Batman’s two newly announced ongoing series will see Bruce Wayne fund a school for teenagers and renovate his house for Arkham’s inmates.
Rocksteady’s Arkham City had an interesting premise for the time: Following the events of Arkham Asylum, Gotham officials choose to relocate Gotham’s supervillains to a walled off section of the city. It doesn’t take a Batman fan to realize the plan was completely insane, but apparently it wasn’t the only option on the table. DC Comics’ upcoming series Arkham Manor, for example, sticks Gotham’s criminals in the one place where Batman is guaranteed to keep watch over them: a renovated Wayne Manor.
Arkham Manor, written by Gary Duggan with art from Shawn Crystal, is set shortly after a disaster at Arkham Asylum renders the facility unusable. In response, Bruce Wayne volunteers (or perhaps is strongly encouraged) to convert his family estate into a prison facility for Gotham’s deranged maniacs. On the surface, that actually doesn’t sound like a horrible idea. Wayne Manor is far more secluded from Gotham’s streets than Arkham City, and Batman could easily keep watch at all times. But when inmates start turning up dead, Batman will clearly find himself with a personal stake in the investigation.
Arkham Manor will launch as an ongoing series on October 22, and it won’t even be the only new Batman title that month. Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschel will also kick off the teen drama Gotham Academy on October 1, set in a prep school funded by Bruce Wayne himself. Both stories should offer a unique take on Batman, although I expect Arkham Manor will turn out to be the much darker series.
Still, it’s promising to see Batman work towards strengthening Gotham’s presumably run-down public institutions. Now if only Gotham Academy could be renamed “Professor Wayne’s School For Gifted Youngsters”.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
