Arkham Asylum
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Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane is a fictional mental hospital near Gotham City in the DC Universe, where many of Batman's foes (most famously the Joker) wind up after they are captured. It was created by Dennis O'Neil, and first appeared in Batman #258; much of its back-story was created by Len Wein during the 1980s.
Arkham Asylum does not have a good record, at least with regard to the high profile cases; those who are 'cured' and released tend to re-offend. (Furthermore, several staff members, including at least one director, have ended up as residents. See also Harley Quinn.)
In addition, prisoners with unusual medical conditions that the regular prisons cannot accommodate are housed here, like Mr. Freeze who requires a strongly refrigerated environment to stay alive.
In the world of the Batman stories, the Asylum is named after Elizabeth Arkham, the mother of its founder; but in real life, it is named in honour of the city of Arkham, Massachusetts, one of the settings of H. P. Lovecraft's horror stories. In fact, when the asylum first appeared, it was actually in the city of Arkham; its Gotham location, and the consequent alternative explanation of the name, were later retcons.
This first appearance was in 1974, in Batman #258 by Dennis O'Neil. In this story, it was named as "Arkham Hospital" (although it was already clear what kind of hospital it was); "Arkham Asylum" first appeared in another O'Neil story the following year, but it was not until 1979 that "Arkham Asylum" completely replaced "Arkham Hospital" (and the occasional "Arkham Sanatorium") as the institution's name. By 1979, too, the move to have the asylum closer to Gotham had begun; that was completed in 1980, when Batman #326 by Len Wein described the Asylum's location "deep in the suburbs of Gotham City". (Perhaps for this reason Batman #326 is listed in some histories as the first appearance of Arkham Asylum.) It was also Len Wein who, in 1985's Who's Who #1, created the current back-story in which Arkham Asylum was founded in Gotham in the 1920s by Amadeus Arkham.
Originally, Arkham Asylum was used only to house genuinely insane characters - The Joker and Two-Face were inmates from its very first appearance - but over the course of the 1980s a trend was established of having the majority of Batman's supervillain opponents end up at Arkham, whether or not they were actually insane.
Known inmates (or past inmates) of Arkham Asylum include:
- Killer Croc
- Hugo Strange
- The Joker
- The Scarecrow
- Mr. Freeze
- Harley Quinn
- Doctor Milo
- The Mad Hatter
- Two-Face
- Zsasz
- Poison Ivy
- The Riddler
Graphic novel
Arkham Asylum is also the name of an acclaimed Batman graphic novel written by Grant Morrison, and with vivid artwork by Dave McKean, using his typical blend of painting, collage, ink drawings and other media. It was at one point the biggest-selling original graphic novel (as opposed to collection or trade paperback) of all time. Morrison explored various mystic ideas, including the symbiosis between Batman and the criminals he captured and recaptured.
