Further proof of my geekiness

Keeping with my usual deluge of upbeat blog analysis pictures- sarcasm crammed into each syllable of the last statement- this lovely/creepy image is of the cover of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave Mckean. On close inspection, one will notice that this is a Batman graphic novel, and one of the darker ones at that- graced with a somewhat terrifying story and disturbing yet ornate and dazzling illustrations. Diviner of all these dark images is Dave Mckean- one of my all time favorite artists, known for his work on the covers of acclaimed comic series The Sandman, illustrating the novel Coraline, and directing/designing the film Mirrormask. His unique method and style of creating art usually combines drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpture.

The cover itself is primarily void of color, save for the ghastly image of a demonic Joker superimposed over the grim exterior of a gothic-looking building. The colors chosen for the face are intentionally sickly and poisonous looking, they are angry and infected colors hinting at the madness behind them. Directly below the face of the monstrous Joker, is the silhouette of Batman, walking into the lions maw- Arkham Asylum. Of course, the placement of the skull-like visage of the Joker over Batman, seemingly swallowing him, is very much intentional. It signals the tone of the novel- the nuts are running the nuthouse, and the protagonist is walking into a hornet's nest of insanity (queue dramatic music). Overtop of the base illustration are white diagrams of roman numerals and gothic designs, which match the similar styled art inside; however, one wouldn't know this from just looking at the cover, and the designs may just prove to be confusing. They are unneeded, but I enjoy the ornate stylization they bring.

The text on top of the illustration is a bit of a mess. First of all, it has way too many fonts going on. I'm sure this was meant to symbolize chaos and madness, however it just ends up looking clustered and unfocused, instead of unifyingly ununified. The text also needs to be bigger. It is in danger of being lost in the whisps of ornaments and diagrams. However, as a whole and not looked at as an ad, this cover does a fine job of illustrating the fact that madness and mayhem hide inside the glossy pages of this graphic novel, and that this isn't your parents' Batman.