| "The Last Arkham" | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofBatman: The Last Arkham trade paperback, art byBrian Stelfreeze | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Publication date | June – September1992 |
| Genre | |
| Title(s) | Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1-4 |
| Main character(s) | Batman Victor Zsasz Jeremiah Arkham |
| Creative team | |
| Writer | Alan Grant |
| Artist | Norm Breyfogle |
| Letterer | Todd Klein |
| Colorist | Adrienne Roy |
| Editor | Bob Kahan |
| Batman: The Last Arkham | ISBN 1-56389-190-5 |
"The Last Arkham" is a four-partBatmanstory arc that started theBatman: Shadow of the Batcomic book series in mid-1992. The storyline began inBatman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (June 1992), and finished inBatman: Shadow of the Bat #4 (Sept. 1992).DC Comics later compiled the four issues into atrade paperback in1995. The comic was written byAlan Grant and drawn byNorm Breyfogle and was responsible for the introduction of several new characters into the Batman universe.
"The Last Arkham" begins with the destruction of the oldArkham Asylum at the hands of its new administrator,Jeremiah Arkham, who inherited it from his deceased uncle,Amadeus Arkham. The asylum is revamped and fitted with numerous new security measures.
When Batman stumbles upon a series of murders, resembling the serial killerVictor Zsasz'sMO, Batman begins to investigate only to find Zsasz has been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum during the course of the murders. Determined to prove Zsasz guilty, Batman andCommissioner Gordon stage Batman's insanity in order to get him committed to Arkham and further investigate. However, Jeremiah Arkham is unaware of this plot and begins to break down Batman mentally and physically. Learning of Batman's incarceration through private talk with Jeremiah, Zsasz guesses Batman's insanity is obviously a ploy and begins to plant seeds of hatred towards Batman in Jeremiah's mind.[1] This explodes when Jeremiah forces Batman to fightAmygdala and other inmates from the asylum, including theJoker, theMad Hatter, andEgghead.[2]
Whilst this continues, Zsasz escapes through the tunnels which he had purchased and kills the builder and another inmate in order to cover his tracks. Batman defeats all the inmates and begins to wonder about Jeremiah Arkham's sanity, as Amadeus Arkham was in fact the asylum's first inmate.[2] Batman is put back into holding, but is freed byNightwing, who had come to investigate. The pair split up and Nightwing encounters Zsasz in the tunnels below the building. Zsasz collapses the tunnel in on Nightwing, but is stopped by Batman who had made the agonizing journey through a microwave sensor to stop him. The pair fight in the sewer and Commissioner Gordon arrives in time to arrest Zsasz.[3]
"The Last Arkham" launched three new characters into the Batman universe;Victor Zsasz,Jeremiah Arkham, andAmygdala, who were reunited in a story arc during the "Knightfall" story arc.
Zsasz was originally created by Alan Grant and was named afterpsychiatristThomas Szasz when Grant saw the name while visiting his girlfriend in her university library. Despite getting complaints that the character was similar toHannibal Lecter, Grant thought that Zsasz and Arkham Asylum would be able to start off a successful comic book series.[4]
Alan Grant drew Jeremiah Arkham's personality from another book from his girlfriend's library; thebiology bookSuperstition in the Common Pigeon byB. F. Skinner. Throughout the comic book, Jeremiah Arkham states that "if you change the behavior, the mind will follow". This line was drawn from that book and gives light to Jeremiah's sadistic methods of dealing with the inmates. In theLast Arkham, Jeremiah's background is touched upon during a flashback and explains that his understanding of the human mind comes from one instance when he was 16 and a store was being held up by a maniac from Arkham Asylum. Jeremiah coolly calms the gunman when he goes to shoot him, and watches him commit suicide.[5]
The storyline has been collected into atrade paperback:
