Add another tally to the Suicide Squad’s kill count. DC’s Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #1 — the official prelude comic to the Rocksteady video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — returns to Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, setting of the Batman: Arkham trilogy. Three months before Brainiac invades Metropolis and brainwashes the world’s greatest superheroes (including the Kevin Conroy-voiced Dark Knight), A.R.G.U.S. Director Amanda Waller lets loose the Arkham inmates who will form Task Force X: Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, George Harkness/Boomerang, and Nanaue/King Shark. [Spoiler alert for Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #1.]
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Five years after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight, Amanda Waller and Gotham Mayor Jim Gordon supervise a prisoner transfer at the rebuilt Arkham Asylum. As part of the government’s tax dollars-funded reconstruction, A.R.G.U.S. (Advance Research Group United Support) — a division of homeland security — oversaw the extensive and expensive renovations and upgrades that made the asylum inescapable and impenetrable. That includes Gotham City’s rogue’s gallery and its “vigilante do-gooder,” Waller tells Batman, who returns an escaped Killer Croc to Arkham custody.
Waller alone decides the security and treatment of prisoners. Her philosophy: “We lock ’em up and throw away the key.” Gordon supports incarcerating criminals, but draws the line at their inhumane living conditions. Mayor Gordon asks the insane Harley Quinn — once Dr. Quinzel — for her clinical diagnosis, and she confirms Gordon’s suspicious of psychological torture with surprising clarity. Squalid conditions, spoiled food, lack of access to plumbing and basic hygiene, nonexistent services, uniformly malicious guards, electrical behavior-modification plates, too-hot or too-cold temperatures, triggering pheromones pumped into the cells, and an unsettling electronic buzzing that is emitted on a low-level frequency.
“It is almost as if all aspects of Arkham’s environment are specifically designed to produce a response of maximum agitation and aggression — to keep the inmates on edge, desperate… and angry,” Harley says matter-of-factly. “And if the people inside here ever get outside of these cells… we’re gonna kill every goddamn thing we can get our hands on.”
It’s a fate that will be spared one Bat-villain. The batch of new inmates includes the man-eating King Shark, a transfer from Belle Reve, and the knife-wielding serial killer Victor Zsasz. He prods King Shark as “fresh meat,” telling him, “Scared little fishies don’t last too long in a place like Arkham. Scared little fishies get cut up… made into shark fin soup.” Zsasz’s skin is a sickening canvas: a tally mark for every kill.
Zsasz overhears Waller remind Mayor Gordon that no one gets in or out of Arkham Asylum without her say-so, taunting his would-be prey. “You hear that, fishie? Sounds like you’re stuck in here with me. And I can’t wait to get a chance to stick you.” The soft-spoken shark man mistakes that for a sexual proposition and tells Zsasz he’s flattered — but not interested. “No, you idiot. Stick you with a blade,” Zsasz counters. “That was a threat, not some sex thing.” With a squelching CHOMP, King Shark bites Zsasz’s head off… leaving his decapitated corpse to sputter blood. “He was threatening me,” King Shark says through blood-covered teeth, only to then be remanded to Waller’s custody.
After Batman subdues a semi-sedated Killer Croc and prevents Arkham guards from firing lethal rounds, he confronts Waller: A.R.G.U.S.’ Arkham Asylum isn’t as secure as she believes. She threatens to jail Batman for trespassing in her domain. This isn’t Batman’s fight, and he won’t always be there to fight their fights. “I will always be here,” Batman tells Waller. “To stop the monsters. To put an end to evil. To keep good people safe. As will the Justice League, which is why I joined them. For Gotham. For Metropolis. For wherever we are needed — the Justice League will always be there.”
Three months later… the Justice League isn’t there. With Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash MIA, Waller activates her contingency plan: “Let the animals out of their cages.” She orders Colonel Flag to deactivate the inmates’ cell locks and free Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Boomerang, and King Shark. “It’s not just a terrible idea,” she tells Flag. “For most of these poor souls… it’s suicide.”
Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #1 (of 5) is on sale now from DC Comics.
