Arkham Asylum: Living Hell

Arkham Asylum
Arkham Asylum as it appears in Detective Comics vol. 2, #14 (January 2013); art by Jason Fabok.
Type	Asylum for the criminally insane
First appearance	Batman #258 (October 1974)
Publisher	DC Comics

The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, commonly called Arkham Asylum or simply Arkham (/ˈɑːrkəm/), is a fictional psychiatric hospital appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly appearing in stories featuring Batman. Arkham Asylum first appeared in Batman #258 (October 1974), written by Dennis O'Neil and drawn by Irv Novick.

Many criminals who experience psychosis from the DC Universe have been patients within the asylum and also escaped from it. Many of Arkham's high-profile patients are from Batman's rogues gallery, such as the Joker, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Bane, Killer Croc, Clayface, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze, and Harley Quinn.

Arkham Asylum is located on the outskirts of Gotham City, and it is where Batman's foes who are considered to be mentally ill are brought as patients (other foes are incarcerated at Blackgate Penitentiary). Although it has had numerous administrators, recent comic books have featured Jeremiah Arkham. Inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and in particular his fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts, the asylum was created by Dennis O'Neil and Irv Novick and first appeared in Batman #258 (October 1974); much of its back-story was created by Len Wein during the 1980s.