Jeremiah Arkham

JEREMIAH ARKHAM

Real Name: Jeremiah Arkham

Class: Human

Occupation: Psychologist, administrator of Arkham Asylum, criminal

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Amadeus Arkham (great uncle, deceased), Constance Arkham (first cousin once removed, deceased), Elizabeth Arkham (great grandmother, deceased), Harriet Arkham (great aunt, deceased)

Aliases: Black Mask

Base of Operations: Arkham Asylum, Gotham City

First Appearance: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (June, 1992)

Powers: Arkham was a skilled psychologist, but he suffered from dissociative identity disorder

History:

(Batman/Scarface: A Psychodrama #1) - As part of Jeremiah Arkham’s therapy the Ventriloquist was convinced to throw his puppet Scarface into the sea, removing the physical manifestation of his split-personality. Ventriloquist said he felt like a murderer, and hated himself for betraying Scarface, but Arkham assured him he’d no longer have evil urges, and would soon be out of Arkham Asylum. When Ventriloquist was released he contacted his former henchman Rhino to help him restart his show-biz ambitions with his new ventriloquism act. He carved a dummy named Lola, and had his first performance at Gotham’s Ventriloquism Club. Penguin attended his first show, delighted to see his old rival had become a nobody, but Ventriloquist mocked him during his act, infuriating him. Scarface came into Penguin’s possession, and he threw the dummy on the stage during Ventriloquist’s next act, hoping he’d have a nervous breakdown. Ventriloquist’s henchman Rhino convinced him that it was fate that reunited him with Scarface, and Ventriloquist decided to return to a life on crime. Rhino had recorded the audience during Ventriloquist’s acts, just like when he was starting his criminal career, and recorded Penguin working out his next heist, sending expendable men to the Vargas Building as a decoy for Batman while Penguin would join his men hitting the diamond district. Ventriloquist called the GCPD, and while Batman rounded up the men at the Vargas Building Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD foiled the heist in the diamond district and arrested Penguin. Meanwhile Ventriloquist and Rhino burst into Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge, shot a bunch of his men, and stole the money he kept in his vault.

(Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #2) - Crooked businessman Walter "Great White Shark" played the system, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity after a trial for defauding people out of their life's savings. His therapist Dr. Carver put through the paperwork to have him transferred to a minimal security prison, but she turned out to be an imposter. Jane Doe had killed Carver months earlier, and taken her identity. Jeremiah Arkham explained to White that he wasn't getting transferred, and "Carver's" file on him was destroyed unread. White pleaded with him, but learned that Jeremiah had lost money in one of White's schemes, so he looked forward to White rotting. Arkham wanted to tighten security in the wake of Carver's death.

(Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #3-6) - Jeremiah gave Humpty Dumpty Scarface's dummy Scarface, which had been smashed to bits by an irate inmate. Aaron Cash wasn't sure about the wisdom in this, but Arkham told him it was nice to have a handy man they didn't need to pay. Jane Doe, in the identity of Arkham guard Wrigley, helped free her fellow inmates. Jeremiah hadn't gotten a full night sleep in years, and when his rest wasn't interrupted by any emergency calls from Arkham he became suspicious. He grabbed a shotgun and investigated Arkham. With guard Aaron Cash he helped quell the riot, taking out Killer Croc with a tranq gun. He had sleeping gas released through Arkham to disable any inmates still causing havoc. Doodlebug murdered victims to free the Skarva, Demons trapped beneath Arkham. The Skarva stirred in their tomb, and started rampaging through Arkham Asylum. Doodlebug opened a gate to Hell, summing the Skarva's master Cthuga, and died in the process. The Skarva needed more sacrificed to keep it open. Aaron Cash tried to fight the Skarva, who turned Killer Croc and other inmates into monstrous versions of themselves to fight him. Cash finally got over his fear of Croc, ripping off a chunk of his body with his prosthetic hand, and saving Jeremiah from being sacrificed. The demons returned to hell with the help of Demon Etrigan and Great White Shark. Jeremiah, Batman, and Etrigan decided to blame the incident on hallucinations caused by Scarecrow's fear-gas, to save the staff's sanity.

(Batman I #679, 680) - Dr. Hurt and the Club of Villains came to Gotham City to completely break Batman and destroy the Batman Family. They sent Nightwing to Arkham Asylum, under an assumed identity, and Dr. Mox told Jeremiah Arkham he was preparing the inmate for a frontal lobotomy. Jeremiah said Arkham had long ago abandoned such barbarous procedures and told him to stand down. Mox revealed himself as Club member Le Bossu and he informed Jeremiah that he and his gang of Gargoyles now had control of Arkham. The Gargoyles beat Jeremiah bloody with a baseball bat. Jeremiah and his staff were locked in cells, and Dr. Hurt invited the Black Glove to Arkham to bet on Batman’s survival when he fought against the Club and Joker in the asylum.

Comments: Created by Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle.