Arkham City: The Order of the World #1

Arkham City: The Order of the World #1

DC Comics 2021

Written by Dan Watters

Illustrated by Dani

Coloured by Dave Stewart

Lettered by Aditya Bidikar

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 Arkhamites: 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.

Alright, colour me intrigued. Although the Joker denies causing A-Day the damage was done and it is interesting to see who has survived the chaos. I am enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which brings their personalities to the forefront beautifully. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we’re pulled into this and left engaged and invested.

I am enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. The layers within the story open up some interesting avenues to explore and while most will be some won’t be and regardless what they all do is add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is excellently achieved.

Dani has a very distinct style to her work. For the inmates and of Arkham itself it lends that air of horror, unease and creepiness that is so befitting the subject matter. I’m really impressed with how we see the linework and its varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work. Backgrounds are utilised fairly well, we could always use more, and they do enhance and expand the moments beautifully. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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I was afraid this was going to be a Batman title but to see the main character in Doctor Jocasta Joy and her relationship to Arkham and those that have managed to survive and flee into the city makes me a happy camper. It also engages the reader in ways that you’ll know when you experience them because it all centres around Arkham and what that place does to you regardless if you are staff or patient. The writing is sharp and intelligent and the characterisation is cool as a cucumber while the interiors bring this to life with such a great air of horror making this DC’s surprise hit of the week for me.