GKO: MADHOUSE
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It's all starting to come together. It's been a story in the making since Battle for the Cowl - David Hine has been the architect behind Dr. Jeremiah Arkham for "Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum" to the mini-series "Arkham Reborn", which continues in Detective Comics #864, after this weeks event in Batman #697.
Newsarama have sat down with David Hine to talk about Arkham's unmasking and his upcoming story in Tec, Batman's official return to the title.
Newsarama: You've been working with Jeremiah Arkham for months now. Have you known Black Mask's secret identity since back when the character first showed up in your Battle for the Cowl one-shot about him?
David Hine: Yes. In fact I was writing that this time last year. That was an awful long time to sit on it. My original plot for the Battle For The Cowl one-shot had a lot more clues in it. Too many for editorial to pass on. I kept getting my outlines returned until I figured out I really couldn’t say too much about what was going on in Jeremiah Arkham’s head, so I came up with the story of the Three Beauties instead. I was a little worried that it was too much of a digression, but it actually went down very well with most readers.
Nrama: Is this why Arkham Reborn ended with a few things unfinished? Will you be finishing them now?
Hine: By the time Arkham Reborn came around, I was hoping that Black Mask would be unmasked and I could wrap the story the way I intended, but the mystery still had to be maintained for a few more months. The story of Jeremiah and the Three Beauties has ended up as a three-act story. The two-part Detective story is the final act, and this time all those loose ends will be tied up very firmly.
Nrama: What were some of things you included in your Arkham stories that hinted about Jeremiah's secret activities as Black Mask?
Hine: It was made pretty obvious from the start that Jeremiah was cracking up and had been heading that way for a very long time. In fact, he says at the start of the Battle for The Cowl one-shot that he has been "dancing on the edge of madness" all his life. I had to be very cagey about it in that first issue though. There are messages scrawled on a mirror and I wanted to have them signed "BM." So Jeremiah would have been looking into a mirror and seen himself reflected against the message "Perverted, Twisted, Crippled – BM." A strong hint that the person who wrote the message was Black Mask. The image stayed in but the "BM" signature had to be left out.
There are lots more clues in Arkham Reborn. By now, the recurring theme of masks and Jeremiah’s obsession with them should have been a big clue that he was also wearing one.
He has become a truly fractured personality. Part of him wants to rehabilitate the inmates of Arkham, while another part of him is haunted by his Uncle Amadeus, who ended up turning on the inmates of the asylum as he descended into his own state of madness. When we see Black Mask trying to break Jeremiah, this is really the “evil” side of Jeremiah trying to break down the last walls that Jeremiah has built around the “good” side of his personality. By the end of that mini-series, the walls had crumbled and he gave in to his insanity.
Newsarama: You've been working with Jeremiah Arkham for months now. Have you known Black Mask's secret identity since back when the character first showed up in your Battle for the Cowl one-shot about him?
David Hine: Yes. In fact I was writing that this time last year. That was an awful long time to sit on it. My original plot for the Battle For The Cowl one-shot had a lot more clues in it. Too many for editorial to pass on. I kept getting my outlines returned until I figured out I really couldn’t say too much about what was going on in Jeremiah Arkham’s head, so I came up with the story of the Three Beauties instead. I was a little worried that it was too much of a digression, but it actually went down very well with most readers.
Nrama: Is this why Arkham Reborn ended with a few things unfinished? Will you be finishing them now?
Hine: By the time Arkham Reborn came around, I was hoping that Black Mask would be unmasked and I could wrap the story the way I intended, but the mystery still had to be maintained for a few more months. The story of Jeremiah and the Three Beauties has ended up as a three-act story. The two-part Detective story is the final act, and this time all those loose ends will be tied up very firmly.
Nrama: What were some of things you included in your Arkham stories that hinted about Jeremiah's secret activities as Black Mask?
Hine: It was made pretty obvious from the start that Jeremiah was cracking up and had been heading that way for a very long time. In fact, he says at the start of the Battle for The Cowl one-shot that he has been "dancing on the edge of madness" all his life. I had to be very cagey about it in that first issue though. There are messages scrawled on a mirror and I wanted to have them signed "BM." So Jeremiah would have been looking into a mirror and seen himself reflected against the message "Perverted, Twisted, Crippled – BM." A strong hint that the person who wrote the message was Black Mask. The image stayed in but the "BM" signature had to be left out.
There are lots more clues in Arkham Reborn. By now, the recurring theme of masks and Jeremiah’s obsession with them should have been a big clue that he was also wearing one.
He has become a truly fractured personality. Part of him wants to rehabilitate the inmates of Arkham, while another part of him is haunted by his Uncle Amadeus, who ended up turning on the inmates of the asylum as he descended into his own state of madness. When we see Black Mask trying to break Jeremiah, this is really the “evil” side of Jeremiah trying to break down the last walls that Jeremiah has built around the “good” side of his personality. By the end of that mini-series, the walls had crumbled and he gave in to his insanity.
For the entire interview, click here...
(Source - Newsarama)
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