Warning! Spoilers ahead for Detective Comics #1047
In a preview of DC Comics' Batman: Detective Comics, Gotham City has opened its new version of Arkham Asylum, and it may actually help the mentally unwell and criminally insane get better. While it's no secret that Arkham Asylum had quite the dark and disturbed history in DC Comics, the new Arkham Tower will potentially flip the script by being a real place for rehabilitation and restoring mental health, rather than being a twisted penitentiary that seemed to lose just as many patients as it received. However, the new preview does suggest that Arkham Tower may be too good to be true.
While Arkham Asylum had been part of the Batman-mythos in Gotham City for decades, it was finally destroyed in a massive explosion caused by Scarecrow on what Gotham now refers to as A-Day. It was also the inciting incident that began Jonathan Crane's recent Fear State where he pushed Gotham into greater levels of fear than ever before. However, Crane was ultimately defeated by the Dark Knight and his Bat-Family, and Gotham's Mayor Christopher Nakano ordered the creation of the new Arkham Tower to serve as the former asylum's replacement.
In a preview for Batman: Detective Comics #1047 from Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, and Fernando Blanco, Arkham Tower's director Dr. Wear gives a presentation, showcasing the new facility's mission as well as the success they've already had with their revolutionary new practices. As an example, they bring out the killer known as Nero XIX who saw himself as a king with a divine purpose to kill Gotham's mayor. However, it seems as though Nero has been cured thanks to the efforts of Arkham Tower and its mysterious new treatments. Enjoy the preview pages and synopsis for the issue:
“The Tower” begins! The 12-part weekly Detective Comics event starts here. Arkham Asylum has fallen, and in its place, Arkham Tower has risen in the heart of the city, a pitch made by the mysterious Dr. Wear. Unlike the Asylum, Dr. Wear promises his methods and drug treatments will heal Gotham’s criminally inclined for good—a claim that skeptics like Deb Donovan and the Bat-Family don’t believe. There’s something wrong with the tower, with Dr. Wear’s methods—and with Batman away from Gotham City, the rest of the Bat-Family is going to find out what…but not before everything explodes. Written by critically acclaimed author Mariko Tamaki, continuing her incredible Detective Comics run, and drawn by DC Comics legend Ivan Reis!
While Dr. Wear correctly describes Arkham Asylum as a nightmare of the past that could have been prevented, he offers Arkham Tower as the way forward. Rather than locking criminals away on the outskirts of town in cells that might as well have had revolving doors, Arkham Tower is based in the heart of the city, serving as a shining symbol of what's possible and the healing it can provide. However, there are some questions and suspicions presented in the new preview such as a lack of public knowledge of the specific treatments being used along with Wear's medical license. Combined with a rising ring of pharmaceutical drug deals on the streets, it seems the Bat-Family will already begin an investigation into the Tower to make sure it's all on the up and up.
Regardless, Gotham City could certainly use a win after the devastating events such as the Joker War and Fear State, and a new version of Arkham that actually works would no doubt be a victory. Even if there are some issues as this new arc of Batman: Detective Comics begins, here's hoping the Bat-Family can smooth out any bumps in the road so Gotham City can usher in a genuine era where certain villains can start being redeemed and made better in the DC Universe. The full Detective Comics #1047 is available now.