Arnold Etchinson, better known as Abattoir, was a serial killer who was convinced that his family was evil and that he could absorb something of their life force by killing them and desecrating their corpses. He was apprehended and incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, but he eventually escaped when Bane destroyed Arkham as part of his plan to take over Gotham.
Featured in these Comics
Other Personas of Arnold Etchinson
History
Arnold Etchinson, better known as Abattoir, was a serial killer who was convinced that his family was evil and that he could absorb something of their life force by killing them and desecrating their corpses. He was apprehended and incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, but he eventually escaped when Bane destroyed Arkham as part of his plan to take over Gotham.
Once free, Abattoir continued his killing spree and desecration of the corpses on his family crypt until he decided to murder the last living member of the Etchinson family: Graham. His first murder attempt was stopped by Jean-Paul Valley, who was acting as Batman at the time. After his first attempt was thwarted, Abattoir blackmailed Lady Clay and Clayface III, by stealing their newborn son and forced them to kidnap Graham and kill Batman. Clayface III succeeded in taking Graham to him, but Lady Clay failed to murder Batman. When Clayface III delivered Graham to Abattoir, he managed to get away before Batman could stop him. Abattoir took his cousin Graham to an abandoned warehouse, where he used a special torture machine that would kill him after a certain time.
Not long after this, Valley found Abattoir's hiding place and chased him into a foundry. The ensuing battle caused Abattoir to hang for his life above a vat of molten metal. Abbatoir plead for help, but Valley allowed him to fall to his death. Since Abattoir was holding his cousin in his hideout, Valley indirectly condemned Graham Etchinson to death.
Afterlife
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 armour and his mission. The ghost had been attempting to cause his last remaining blood relative, a pregnant cousin, to miscarry so he could possess the infant.
More recently, during the Blackest Night, the supervillain Black Hand resurrected Etchinson to serve in his Black Lantern Corps. He was among the Black Lanterns that terrorized Gotham City and Commissioner James Gordon and his daughter Barbara until the Blackest Night was over.
