Introduced in the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn went on to make her comics debut in 1999 courtesy of co-creator Paul Dini. If you're eager to spend a day in the mind of Gotham's chief lunatic, hunt this modern gem down in either single issue form or as part of the Batman and Son trade paperback. Following up on his brilliant psychological deconstruction of the character in the Arkham Asylum graphic novel, Morrison dives straight into the Joker's psyche with disturbing results. There are better Joker stories out there, to be sure, but no single comic does a better job of fully encapsulating what makes the character tick than Batman #663, a prose story written by Grant Morrison. Written by Grant Morrison, Art by John Van Fleet Drawing on a number of classic Joker stories from the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age for inspiration, The Man Who Laughs details the Clown Prince of Crime's horrific coming out party as Gotham's villainous head honcho. The Killing Joke outlined the Joker's tragic origins, but Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's 2001 graphic novel finally gave comic fans a canonical account of his first murderous crime spree. McKean lives in England's Kent countryside.Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Doug Manhke He also directed the Jim Henson Productions film MirrorMask, which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. He has worked on print and film projects with John Cale, Stephen King, the Rolling Stones, Lars Von Trier and SF Said, and created ad campaigns for Kodak, Nike, BMW Mini and Smirnoff, among others. McKean has illustrated, photographed, and designed hundreds of CD covers, comic covers, and book covers, including the entire Sandman series.

His collected short stories Pictures That won the Victoria & Albert Museum Book of the Year Award, and his short film N won overall first prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. Punch, Signal to Noise, Violent Cases (all written by Neil Gaiman), and his own Cages.

Dave McKean has illustrated several award-winning comics, including the best-selling Batman: Arkham Asylum (written by Grant Morrison), Mr.

Grant has also written best-selling runs on JLA, Seven Soldiers of Victory, and New X-Men, and helped to reinvent the DC Universe in The Multiversity, All Star Superman, 52, Batman, Batman & Robin and Batman, Inc.

About the Author: Writer Grant Morrison is known for his innovative work on comics from the graphic novel Arkham Asylum to acclaimed runs on Animal Man and Doom Patrol, as well as his subversive creator-owned titles such as The Invisibles, Seaguy, and WE3. Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's timeless, genre-bending tale BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM is brought back to its classic beauty in this New Edition! Batman faces his most dangerous foes and his inner demons in order to retake Arkham Asylum from the grips of The Joker, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and many more.

Arkham asylum novel