Batman: Arkham Asylum - Living Hell #6

[cyberghostface]

Comments

[mazway_75]

Oddly, this reminds me a bit of Breaking Bad. The key question of fans of the show is "was Walt forced to become Heisenberg because of the brutal world he was in? Or was it always inside him waiting for the excuse to come out?"

LIkewise, was White just a corrupt guy warped by Arkham into this Great White monster? Or did he just need as the Joker put it "one bad day" to unleash the beast within? It's a fun one to think on as he was just another two-bit white collar crook now becoming someone even the Riddler and such respect.

[crinos]

Its a valid question.

There is a scene skipped over earlier which is a flashback, where White is cooking his books, and some low level bureaucrat under White finds the irregularities and that they point to him doing it, and White just casually destroys the evidence that would have led it to the Bureaucrat to White, making it look like the Bureaucrat did it all (And as a result he kills himself soon after).

So I think White was always a monster who felt nothing for his fellow man, and would casually ruin lives for his own gain. Its just now done what every good predator does: He adapted to his environment.

[mazway_75]

There was this show Breakout Kings where a pack of cons are recruited to help catch other escaped criminals. One ep has them on a jailbreak and they focus on the ringleader having to be the drug cartel leader or the serial killer. Instead, they find the leader is the seemingly quiet guy who had a Madoff type scam and suddenly is cold-blooded to even take out a supposedly tough gang-banger.

When one muses on how it's possible the "accountant" is the major threat, their resident shrink points out "anyone who willingly and gleefully rips off thousands of people of everything they own is already a sociopath. Put him with hardened cons and it's no shock he just takes it up a few notches."

[zachbeacon]

Walt/Heisenberg was always a monster. At least Jimmy/Saul tried to help people before the world beat it out of them.

Joker's disgusted reaction of White early on reminds me of a stand up bit. I wish I could remember the comedian but it was something along the lines of how ou should be less afraid of street crime than white collar crime because the kid with a knife is only taking what you have NOW while a man with a briefcase will rob you of your FUTURE

He was always a shark but now the outside matches the inside.

[gnarll]

Theres a demon there, who has has been in hell since three seconds after time began. He has seen the dregs of Mans line pass the hellgates since the species first stood up on two legs. White asks him what he sees in his soul and the answer is just "The worst man I ever met" No hesitation, no doubt.

Thats... a really impressive reference.

[crinos]

White is a fascinating character for me and I wish he showed up more in comics, because he provides an interesting challenge for Batman: How do you defeat someone who is already locked up?

White is arranging this all from inside Arkham. He has the guards in his pocket, he can provide villains with anything he needs, he presumably has people on the outside to do his dirty work, in being incarcarated. The Great White Shark has a level of freedom he never had as Warren White.

In his current state White might be even worse than The Joker, at least when Joker's in Arkham the madness stops for a while. With White? he's already there. He wants to be there, Why would he ever leave?

[mazway_75]

The thing with the Joker is he's openly said he can get out of Arkham anytime he wants and just stays there to recharge, rest and "as long as it's funny."

As you point out, White has realized that sooner or later, Batman catches you anyway so why waste time on some outside criminal scheme when you can be much bigger inside the place?

[lissa_quon]

Okay I see how he lost his nose - how did he get the teeth and neck bits? Or ws that elective surgery for the shitck?

[cyberghostface]

Yeah he did it himself for the look.

[icon_uk]

Now THAT is bad poetry

[alicemacher]

Well, I do like "Guile and style. You'll do well. Keep in touch. I'll see you in hell." Short, succinct, funny -- and as a bonus, it must be, if not the only time, then one of the few times "See you in hell" was uttered not as an insult but as a compliment.