Batman Comics

I’ve already discussed some aspects of Detective Comics 2, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another important event in that issue – an Arkham Asylum breakout! Although we don’t get to actually see it happen, we learn from Batman’s inner monologue that sometime between issues 1 and 2 Joker has escaped from Arkham. Here’s the title page to Detective Comics 2:

As you can see, it’s a two-page spread. I love the Bat-cycle and how the cape on the left balances the bike’s headlight on the right, that works really well in the wider image format that two pages allows. What we see of the subsequent investigation focuses on the police work, which makes sense since Detective Comics intends to focus on the detective work and on Batman’s relationship with Jim Gordon.

Shortly before the relaunch there was a storyline where Dr Arkham was an evil villain, so of course I don’t trust him now although he seems to be running the Asylum again (I guess we could say he’s committed to it, but in a different way). Harvey Bullock shows up to continue the investigation (anyone know what his title is? Is he a detective?), I’ve always had a soft spot for him.

Batman and Gordon discuss the case, and that’s about it for this Arkham Asylum breakout. The other thing that I wondered was if the same breakout was being used for storylines in various comics, making it a bit more plausible (one breakout in a month makes more sense than three), although of course it’s still unclear how the timing fits together. In any case, the breakout in Batman 1 was actually a rogue guard who opened the doors, and in Batman: Dark Knight 1 it centred on Two-Face and went down pretty differently, so I think it must have been a separate situation. For a maximum-security insane asylum, they really don’t do a very good job of keeping inmates secured!

Arkham Asylum Breakout Score:

Batman – 1

Batman: The Dark Knight – 1

Detective Comics – 1

One of the great things about a relaunch is that we can start tracking all sorts of fun things, because we have a distinct starting point. So in the spirit of good fun and classic Batman action, I’m going to try to keep track of all the Arkham Asylum breakouts. It seems to happen every other week, but that can’t be right, can it? They must learn how to keep the bad guys secure eventually… So far in the first month of the DCnU we’ve seen two breakout situations at Arkham Asylum.

Batman 1, written by Scott Snyder and with art by Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion, opens with Batman facing off against some familiar faces in the hallway of Arkham:

After the fight he meets up with Gordon on the roof of the GCPD, it turns out this wasn’t actually a breakout. I’m still going to count it for these purposes, all the inmates were set free and chaos ensued, so it’s close enough.

Then we have this week’s Dark Knight 1, by Paul Jenkins, David Finch, and Richard Friend. This breakout is of the more explosive and bloody type, here’s how it starts:

Batman shows up in his classic dramatic way, and takes charge to save as many guards as possible.

I wonder if we’ll find out how he knew to go for Two-Face? This makes two breakouts so far, and hopefully it’ll keep happening and keep us all well entertained in the future!

Arkham Asylum Breakout Score: Batman 1; Dark Knight 1.