industry. Editor Karen Berger revealed that it has sold "close to a half million copies" by 2004, making it the best-selling original graphic novel in American superhero comics. According to the Grant Morrison website, the series has already sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. Hilary Goldstein of IGN Comics praised the story and its "claustrophobic" portrayal of the asylum, saying that "Arkham Asylum is unlike any other Batman book you've ever read [and] one of the finest superhero books to ever grace a bookshelf". Goldstein also ranked Arkham Asylum #4 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, behind The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight Returns, and Year One. Rolling Stone praised the book as being one of Grant Morrison's best works, calling it "[their] first big commercial hit – and their first shot writing Batman, a character they would spend a great deal of time with over the course of their career – was this ground-breaking graphic novel featuring the grim, twisted artwork of painter Dave McKean. In this darkly poetic, psychologically rich tale, Batman faces off against the Joker, Two-Face, the Scarecrow and other villains inside Gotham City's house for the criminally insane". Joseph Szadkowski of The Washington Times called it as "one of the key sequential-art stories of the Batman library". Keith Dooley of Comics Authority describes it as "psychologically and visually jarring book [that] brings the reader along with Amadeus Arkham and Batman on their journeys through their psyches in a world full of symbolism". Adding also that "Batman, his foes, and all of humanity are greatly affected by the power of symbolism, with this story laying before the reader that these fictional characters' stories are also, in many ways, our stories". Lucas Siegel from Newsarama also praised the comic, describing the art as "striking, beautiful, and yes, today's secret word: disturbing". Morrison's response Despite the critical acclaim of the first edition, Morrison was surprised to learn that the graphic novel's success was due to the readers were enjoying McKean's art more than the story. Negative criticisms were mainly aiming at the heavy reliance on symbolism which many found difficult to understand and accused the story didn't work well with the art together. Morrison did the best as possible to defend all the misunderstood meanings, claiming the real problem was McKean insisted on not wanting to adhere the original idea at all. The collaboration with