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Batman One-Shots
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Tales of Madness (1998) #1 (Batman
An Earth quake at Arkham Asylum allows Killer Croc to escape his cell and free The Joker, Scarecrow, Riddler, Samantha, and Vox. The group finds a guard to torture. They decide to to hold a scary story competition with the guard as judge.
39 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Alan Grant
1,724 books143 followersAlan Grant was a Scottish comic book writer known for writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD as well as various Batman titles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is also the creator of the character Anarky.
Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thomson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines. After going back to college and having a series of jobs, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on Social Security. He then met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor, who was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC, 2000 A.D., and was unable to complete his other work. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on; so began the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.
The pair eventually co-wrote Judge Dredd. They would work on other popular strips for the comic, including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B. Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories, changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock, written by Gerry Finley-Day. Judge Dredd would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War. Grant also wrote for other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.
By the late 1980s, Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market. Their first title was a 12-issue miniseries called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman stories in Detective Comics from issue 583, largely with Norm Breyfogle on art duties across the various Batman titles Grant moved to. After a dozen issues, Wagner left Grant as sole writer. Grant was one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s. The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. This series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. Grant and Wagner continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham. During the late 1980s, Grant experienced a philosophical transformation and declared himself an anarchist. The creation of the supervillain Anarky was initially intended as a vehicle for exploring his political opinions through the comic medium. In the following years, he would continue to utilize the character in a similar fashion as his philosophy evolved.
Grant's projects at the start of the 90s included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men. Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other miniseries (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's charac
Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thomson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines. After going back to college and having a series of jobs, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on Social Security. He then met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor, who was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC, 2000 A.D., and was unable to complete his other work. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on; so began the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.
The pair eventually co-wrote Judge Dredd. They would work on other popular strips for the comic, including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B. Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories, changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock, written by Gerry Finley-Day. Judge Dredd would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War. Grant also wrote for other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.
By the late 1980s, Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market. Their first title was a 12-issue miniseries called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman stories in Detective Comics from issue 583, largely with Norm Breyfogle on art duties across the various Batman titles Grant moved to. After a dozen issues, Wagner left Grant as sole writer. Grant was one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s. The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. This series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. Grant and Wagner continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham. During the late 1980s, Grant experienced a philosophical transformation and declared himself an anarchist. The creation of the supervillain Anarky was initially intended as a vehicle for exploring his political opinions through the comic medium. In the following years, he would continue to utilize the character in a similar fashion as his philosophy evolved.
Grant's projects at the start of the 90s included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men. Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other miniseries (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's charac
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 31, 2021
The art is childish and off-putting compared to most every modern product, but the story is what one would expect, and doesn't wuss out for a happy ending.
August 30, 2016
At some point in time I was an avid reader of “2000AD” magazine. Its silly over-the-top stories, paired with some of the greatest artists Britain has produced kept me entertained for a long period of time. “2000AD” was, in a way, everything I wanted of comics back then – sheer energy, creation, breaking of limits, ridiculousness, and so on; all of it done in some sort of 'urban manner', with punk-rock attitude, fundamentally different than old Italian and BD comics I grew up with. Wagner/Grant pairing was an integral part of this particular comic book experience. For some reason (mainly to do with unavailability at the time) I never followed their work published in the US, but in recent times I stumbled upon some tidbits of it so now I'm discovering them anew.
“Arkham Asylum – Tales of Madness” is one such tidbit, though of the pair, only the Grant remained when this was first published in 1998. It wasn't a greatest of successes (judging by the fact that “Tales of Madness #2” was never published, though I'm not familiar with a back story of this particular DC issue) though it managed to pass the test of time (despite somewhat cheesy Joker design, compliments of Dave Taylor). Reading it now, one can still find parts of that remarkable craziness of earlier “2000AD” period in Grant's writing. Quite fitting for the story taking place in Arkham, wouldn't you say?
In mere 39 pages, Grant uses Batman's rogue gallery to explore craziness, psychopathology and fear itself. By doing this, he continued developing this demented, out of place house, introduced, with much more theatrics and bezazz, in Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum some ten years earlier. While Morrison's book takes much of its impact from Dave McKean's art, showing us psychedelic, somnabulic, dream-state Arkham's inhabitants live in, this particular work of Grant, relying on “plain and unremarkable” visuals of Dave Taylor and brownish coloring of Bjame Hansen, is even more fucked up. What we're seeing here closely resembles idealized cartoony world of pre-War Batman. What we're reading, though, is something that would've never been published back then. Grant uses DC's characters and their familiar lunacy to dig the grave for “cartoons”. Even in our idealized versions of the world, in the place where clowns roam, there's something dark and disturbing to be found, not to be trifled with. And who better to orchestrate this than Prince of Clowns himself?
Grant doesn't really need to go, like Morrison, into “meta” to have fun with the entire concept of DC universe. Likewise, he doesn't need dark nor broody Batman to show us what a nuthouse entire Gotham is. His approach is direct, in the head, like much...heck...entirety of his work for “2000AD” is. In a way, this version of Arkham is even more terrifying than nightmarish vision of Dave McKean. It's a shiny, sunny world out there. Just take a look out of the window. And all it takes for this world to shatter are few good men having a laugh. It helps if one of them is a giant crocodile but it really doesn't matter too much. After all, the scariest one of them all has nothing more than a pale face and badly applied make-up. It's not what's on the head, but what's inside of it. Grant is having a laugh pulling it out for all to see. Have a laugh with him.
“Arkham Asylum – Tales of Madness” is one such tidbit, though of the pair, only the Grant remained when this was first published in 1998. It wasn't a greatest of successes (judging by the fact that “Tales of Madness #2” was never published, though I'm not familiar with a back story of this particular DC issue) though it managed to pass the test of time (despite somewhat cheesy Joker design, compliments of Dave Taylor). Reading it now, one can still find parts of that remarkable craziness of earlier “2000AD” period in Grant's writing. Quite fitting for the story taking place in Arkham, wouldn't you say?
In mere 39 pages, Grant uses Batman's rogue gallery to explore craziness, psychopathology and fear itself. By doing this, he continued developing this demented, out of place house, introduced, with much more theatrics and bezazz, in Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum some ten years earlier. While Morrison's book takes much of its impact from Dave McKean's art, showing us psychedelic, somnabulic, dream-state Arkham's inhabitants live in, this particular work of Grant, relying on “plain and unremarkable” visuals of Dave Taylor and brownish coloring of Bjame Hansen, is even more fucked up. What we're seeing here closely resembles idealized cartoony world of pre-War Batman. What we're reading, though, is something that would've never been published back then. Grant uses DC's characters and their familiar lunacy to dig the grave for “cartoons”. Even in our idealized versions of the world, in the place where clowns roam, there's something dark and disturbing to be found, not to be trifled with. And who better to orchestrate this than Prince of Clowns himself?
Grant doesn't really need to go, like Morrison, into “meta” to have fun with the entire concept of DC universe. Likewise, he doesn't need dark nor broody Batman to show us what a nuthouse entire Gotham is. His approach is direct, in the head, like much...heck...entirety of his work for “2000AD” is. In a way, this version of Arkham is even more terrifying than nightmarish vision of Dave McKean. It's a shiny, sunny world out there. Just take a look out of the window. And all it takes for this world to shatter are few good men having a laugh. It helps if one of them is a giant crocodile but it really doesn't matter too much. After all, the scariest one of them all has nothing more than a pale face and badly applied make-up. It's not what's on the head, but what's inside of it. Grant is having a laugh pulling it out for all to see. Have a laugh with him.
June 12, 2017
Loved the premise: the inmates who broke out gotta tell the security guard a story, and he has to decide which one was better to choose the one to kill him. It was well developed, with hints and things about each one of the characters. The end is a bit sudden and forced, but overall it's a good book.
October 19, 2025
Kinda feels like this was going for a Klasky-Csupo-esque art style, and that's not really what I read DC for.
November 17, 2025
An awful comic book that started well and ends in a disgusting way
November 5, 2014
An Earth quake at Arkham Asylum allows Killer Croc to escape his cell and free The Joker, Scarecrow, Riddler, Samantha, and Vox. The group finds a guard to torture. They decide to to hold a scary story competition with the guard as judge.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews