Arkham Reborn #1 - DC

Ok . . with this issue we get a new look at Arkham . . both the asylum and the doctor. I'm not sure which is more creepy. Anyways, the current curator of the nut-house is Jeremiah Arkham. I'm sorry . . Dr Jeremiah Arkham. Dr Amadeus Arkham was the architect of the original building. And I mean that literally. He planned the Asylum from the ground up . . the building, the purpose, the goal, the treatments, the patients . . he was behind everything, inside or out, that was involved with the 13th circle of hell. Sorry! I'm just joking. But he did create Arkham and he was Jeremiah's Uncle. So, Jeremiah has put equal attention to this incarnation of the facility. His goals are altruistic, but . . I'm afraid that his plans may be sabotaged by his new assistant director, Alyce Sinner. But more on her later. We first got a look at Jeremiah's plans for the place back in Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum. There we saw that this place eventually drove his uncle mad. But yet he was still intent on following his plans for an ultimate facility. Even in his madness, he left the plans behind for future generations. Almost as if he knew that eventually the place would come down upon itself. Anyways, in that issue we also met three of Jeremiah's favorites . . Alessio Morandi, No-Face . . Myrna Freud, Hamburger Lady and the Mirror Man. Even in this first issue we see that things are already happening that Jeremiah didn't plan, or account for. But he doesn't notice them. It takes No-Face to tell him that, 'Something is terribly wrong.' And we see that the good Doctor's first patient, Benjamin Wiley, Raggedy Man, is already putting he and Alyce at odds over treatment. She plays along to his face, but then at night we see that she's decided on an alternative treatment for poor Benjamin. It seems that she agrees more with the Uncle's ideology, 'Amadeus Arkham did not design this building as a sanctuary. He did not believe in forgiveness. He believed in retribution.' Now . . about Alyce. It turns out that she was the daughter of some religious extremists. When the day came for they sects 'passing over' . . and nothing happened . . they decided to got he way of Jim Jones. They poisoned their congregation. Only Alyce survived. After that she changed her last name to Sinner. 'To celebrate the fact that I rejected by parents' views. We all sin, Doctor Arkham.' And it appears that she's in league with the Black Mask. Which is odd since he's the one that released all of the inmates. But he also seems to be the one behind her change in therapy approach. That night, before she decides to initiate the Raggedy Man, Black Mask tells her . . 'I think it's time to initiate the Amadeus Code.' I wasn't sure what he meant when I read it, but . . I think he means putting the inmates through hell rather than rehabilitation. Since this place is Jeremiah's baby, I can't imagine that he doesn't have some way to monitor what goes on in it's halls . . security measures that even Alyce doesn't know about. But this issue only serves to introduce us to the stage and it's players. We'll have to wait until next issue to see how the drama unfolds. I thought it was an excellent book. David Hine and Jeremy Haun also handled the Battle for the Cowl book, so this one had much the same feel. I like that they're putting such effort into redefining this part of Batman's landscape. While Batman is the 'jailer', Arkham . . specifically Jeremiah, is the 'gate keeper'. Hence . . my 13th circle of hell reference. I can't wait to watch this one play itself out.