1625 ( )

You know those cinematics they show now at the beginning of video games? The one where they have a little narrative to set up whatever story the game is supposed to have before you can actually start playing? That is basically what this book is. It is nothing more than the set up for the Arkham City video game. There is no conclusion because it leads in to whatever point the game starts at. Fans of the game will probably like this. Of course, you do have to get past the pretty preposterous premise that Gotham goes with martial law and basically walls off a section of the city to turn it into a prison and mental asylum (then again, this is DC, so this may not be as farfetched for comics). Story here is pretty minimal, but you get a nice look at some of the main villains; keep in mind the premise is just the excuse to get Batman to confront all the popular villains in the game.

One redeeming quality of the comic is the art. The art work for this volume is very good, and for that, it may be worth picking up. In terms of story, it is barely so-so. As I mentioned, fans of the game will probably gobble this up. Everyone else, you may be better off picking up other Batman stories with more substance to them. Anyhow, an easy, short read. This is definitely a borrow if you can book, not buy. ( )

Okay, so most of the time I was reading this I thought this was based on the Batman: Arkham City video game, but, then I realized on the cover it says it's the lead in to the video game and that made a whole lot of the TPB make a lot more sense.

Basically the mayor (although he's getting his strings pulled by another person) sets up a walled in part of Gotham City, and wants to put all the criminals from Blackgate Prison as well as Arkham Asylum in there, and then let them 'roam free'. Yep. Where could that go wrong? The comic sorta felt like a lite version of the gigantic No Man's Land story line from years ago.

Catwoman is in it, as well as Poison Ivy, Joker, and well, I think it was Robin, but more of a 'Doom Sarge' sorta Robin then a Tim, Dick, or Jason sorta Robin. That confused me, perhaps I need to actually play the game (but probably won't). ( )

If you loved the video game Arkham Asylum and are looking forward to new game, Arkham City, this book is a must read! Even if you already played Arkham City this book patches the first game to the second. In other words, this is the story of what happens in between the first game and the second game. ( )