Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City developed by Rocksteady Studios were released for Playstaion 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. Arkham City took the gaming world by storm being universally acclaimed and one of the highest rated video games of 2011. Scripted by comic book veteran Paul Dini, the main plot follows Batman’s imprisonment in Arkham City. The story encompasses iconic locations, Gotham landmarks and even some of Gotham’s most notorious criminals.
As you’re playing Arkham City it feels like you are in constant awe of not only how beautiful the game looks but how captivating the storyline is. It’s as if you are watching a movie and get to be a part of it by helping Batman take down villains and save countless innocent citizens. You play hours on end, and finally you reach completion of the game. Its bittersweet to say the least; you were taken on this amazing adventure and had hours of hands on game play. What more could you really ask for, right? Wrong. I would like to think that about ninety percent of people who finished this game walked away craving more. Well, DC Comics heard these pleas and answered with an ongoing comic series, Batman: Arkham Unhinged. This comic series takes us deeper into Arkham City with a weekly digital series that is based on the video games Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Each will be 10 pages long and will follow your favorite characters from the game.
What are your thoughts on DC’s creation of the series? Do you love it or hate it? I personally think it’s a great idea. So many have not only played these games but have become invested into the storyline. I mean, game play isn’t the same as just having read a few issues of a story arc. Its hours upon hours of your time, working through the challenges as your favorite character, Batman, Catwoman, Robin or Nightwing. So I do think that people want to know more. You want to know what happens next after you turn off your console and put down your controller; you don’t just stop caring about what happens to these characters. Sure, you could go pick up the latest Batman issue at your local comic book store, but that’s not the Batman that you helped with taking down the Joker and Harley Quinn. I think it can be a great filler for in-between games as well, fingers crossed they make another one. But how awesome would it be to have been reading these comics and then the third game comes out and it picks up where the comics left off? A continuous stand alone story line that is solely based off the video games. It would bring more to the table for the video game brand of DC. It’s not just a game that you play until you beat it, it’s a story that you have become invested in, and it will continue on. Not only would it be great idea for DC but for fans who love Batman and this video game.
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: arkham unhinged, Batman:arkham city, Catwoman, DC Comics, digital comics, Nightwing, PC, PS3, Robin, Rocksteady, Video game, xbox
About the Author
Written by Supergirlove
Ashley (Supergirlove) has jumped into the geek world head on with everything from coffee dates at comic book stores, to the San Diego Comic Con being the highlight of her year. Her hero is Supergirl, and was privileged enough to meet Smallville’s Laura Vandervoort. You can find her attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where she resides in the Gryffindor house, usually watching movies or reading books about love.
The “translation” of other media to comic is an interesting topic, and certainly something that you have touched on here.
Batman is an interesting exception to the norm – the character was based in the graphic narrative before it branched out to other media. In the case of Batman Arkham City, Emmet and I commented not only on the immersive nature of the game, but how it successfully took many of the story arcs from the “great Batman narratives” and gave them a different voice through the game. I found Arkham City as a method to engage with the comics, rather than vice versa.
If you want to see another good example of comic-game crossover, just look at the Mass Effect series. I picked up Mass Effect: Redemption even before I started engaging with the video game series.
I like this because Im more of a fan of the game, like Harley looks way better in Arkham Asylum and City then she ever looked in the comics. Same with Robin and Batman. The game actually made me a Batman fan come to think of it. Before that I didn’t even really like his comics.
Silly question: Is it a video game comic if the game is based on a comic?
Yes and no. The game is loosely based on the Batman comics, but set sup a continuity all it’s own. It’s kind of like an alternate reality version of Batman, which is why I think this series sounds awesome!
Oh wow this sounds awesome! I would love to see this expanded upon, it works alot like the Elseworlds series!
Cool to see an article like this pop up. Hope people are enjoying the stories. We’re having fun putting them together. And so much more to come… Thanks!