Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Arkham Asylum, Batman, dc comics, gerard way, grant morrison

Gerard Way & Grant Morrison's Batman Punk Song & Arkham Asylum 2

Bleeding Cool has been having a lot of fun diving into Grant Morrison's extensive and comprehensive Xanaduum Substack, and have been sharing a very few extracts. There is, of course, so much more at the Substack. But we couldn't resist a look at details on an unpublished and planned Batman Black And White mini-series/graphic novel intended to be created with several friends in the LA artist community. It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2015 alongside Multiversity Too, a series of graphic novels beginning with Multiversity Too: The Flash planned for 2016, that were also not published.

Morrison also provided early details on another series of graphic novels featuring everyone's favorite Dark Knight in BATMAN: BLACK & WHITE. This continuing anthology series pairs Morrison's original Batman stories with a rotating cast of some of the biggest art talents in comics, that will only serve to highlight Grant's one of a kind perspective when it comes to comics in general and Batman in particular.

Now, Grant Morrison has revealed a few details, on planned stories and just who would have drawn them. Or, indeed, co-written them.

I had a story for Matt Bone where all of Bruce Wayne's former girlfriends are kidnapped by a disgruntled ex-employee and start swapping stories. Stephanie Inagaki was doing a super formal Bat-haiku one set at a Yakuza wedding on an ornamental roof garden in Gotham. There was the Amato photo strip featuring the fierce daughter of Tlano, the original Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. There was a mad, meta Bat-Mite thing for Sienkewicz where solving a simple crime in Batman's 3-D world is expressed in the 5-D world as a massive epoch-changing event. I had one for Ivan Reis who asked to be involved, which was World's Finest meets Blue Remembered Hills where Superman Batman and Luthor, drawn as adult superheroes in their costumes play out a violent kid game of chase and fight through ordinary streets that ends with Luthor up a tree in the park throwing branches down at a jeering Superman and Batman as the sun goes down. Gerard Way and I were collaborating on a weird expressionistic Batman/Joker story which came with its own punk song…

Woke up in a trash can!
Better call Batman!
Thought of something funny and it showed up on the CAT scan!
Smile please!
Get down on your knees!
Joker got a gun and we're gonna have some fun
With the Batman! Batman! ….etc

Okay, okay, anyone want to have a go at recording this? Added points for cosplay. Even more points if Gerard Way actually sings it. So where did it go, Grant?

I wrote more than half of the book, but it got tangled up with the whole New 52 situation and the conclusion of my Batman run. After seven years I felt ready to take a break from Gotham City, which meant that this book and the proposed Arkham Asylum 2, of which 25 pages were written, fell by the wayside. I still have a nagging desire to finish both but it's not where my head's at right now and may never happen.

Ah yes, Arkham Asylum 2, also announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2017 by Chris Burnham, which we reported "at 120 pages. Morrison compares it to Luc Besson, and says it will be all-encompassing, and set in the world of Batman 666." Last week's Future State Gotham went there…

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