Batman Assault on Arkham

The Arkham Sessions is dedicated to the psychology of Batman, so it seems almost like an ethical duty to cover a movie about Arkham Asylum, Gotham City's mental health facility for the "criminally insane." In the newly released direct-to-video animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham, a highly-skilled group of assassins and outlaws are called together by Amanda Waller to take part in a risky -- possibly life-threatening -- mission to infiltrate Arkham Asylum. Does it help or hurt that members have a history of incarceration, criminal activity, and psychiatric treatment related to lack of moral sense? Perhaps Waller is brilliant to devise a plan that can only succeed via the knowledge and insight of persons who have been through the system. In this episode of The Arkham Sessions, we gently put aside the VHS and screen a contemporary work from DC Universe Animated. Use the player above to listen to our spoiler-free analysis of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, Black Spider, Killer Frost, KB Beast, and, of course the Joker.

Officially, Batman: Assault on Arkham is an animated sequel to the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, building directly on the events of the game's ending, in which Amanda Waller starts up an Arkham universe version of the Suicide Squad. Unofficially, it's a Batman: The Animated Series/Justice League reunion between voice director Andrea Romano and actor Kevin Conroy, who has been playing Batman off and on since 1992. The last time they worked together on a Batman project was 2009's Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. The movie also brings back CCH Pounder, who has been playing Amanda Waller since Justice League.

Each weekday, ComicsAlliance brings you a carefully selected variety of links from around the web about comics and comics-related media, including movies, video games, toys, and whatever else might be worth noting. Quite frankly, these are items you may just need to know about to have a productive day. Take a look at today's hand-picked links after the jump.

Each weekday, ComicsAlliance brings you a carefully selected variety of links from around the web about comics and comics-related media, including movies, video games, toys, and whatever else might be worth noting. Quite frankly, these are items you may just need to know about to have a productive day. Take a look at today's hand-picked links after the jump.

So hey, have you heard about these Arkham games starring Batman? It seems they are pretty popular, friends -- so popular, in fact, that in addition to there being four of them in the video game series, we are now getting a full-length animated movie based on the Arkham Games in which Kevin Conroy reprises his role as Batman. It's called Batman: Assault on Arkham and will see Batman take on the Jok