Alter ego Arnold Etchinson Publisher DC Comics | Team affiliations Black Lantern Corps Affiliation Black Lantern Corps | |
First appearance Detective Comics #625 (January 1991) Similar Cornelius Stirk, King Snake, Professor Carter Nichols, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Lew Moxon | ||
Abattoir is the alias of Arnold Etchison, a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in the January 1991 (#625) issue of Detective Comics.
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Fictional character biography
A serial killer who was convinced that his family was evil, Arnold Etchison believed that he absorbed something of their life force when he killed them. He was apprehended and incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, which he escaped from several times, always being returned by Batman. His final escape came when Bane set all the inmates free in the Knightfall storyline, after which Etchison went on to kill several more members of his family.
Eventually he was tracked down by Jean Paul Valley, who was acting as Batman at the time, unbeknownst to Etchinson. Valley chased him into a refinery and nearly knocked him into a vat of molten metal. Abattoir was hanging from a chain above, barely able to hold on, but Valley, immobilized in a crisis of conscience, allowed him to fall to his death, to Robin's horror. Since Abattoir was holding a relative, Graham Etchinson, inside a secret, hidden torture chamber at an unknown location, Valley indirectly condemned that prisoner to death -- though he was unaware of this until informed by Police Commissioner James Gordon. This scenario was the main factor in Bruce Wayne deciding to reclaim the role of Batman, when considering retirement.
Abattoir returned as a ghost (during a brief period of increased supernatural activity, worldwide), to torment the original Batman (Bruce Wayne) using Valley's Batman-armor, but Batman proved much less susceptible to psychological assault than his substitute. Batman tricked Abattoir's ghost into abandoning the armor and his mission (the ghost was attempting to cause his last remaining blood relative, a pregnant cousin, to miscarry and then he would possess the infant).
Blackest Night
As part of the Blackest Night event, Abattoir's corpse is reanimated by a black power ring and recruited to the Black Lantern Corps in Blackest Night: Batman #1 (October 2009). In Blackest Night: Batman #2, Abattoir's corpse was blown to shreds and seemingly destroyed by Commissioner Gordon; Abattoir appeared floating through a window outside of Gordon's office, where he and his daughter Barbara (Oracle) were seeking refuge. Cornered, Gordon picked up the shotgun and started shooting at Abattoir, who soon was left with nothing but his feet. However, he was later seen fully regenerated alongside King Snake and the Trigger Twins.