Plot bunneh! (Batman and Lovecraft flavored, even!)
It’s been nibbling in the gardens of my brain for a while, so I’m going to let him out in the yard and see if the Hawk of Shiny New Ideas gets him before I do anything with him.
In Lovecraft, “Arkham” was a city in Massachussets that was home to a Sanitarium and many an ancient eldritch menace – as well as kiddy-corner to many *other* places where Bad Things Happen, like Dunwich, Innsmouth, Kingsport and… well, most any other place Lovecraft came up with that was known to mortal man (except for the urban district of Red Hook – that was CLEARLY his much-loathed Manhattan squalor, full of all those nasty immigrants he disliked so. New York City did NOT agree with the man.)
Well, eventually, Arkham inspired the creators of Batman to create Arkham Asylum as the place to cart off all the baddies… but it’s not the only logical link to Lovecraft from the Batman universe.
R’as al-Ghul, with his ancient alchemical lore and hidden Lazarus Pits in the dark places of the Earth, calls back to the ancient sorcerers and madmen who penned books like the Necronomicon.
Killer Croc seems quite a bit like what one might get out of a particularly degraded specimen of Howard’s serpent-people – a hulking, reptilian abomination lurking beneath the city, occasionally coming out for food, fun, and possibly the occasional sacrifice to the ancient Snake-God, Yig.
The Penguin, with his creepy, not-quite-human appearance, seems to call to a strange variation on the Innsmouth Look, as well as to the eldritch horrors that lurk beneath the Antarctic ice.
The Joker is a nihilistic madman – very much in keeping with the sort of supervillain Lovecraft might have approved of. One who saw the entire world as a great joke, destined for devastation and chaos beyond mankind’s control, and eager to help it get there.
Of course, Catwoman is as much anti-heroine as villainess – and if Lovecraft could find any female a suitable heroine, it would surely be one who was educated and capable of working in a man’s world (much like his wife, who he was sufficiently fond of to marry despite her being Jewish), as well as one who shared his inordinate fondness for cats.
Other ties can be dug out, of course, but that’s enough for a start here.
What is it that has led to the corruption that seems to be gnawing at Gotham’s heart? Why does it need a Batman, and why is it such a magnet for madmen and monsters? Perhaps there’s something deeper, hidden beneath the dark heart of the city… perhaps Gotham wasn’t always Gotham.
In The Colour Out of Space, a reservoir is built outside of Arkham, one that the ancient Ammi Pierce claimed would be tainted by the sky-born creature that had claimed the mind and life of his dear friends and neighbors, the Gardners. The Colour seemed to taint everything that it touched, drawing on its life, twisting its mind, and slowly spreading a lasting blight through its very being. Perhaps in the wake of the reservoir’s use, and the other assorted incidents that struck Arkham, the city’s founders and people decided it was best to change the city’s name and identity – to leave behind the tainted reputation of Arkham, and seek a new golden age along with a new name. Of course, you can polish the skin of the apple, but if the core is still rotten, it’s just as foul to taste… and the newly-christened Gotham is black and dripping at its heart, no matter how bright and shiny the skin it shows the world.
Of course, the Colour has long since been satisfied – but between its lasting taint, and the other foul things that dwelt beneath the streets, what used to be Arkham remains a hotbed for all forms of creeping insanity. Cults exist among the homeless and the downtrodden, ones that make the horror at Red Hook seem downright tame. Nightmarish creatures perch on the high buildings of the city, always alert for new prey. And the growing influence of the things that stir fitfully in their slumber reaches out, granting power to some, insight to others, and madness to all they touch. They lurk in strange places – a child born with hands strangely reminiscent of a bird’s flippers. A once-respected DA, who delved too deep into things he shouldn’t, and was visited with a horribly scarred face and mind for his troubles. A cackling lunatic with a rictus grin painted on his face that matches the one he wears on his lips, lone (for now) worshipper of the crawling chaos at the center of the universe, that will one day consume all that is. A distant scion of the creatures who once ruled in ancient Hyperborea, the idiot son of creatures mankind does not even know existed. A cultured ascetic, whose long-prolonged life is an unending quest to fulfill a bargain long-ago made with eldritch monstrosities – to grant them freedom in exchange for power.
Now, I know, DC has had this idea themselves with the Elseworlds installment “The Doom that Came to Gotham.” But from everything I’ve seen and heard, they’re going about it the wrong way – trying to force Batman into Lovecraft’s world, rather than working Lovecraft into Batman’s.
I still don’t have an overarching plot for this, but who knows? Maybe I’ll figure something out given some time….
