Arkham City: The Order of the World

Arkham City: The Order of the World #1-6

by Dan Watters, DaNi (Illustrator)

Arkham Asylum has been destroyed—unleashing Ten-Eyed Man, Professor Pyg, Mad Hatter, and more onto the streets of Gotham. Can the Asylum’s last remaining doctor retrieve her patients?

The Joker’s attack on Arkham Asylum left the long-standing Gotham establishment in ruin, most of the patients killed or missing, and only a handful of surviving staff—a few nurses, a gravely injured security guard, and one doctor. In the chaos of the assault, it is believed that several of the asylum’s patients escaped and scurried off into the dark nooks and crannies of Gotham City. Now, these Arkhamites walk among us, and it’s up to the Asylum’s one remaining doctor, Jocasta Joy, to round up her former patients. 
 
Meet these a woman with no face, a pyggy in search of perfection, a man who feels nothing and burns everything, a woman who must devour life to save herself, a man unfit for the waking world who looks instead for Wonderland, a body with more than one soul, a being unbound from time who lives in the present and the past, a boy who seeks the comfort of vermin, and the twisted man who sees them all for who they are. And witness the avenging angel who stalks them.
 
This volume collects Arkham The Order of the World #1-6, the complete story by Dan Watters and Dani.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Horror

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2022

About the author

Dan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.

Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.

Reviews

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best new Batman stories I have read in a while, and it doesn't even have Batman in it. It's so weird and different that I can see this becoming a classic someday like The Long Halloween or A Serious House on Serious Earth.

Speaking of which, this reminds me a lot of A Serious House on Serious Earth. It is all about Arkham and insanity and the art is a bit warped like you are going a little crazy as you read it. I also like how Watters flipped the script a bit and made you sympathize with the inmates while making the hero, Azrael, into a relentless, unfeeling monster straight from a horror movie.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark tale where a survivor psychiatrist from A-day- and suffering from survivor’s guilt- becomes obsessed with saving her former patients still on the loose.

This is quite an interesting different view of the Batman Universe, a civilian being the narrator and dealing with the consequences of another of Joker’s deadly plans, on the thin line between sanity and madness. The "patients" are all on the weird side, infusing a pleasant eerie tone. For the older readers it very feels like a 90’s Vertigo book.

Dani’s art greatly help for that tone. I’m pretty sure it will divise readers, being a rough mix between Tim Sale and Frank Miller, but it actually serves the story. Dave Stewart colours the book so expect nothing less than quality.

[cloverina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been looking into what the best horror comics are, because I'm a BIG horror fan and I'm always looking for an actual scare. I've seen a few people say that this is the most terrifying comic they've ever read, and it looked like something I'd love, so I knew I had to get it. Luckily, I was out, and I saw it at Barnes and Noble and decided to get it.

The opening definitley kept with what I'd heard. 100% the most terrifying beginning to any comic I've read so far. I highly recommend you experience it yourself because it set the tone for it all incredibly. I don't think I can look at Ratcatcher the same again.

From there, there are plenty of cool horror elements, but I can't say it's the scariest comic I've ever read. If you have any reccomendations for comics that ACTUALLY scared you, I'd really appreciate hearing them!

The main character is Dr Jacosta Joy, an Arkham Asylum staff member and one of the very few survivors of "A-Day". What makes her a perfect narrator is that she's not special. She's only a Gotham citizen. I always enjoy seeing what life is like for an average person in such a crime-ridden city. Not unlike Harleen, it somewhat rationalizes following the villains despite their CLEAR insanity. It also very briefly explains why anyone would choose to stay in such a horrible city.

The choices for the rogues are EXCELLENT here. They're terrifying and dark but I wouldn't consider them over-the-top edgy just for the sake of it. Ten Eyed Man is my favorite character here, mostly because he's focused on almost as much as Dr Joy. His design is perfect and his character gripped me throughout the whole story. Watters also makes use of lesser-known characters, like Double X, Dr Phosphorus, and Nocturna. (Some of these are probably more well known than I think they are, but I had never heard of them.)

The art is the one thing that I think will be off-putting for a lot of people. Not unlike the original Arkham Asylum comic (which this takes HEAVY inspiration from), it's very strange and unique. Definitley NOT for a mainstream superhero comic. Luckily, this isn't one.

I can't say too much about this without spoiling, so I highly reccomend you go out and read this. Even if you end up hating it I still think it's worth reading. Probably one of the most memorable Batman comics I've ever read.

[Aidan]

I love Azrael. If you cut in front him in line he’d scream “BLASPHEMER” and stab you with a flaming sword and then recite a hail Mary

[Bandit]

Of all the traditional superhero comics out there I’ve reluctantly read over time, Batman is likely to be most in line with the sort of darkness I enjoy thematically and stylistically.
This book is a terrific example of that. A self-contained story, I believe, comprising books one through six, telling the tale of Arkham, one of the most famous/infamous fictional asylums out there.
The Joker decimated the place, burning it down, killing most inmates and employees. Some got out. This is their tale.
Specifically, one psychologist who may quite possibly be too attached to her charges, but also the grand scheme of a city like Gotham, already quite chaotic and scary, with madness added on top.
I didn’t quite love the art, not the way the artist rendered people’s faces, but that’s just regular people, so there was definitely more to see in the book. The Ten-Eyed Man alone is such a striking creation, both visually and narratively. That’s him on the cover at his most elegant. In the book, he’s different but not less fascinating.
And there you have it. Gotham. It’s people, it’s monsters…where does one draw the line? It's a new world order.
A fun, exciting, thrillingly dark read. Recommended.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Matt Ferra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Batman comics where they do just address that there are a lot of mentally ill people in this city and some doctors really do want to help them.
This one also has some really interesting interpretations of lesser-known Bat-villains. Dr. Phosphorous, Double X, No-Face, and especially Ten-Eyed Man.

[MannyLikesPie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Batman/DC story without Batman, I think a great book for people who aren’t fans of superhero but still want to see what the genre offers

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The attack on Arkham Asylum on A-Day sent many of the inmates spiralling out into Gotham City, unchecked and unstoppable. The detectives of the GCPD, and even some wayward members of the BatFamily, want to bring them in by whatever means necessary. Doctor Jocasta Joy might be the only person who actually wants to help them. But by allying herself with the Ten-Eyed Man, is Doctor Joy playing with fire - and will the darkness that she is trying so deperately to exorcise from the Arkhamites' infect her instead?

Let me be blunt for a second - this shit is my jam.

The Order Of The World is one of those books that plays with the idea of things possibly being magic, while possibly being grounded in science, offering up both explanations to explain away some truly peculiar actions from some of the weirdest of Arkham Asylum's halls. Doctor Joy's quest to save as many people as possible brings her into contact with the Ten-Eyed Man, Nocturna, and Doctor Phosphorus among others, and each of them has some bizarre role to play in the larger story while going on a journey all their own.

Dani's artwork really helps sell things as well. I'm not always their biggest fan, but it's the kind of dark, twisted visual that this book needs, with spindly characters and a lot of inference with a few lines going a long, long way.

I get that this book's not going to be for everyone - it's a little too abstract at times, and its conclusion is unsurprisingly bleak, but it's the kind of weird, out-there take on Batman's villains that sets it apart from the glut of Bat-Books that seem to clog the stands.

[Δημήτρης Μπ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The actual madness from Arkham Asylum's patients collected in a volume, through the amazing art of Dani.
An original and uniquely-given story quite different from what we have learned to expect from DC comics.
There's little classic action like the one from Batman's or other DC superhero's comics. The main ingredient in this GN is madness and a creepy feeling that the line between madness and sanity is very very thin.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Começar o ano com uma leitura pesada dessas dá o que pensar. Assim como outras obras que tem o Asilo Arkham como pano de fundo ou como propulsor da trama de uma graphic novel ou minissérie, Arkham City: A Ordem do Mundo também lida com os binômios sanidade/loucura e realidade/imaginação. Mas mais que as outras obras sobre essa "casa de recuperação", que em nenhum momento é mostrado pacientes em recuperação ou em tratamento, mas sendo achacados por super-heróis fascistas e policiais, Arkham City questiona a existência do Arkham e as formas como os pacientes são tratados. De leve, mas já é um avanço. A neurodivergência, ou a loucura sempre forma um tabu, mas aos poucos estão se tornando mais claras para a sociedade em geral. Mesmo que nos quadrinhos as pessoas continuem sendo maltratadas em manicômios, sanatórios e asilos, nomes do século XIX para clínicas psiquiátricas. Na série, o Asilo Arkham foi destruído pelo Coringa e os seus reclusos, mortos ou fugidos. Cabe à doutora Joy e alguns policiais recolherem estes pacientes, antes que Azrael, o crente sem escrúpulos e empatia, mate todos impiedosamente. Somos apresentados ao Homem do Dez Olhos, que e um personagem intrigante que cola as peças da trama com os demais fugidos do Arkham e a Doutora Joy. Os roteiros são do ótimo Dan Watters, que desenvolveu a recente série de Lúcifer e os desenhos noir são de responsabilidade da estrela ascendente DaNi que faz um trabalho de chiaroscuro sensacional, comparável a Eduardo Risso. Além disso, a Panini incluiu um pequeno arco do Azrael neste volume, que serve de prelúdio para esta minissérie. Uma leitura perturbadora para começar o ano, mas muito recompensadora nas reflexões que traz e na forma como nos envolve em sua trama e nos confunde como confunde os personagens que dela participam.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty weird - I think I like what this story was trying to do more than the execution, but you can't say that it's cookie cutter.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This miniseries missed most people’s radar, but hit hard as a spiritual sequel to Grant Morrison’s 1989 Arkham Asylum. Arkham has been demolished and its mentally ill inhabitants are spreading across Gotham, some trying to mimic normality and others engaging in deranged plans to contain the madness. We follow one particular therapist from the Asylum and her seeming unquestioned support of a man with eyes sewed to fingers, and we watch as a certain corrosive madness eats out the soul of the city. Both the beautiful scrawling art and the increasingly volatile delusions of the characters create a deeply unsettling experience, one that overheats the superhero medium so thoroughly that it becomes a surreal negative for what we assume these mythic stories are supposed to be. Whether or not Gotham and Arkham are two separate, independent organisms is called into question and what we end up with is one of the most inventive, stunning, and haunting horror superhero comics of the decade.

[J.R. Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

They fumbled the landing a little, but it was fun. I like the new ten eyed man.

[Swans Blakey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Misplaced my copy of Crying of Lot 49 and kind of fell into a reading stupor; came to this book for a quick pick-me-up and to continue gamifying my reading via goodreads ribbons.

Quite the fun and spooky mini to commemorate the Halloween season. Mercifully requires basically no background knowledge of recent Batman-happenings. In the wake of an attack that leads much of the Arkham staff and inmates dead, a surviving psychiatrist, Dr. Jacosta Joy, prioritizes her duty of care to a surviving patient, the Ten-Eyed Man, above all else, including good sense. I would kill for the Black Casebook pod to cover this series.

As the saying goes, the setting, in this case Gotham, is very much a character. Sort of like if Victorian England persisted into modern day.

It’s something of a gothic, and in classic gothic fashion there may or may not be a ghost, but that ghost nevertheless embodies those troubling certainties that go unspoken. This includes Joy’s survivor’s guilt and her shifting allegiances between the lawful, ordered, “normal” people of Gotham, and the supernaturally, criminally insane.

Something of a spiritual successor to Morrison and McKean’s A Serious House on Serious Earth (explores evil and violent madness as a metaphysical force [a book btw I admire visually but am not as into as one might expect]) and Gotham Central (what does Gotham look like from the sidewalk?). Does what I like with addressing the idea of Gotham as city people live in: Not to downplay it and make it seem actually Not That Bad but instead make clear that everyone there is at least a little bit crazy. Denial is a powerful tool in the arsenal of any normal person in Gotham; Dr. Phosphorus and Nocturna exemplify this fallacy of normalcy:

“They have an apartment and a TV and a dining table. Just like normal people. He is not a seven-foot radioactive skeleton and she is not a vampire because those would not be normal. They even check through the wall to the people next door. To make sure they are living their lives just like the other normal people do.”

Of course those neighbors seem just as delusional as they remain clueless to their nuclear family growing steadily more irradiated by that radioactive skeleton one door away.

The show-stealing character is a reimagined Ten-Eyed Man, a minor Batman villain who historically rates high among the lamest characters in his rogues gallery. He’s not quite the Hannibal-Lecter-ified Calendar Man à la The Long Halloween. Instead he becomes a visually arresting holy fool/contortionist. The Jester to Joy’s King Lear who worships the sinister logic undergirding Gotham and Arkham alike. Stalking them both is Azrael, a delusional crusader type more easily fooled than our own holy fool.

Taking way too long to get to her but the star of this show, even beyond Dan Watters’ admittedly air-tight, well-paced script is artist DaNi, who I found to be a complete revelation. Cut from the same noirish cloth as Muñoz and Eduardo Risso, she brings a haunting and refreshingly European sensibility to what in the wrong hands could be standard superhero fare.

Every issue is graced with deft linework, creative panel compositions, and moody chiaroscuro. One of the rare instances a black & white edition wouldn’t seem like a cash grab, though thankfully the ever competent Dave Stewart is no slouch (and of course I understand Mignola is an influence of DaNi as well). Perhaps most impressive is how each character seems to have their own visual quirks — Double X’s phantom is a mess of zen garden rake marks; Nocturna is made up of more lush, fluid brushstrokes; Phosphorus is an almost glow-in-the-dark yellow-green housing a messy bag of bones — while keeping the whole style cohesively atmospheric.

A delightfully eerie romp through some lesser trod backalleys of this overexposed property. (That enough adjectives for you?) Demonstrates there’s plenty of creativity to be mined from these familiar settings. More than that though, I’m glad to have been introduced to a few more highly talented and creative storytellers.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good, I am just gonna say that Dan is one of those writers I will be following now and I love how this is a spiritual sequel to the Arkham Asylum book by Morrison, it has the same level of craziness and even the art reflects that but this has so much more to say about madness, insanity, the world we love in and how Gotham is literally a mad city and I love how this is told from the POV of a therapist!

She wants to cure one patient and you see her trying to help him but is she actually increasing his madness and committing crimes like later in the book even a patient tells her how she is forecasting troubles of her onto this guy and it really makes you think plus how therapy doesn't work like in this asylums for such people and all and the evolution of that word and place and its a fascinating take.

I love how it shows the after effects of Arkham Asylum being destroyed and villains scattered everywhere and police rounding them up and what diff. people from there are upto plus the element of Arkham ghost and how each of them believe its coming to take them and there's Azrael whose hearing the voice of you know.. and so the way it brings him in as a co-lead is awesome! The focus and writing on Ten-eyed man was awesome and Jesus christ, he does end up becoming sucha fascinating character by the end not because of the powers but because of the good writing and he is a crazy guy yeah but wow the stuff he does its brutal and shocking like even the doctor who was tryna save him in the end.

The villains used like Double X, Dr Phosphorus and Nocturna have their own story and for the last 2 I love how they wanna be normal and live normal lives but you see what they did to their neighbours and still not understanding it.. seriously good writing and good character exploration and then the twist of Professor Pyg and Dr NO FACE whose the big twist of this series and I love it, it ties everything together and also shows another type of people.. codependency and good use of her powers .

By the end its a good take on mental institutions and do they really help or not and did the doctor achieve her objective or did she fail and like you see the stuff with Azrael and it sets up the stage for his solo series which I am excited to read next! So yeah overall awesome read and definitely one of my favorite things I have read this year!

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madness rules the streets of Gotham as the Asylum has spilled out into the city.

After an attack by the Joker kn Arkham Asylum, various Arkham residents are hiding in the city, and one of the few surviving psychiatrists tries her best to help them.

This story focuses on relatively minor Batman characters, such as Nocterra, Dr Phosphorous, and the Ten-Eyed Man. And just as the psychoatrist seeks to help them, Azrael seeks to bring them to justice. Each character has a strong personality and distinct voice. The story is unsettling and horrifying at times (especially the Ten-Eyed man). The story plays into established aspects of the Gotham mythos while still delivering an original story.

I'm a big fan of Arkham focused stories, from Morrison's Arkham Asylum, to Arkham Asylum Madness, the story of a nurse working in the Asylum, and also Arkham Asylum Living Hell, the story of how a white-collar criminal entered Arkham and came out a hardened underworld criminal. This story fits in well while still being new and interesting.

The art perfectly compliments the inner turmoil and madness of the characters.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Vertigo take on some of Batman's weirder villains. It's set after A-Day when Arkham was destroyed and all the inmates went free. Dr. Joy happened to be off work that day and was one of the few people working at Arkham to escape death. Now she's working to "capture" the inmates as she descends into madness. The story does pull out some of the really obscure Batman villains like the Ten Eyed Man who has eyes on each of his fingers instead of his head. But he just spouts gibberish for 6 issues while standing around in impossible Todd McFarlane era Spider-Man like poses.

That's my main problem with this book. There's no story. It's just let's see what the odd villains are up to. Dani's art has gotten a lot better. She's channeling some Tim Sale and Frank Miller and I'm here for it.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Kinda unbelievable that this is so good and works as a stand-alone Gotham story despite technically being a Fear State tie-in (maybe the only good story to come out of Fear State). Dani’s lines and Stewart’s flat coloring are great, with a decrepit, crumbling aesthetic. Their combined uninked/bordered look is unique and makes for some striking panels. And Watters writes about Arkham inmates in a truly interesting way, considering things like what sort of treatment actually helps the mentally ill, the treatment they’ve historically received, and what sort of tradeoffs broader society is willing to accept when the ill possibly pose a violent threat. Watters casts his story with a nice mix of familiar Gotham rogues, more obscure Arkham patients, memorable new faces like Dr. Jocasta and the Ten-Eyed Man, and Azrael in an antagonist role.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully moody and gothic, both in terms of the storytelling style as well as in the form of the artwork. It's a dark, grisly tale of a psychiatrist who obsesses over the missing patients from Arkham Asylum. Dani's artwork is absolutely stunning - particularly in the depiction of characters like the Ten-Eyed Man. The art feels evocative of Miller/Risso/Sale in the way that it wonderfully captures the stylish noir aesthetic.

The story can be a bit confusing at times, and the hand lettering by Bidikar doesn't always work for me (the cursive text was quite frustrating to read at times), but overall this was a solid book - even for someone like me who has no clue what A-Day was.

[Alex Sarll]

Batman is missing, again. Arkham Asylum has been emptied, again. One of the shrinks has got too close to her patients and is being drawn into their insanity, again. Even the central idea that Gotham and its madhouse are the same thing on different scales is hardly new. But what stops this from being the same worthless retread of exhausted material as most other modern Batman dross is that it's by the Coffin Bound* team of Dan Watters and DaNi, and so much like that series it attains a baleful, feverish power, the reader lured as surely as poor Dr Joy into the distorted world of the Mad Hatter, Nocturna and the Ten-Eyed Man.

*Yes, I always want to say Coffin Flop.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile successor to Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum. This book sees (most of) the creative team of the Image Comics series, Coffinbound (a personal favorite), exploring the fallout of a recent crossover event, Infinite Frontier, and takes place (I think) during another crossover, Fear State, but it doesn't really matter; you can read this as a standalone book quite easily. Dan Watters does a great job of exploring the mythology of Arkham Asylum, one of the most interesting parts of Batman's universe, and Dani, Dave Stewart, and Aditya Bitikar brink a wonderful, Frank Miller/Tim Sale, look to the whole thing.

[Landon Walsh]

I think the concept of villains not plotting to take over Gotham, but quietly integrate into society was really interesting.

I also enjoy a narrative that manages to make you question which side is actually the one who is truly insane. Every other chapter you flip back and forth as new information is presented. It was a cool experience.

This is the superior version of Ten Eyed Man. They made the most campy villain in Batman’s rogue gallery probably his scariest. That man is truly unpredictable.

Hashtag team ten eyed man

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a scary book, anchored by DaNi's amazing artwork (think Tim Sale doing a Sandman fill-in issue about Argento's Suspiria) and the frightening surreal dialogue by Dan Watters, this took a concept I never got much out of (the Joker killing people in Arkham Asylum on A-Day) and spun it into a horror classic.

[Samuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to acquaint myself with Dani, who was announced as the artist for the upcoming Batwoman solo!!!

Really deep look into some lesser Gotham villains, superbly written and I really really loved Dani’s noir-ish art

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a trip into the world of insanity. Alternative treatment methods. PTSD. Mapping Arkham Asylum on Gotham: a city of trade. The Ten-Eyed Man is a wild character that doesn't seem to have power but he does. Connection to patients through pain.

I would be protected.

[Donnie Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

No real review, I just absolutely love Dan Watters writing style paired with the incomparable Dani’s art! Damn fine!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a little gem. Solid all around 👏

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was great up until the end. It had a bad ending to it

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark, trippy, no Batman!

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Gotham descends into madness stories.