Novels and Collected Editions

Title: "A Serious House on Serious Earth"
Pages: 102

Feature(s):
Batman (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Dave McKean
Letterer: Gaspar Saladino

Reprinted In:
Arkham Asylum SC (1990)
Batman:Arkham Asylum 15th Anniversary Edition HC (2005)
Batman:Arkham Asylum 15th Anniversary Edition SC (2005)
Batman:Arkham Asylum – The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition HC (2015)
Batman:Arkham Asylum – The 25th Anniversary Edition SC (2015)
Absolute Batman:Arkham Asylum 30th Anniversary Edition HC (2019)

Feature Character(s)

• Batman (last appearance in Detective Comics #609; next appearance in Flash #33)

Supporting Character(s)

• Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in Detective Comics #609; next appearance in Detective Comics #610)

Villain(s)

• Joker (last appearance in Batman #442; next appearance in Black Orchid #2)
• Two-Face (last appearance in Batman #442; next appearance in Black Orchid #2)
• Clayface (last appearance in Detective Comics #607; no further appearances)
• Doctor Destiny (last appearance in Sandman #7; next appearance in Black Orchid #2)
• Scarecrow (last appearance in Captain Atom #33; next appearance in Animal Man #23)
• Mad Hatter (last appearance in Secret Origins #44; next appearance in Black Orchid #2)
• Croc (last appearance in Secret Origins #23; no further appearances)
• Black Mask (first post-Crisis appearance; no further appearances)
• Maxie Zeus (first post-Crisis appearance; no further appearances)
• Professor Milo (first post-Crisis appearance; no further appearances)
• Charles Cavendish (an administrator at Arkham Asylum; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Martin Hawkins (aka Mad Dog; dies in flashback; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Amadeus Arkham (the founder of Arkham Asylum; in flashback; no further appearances)
• Constance and Harriet (the wife and daughter of Amadeus; both die in flashback; no further appearances)
• Elizabeth Arkham (the mother of Amadeus; dies in flashback; no further appearances)
• Ruth Adams (a psychotherapist; no further appearances)
• Several hostages (Pearl named; no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Thomas Wayne (in Batman's memories)
• Martha Wayne (in Batman's memories)

Synopsis:
The inmates at Arkham Asylum start a riot. They demand that Batman come to the asylum or they will harm the hostages. When Batman arrives, some of the staff is released. Several stay behind including psychotherapist Ruth Adams and administrator Charlie Cavendish. To protect the remaining hostages Batman must run the gauntlet as he faces off with many of the criminals he helped to put in Arkham.

During his run through the facility, Batman finds secret rooms and passages built by the asylum founder Amadeus Arkham. After surviving the chase, Batman returns to the main room. He finds that Cavendish was responsible for releasing the inmates. Cavendish found Arkham's secret journal which revealed how he killed his own mother and how his family was killed by one of his own patients. Cavendish, like Arkham, blames a bat. As Batman fights with Cavendish, Adams tries to break up the fight and, in so doing, kills Cavendish.