AMADEUS ARKHAM	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Len Wein, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

PERSONAL DATA

Occupation: Psychiatrist
Status: Deceased
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Widowed
Known Relatives: Elizabeth Arkham (mother); Constance Arkham (wife); Harriet Arkham (daughter); Jeremiah Arkham (decendant)
Base of Operation: Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, Gotham City
Gender: Male
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray, formerly Brown
First Appearance: (mentioned): Who's Who #1 (March 1985)
(seen): Arkham Asylum (1989)
Creators: Len Wein, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

HISTORY

In 1921, renowned psychiatrist Amadeus Arkham was given a parcel of land outside Gotham City by his mother, the mentally ill Elizabeth Arkham. A vigourous social reformer, Dr. Arkham had been appalled by conditions on the Gotham penal system and founded Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, an institution for those not mentally responsible for their criminal actions. One or Arkham's earliest inmates was Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins, who had brutally murdered Arkham's own wife and infant daughter. "Mad Dog" was 'accidentally' electrocuted shortly after his incarceration. In the stock market crash of 1929, Arkham lost his fortune and, apparently, his mind. After trying to electrocute his former stockbroker, Arkham was committed to his own asylum, where he spent the rest of his days carving strange inscriptions on the floor of his cell with his fingernails. He died in his sleep on April 7, 1963. Decades later, Amadeus' descendant Jeremiah would become chief administrator of the Asylum.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Amadeus Arkham in chronological order click here