Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum, officially known as the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and formerly known as Arkham Hospital, is a fictional mental health treatment facility featured in comic books published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Batman, Volume 1 #258 in September-October, 1974. In terms of continuity, Arkham Asylum was introduced during DC's Silver Age era, which has been retroactively referred to as Earth-One continuity. Its existence was preserved in the mainstream DC Universe which existed following the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" up to the "Flashpoint" storyline and is also seen in the Post-Flashpoint "New 52" continuity reboot setting. Arkham Asylum is associated with the Batman family of comic book titles and has also appeared in alternate media including animated programs, movies and video games.

History
Originally known as Mercey Mansion, the hospital was run by Amadeus Arkham. Arkham himself was slowly driven insane shortly following the grisly murder of his wife and child by a lunatic named Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins. Dying inside his own hospital, custodianship of Arkham Asylum was passed down to his nephew, Jeremiah. Jeremiah Arkham took a hard-line approach towards the care of his patients. He completely renovated the interior of the hospital, tearing away the old Victorian-style architecture, replacing it with newly designed interconnecting corridors patterned in the style of old classical labyrinths. With little regard for the hospital's dark history, Jeremiah was certain to destroy old remnants of the old asylum, including his uncle's private journal. Arkham hired Hiram Contractors to handle the renovations. What Jeremiah didn't realize however was that the company foreman, Zolly Hiram, had been blackmailed by patient Victor Zsasz into building a secret corridor that connected to several padded rooms, including his own. This later enabled Zsasz to affect a temporary escape from the asylum.

Notes & Trivia

 * The first appearance of Arkham Asylum is often mis-credited as Batman #326. This was actually the first issue where it was referred to as Arkham Asylum. In previous appearances, it was known as Arkham Hospital.