that she was being tormented by a supernatural creature and would call to her son to protect her. One day, however, he finally sees what his mother saw - a great bat, a spectre of death. Taking a pearl-handled straight razor from his pocket, he cuts his mother's throat to end her suffering. He then blocks out the memory and attributes her death to suicide. Traumatized, Amadeus puts on his mother's wedding dress and takes out the pearl-handled razor. It is vaguely implied that Arkham cannibalizes his family's remains in a shamanic ritual. Kneeling in the blood of his family, he vows to bind the evil spirit of "The Bat", which he believes inhabits the house, through ritual and sorcery. He treats Hawkins for months until finally electrocuting him in a shock therapy session. This incident is treated as an accident by the authorities. Soon after, Arkham freefalls into madness. He continues his mission even after he is incarcerated in the Asylum himself after trying to kill his stockbroker in 1929; he scratches the words of a binding spell into the walls and floor of his cell with his fingernails and constantly belts out "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a loud voice until the day he dies. Decades later Dr. Cavendish, another doctor in the asylum, believes he is a reincarnation of Amadeus and frees the inmates. Towards the end of the story, he takes another doctor, Dr. Adams, hostage, dresses himself in the dress of Amadeus' mother and relates Arkham's history to Batman before attempting to strangle him. Dr. Adams saves Batman by killing Cavendish with the same razor Amadeus used to kill his mother. Amadeus' role in creating the asylum, Hawkins' history with Amadeus and Amadeus' descent into madness have become canon and are the origin of Arkham Asylum in all incarnations of the asylum since. In The New 52 reboot, Amadeus Arkham is re-established as having been the partner of the bounty hunter Jonah Hex. Amadeus is a psychologist who specializes in criminal behavior and lives in a mansion with his mother. Amadeus often partners up with Jonah Hex in an effort to solve a series of murders that were committed by the Gotham Ripper and even uncovered a child slavery operation run by Thurston Moody of the Court of Owls. Amadeus Arkham appears in various DC Comics related media: The spirit of Dr. Amadeus Arkham appears in