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| Jeremiah Arkham | |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Shadow of the Bat #1 (Jun. 1992) |
| Created by | Alan Grant Norm Breyfogle |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations | Arkham Asylum |
| Abilities | Head of Arkham Asylum |
Jeremiah Arkham is a fictional character in DC Comics' Batman comic books, in which he serves as the current head of Arkham Asylum, an institution for the criminally insane. He debuted in 1992 in Shadow of the Bat #1 during the four-part story arc, Batman: The Last Arkham, that kicked off the new series.
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Publication history
Batman: The Last Arkham
In Batman: The Last Arkham, Jeremiah is portrayed as the somewhat sadistic administrator of Arkham Asylum who has delusions that the criminals he houses could one day be housed in society. The Asylum had come into Jeremiah's possession after his uncle Amadeus Arkham died after going mad. Jeremiah proceeded to demolish the asylum before rebuilding it with state of the art systems to keep Arkham's criminals, such as The Joker, The Scarecrow and Cornelius Stirk, contained.1
During his debut issue in Shadow of the Bat #1, Jeremiah's background was touched upon briefly. Although not much is known about his prior history, the issue states that when he was a teenager he walked into a corner store being held up at gun point by an escaped inmate of the nearby Arkham Asylum, which was coincidentally run by his uncle. The gunman had already killed the storeowners, but when he went to shoot him, Jeremiah seemed to know all about the gunman's hurt and past and talked the gunman out of shooting him. The gunman then proceeded to commit suicide and Jeremiah knew he would be destined to succeed his uncle as the head of Arkham Asylum.1
Soon after the new Arkham is built however, Batman stumbles across a series of murders resembling Zsasz's MO. Zsasz (who also debuted in Shadow of the Bat #1) had been an inmate at Arkham Asylum for a long period, but the similarity was too much to ignore, so Batman fakes insanity to get into the asylum to investigate. However, Jeremiah is unknowing of this plot and takes Batman's insanity as genuine. Zsasz had actually been the murderer and had been getting out of Arkham by a series of underground tunnels put in place by the contractor on the asylum's revamp. Zsasz, upon hearing of Batman's arrival, predicts it's a set up and begins to plant seeds of doubt and hatred towards Batman in Jeremiah Arkham's mind. In addition to this, Jeremiah blames Batman for stopping his inmate's rehabilitation. The situation erupts when Jeremiah locks Batman in a room and sets the inmates of Arkham of the asylum on him, including Amygdala, The Riddler and others.2
After the main storyline is wrapped up, and Zsasz uncovered, Batman questions whether Jeremiah is himself mad. Jeremiah denies it, but in the closing scene of the comic, he asks himself whether he will end up like his insane uncle and whether he is indeed mad as Batman suggested.3
Knightfall saga
Jeremiah Arkham returned once again in the year-long story arc Knightfall. His role began when he was held at gunpoint by The Joker after Arkham Asylum is attacked by Bane in order to free the asylum's inmates. The Joker attempts to scare Jeremiah into madness and Jeremiah is only saved when Batman frees him from the Joker's trap.4
After this story arc, Jeremiah Arkham has appeared occasionally throughout Batman storylines.
Other Media
Television
Although Dr. Arkham didn't appear in Batman animated series, a character called Dr. Bartholomew was created in his place, and was somewhat naive instead of calculating and antagonistic like Jeremiah Arkham.
Video Game
Dr. Jeremiah Arkham was featured in Batman: Dark Tomorrow.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Shadow of the Bat #1.
- ^ Shadow of the Bat #3.
- ^ Shadow of the Bat #4.
- ^ Batman #491.
References
- Breyfogle, N. & Grant, A. (1996). Batman: The Last Arkham. DC comics. ISBN 1563891905.
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 December 2008, at 02:00.
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