Joker's Asylum: Mad Hatter
The Joker's Asylum II started off with a bang a few weeks back with The Riddler one-shot. Being a little late on the draw of late, my recent dive into the foray continues on with the Mad Hatter one-shot. I myself have only experienced the Mad Hatter in a minimal amount of Batman story arcs, namely Haunted Knight. Aside from the dead giveaway on the name alone, this particular short tale features a character inspired by the Lewis Carroll Alice In Wonderland universe, albeit with a more darkly psychotic persona.
Similarly to the Riddler one-shot, the Mad Hatter's personality profile involves the pining for a woman he seemingly cannot have in his life. The Hatter continually obsesses for a woman working in a local store that he is convinced could and should be his "Alice", if only he could just have her for his own. Much like a person battling a combination of shyness and odd compulsion, he ends up coming off as a bit of a stalker. As the tale begins to wind down, the reader comes to find that the Hatter is more than a bit mad, but also seemingly murderous. Storywise, this tale reads well enough, but lacks a bit of the dimension that the Riddler one-shot featured in his exploration, transformation and re-transformation.
The artwork that drives the Mad Hatter story is much more aggressive than the Riddler one-shot that featured clean lines and bright colors. The Mad Hatter art features a mix of creepy child drawings in bright colors and choppy lines when dealing with the Hatter himself. The difference between this book and other books that feature art that some might consider "poor" (ie; The Dark Knight Strikes Again), the tense style is welcome here.
Similarly to the Riddler one-shot, the Mad Hatter's personality profile involves the pining for a woman he seemingly cannot have in his life. The Hatter continually obsesses for a woman working in a local store that he is convinced could and should be his "Alice", if only he could just have her for his own. Much like a person battling a combination of shyness and odd compulsion, he ends up coming off as a bit of a stalker. As the tale begins to wind down, the reader comes to find that the Hatter is more than a bit mad, but also seemingly murderous. Storywise, this tale reads well enough, but lacks a bit of the dimension that the Riddler one-shot featured in his exploration, transformation and re-transformation.
The artwork that drives the Mad Hatter story is much more aggressive than the Riddler one-shot that featured clean lines and bright colors. The Mad Hatter art features a mix of creepy child drawings in bright colors and choppy lines when dealing with the Hatter himself. The difference between this book and other books that feature art that some might consider "poor" (ie; The Dark Knight Strikes Again), the tense style is welcome here.
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