Time to get out the 'recidivism' tag again!

I have not had a lot of interest in current Batman continuity, but I do hope DC keeps letting Kelley Jones do a limited series or two whenever he wants to. From 2019, Batman: Kings of Fear #6, "The Once and Future King" Written by Scott Peterson, art by Kelley Jones. 

Joining this series already in progress, the Scarecrow has finally managed to force a breakthrough out of Batman with his fear gas: has Batman helped Gotham City in the slightest? Would the city have been a better place if he never was? Sounds like the worst It's a Wonderful Life riff yet, Bats really should have got around to watching that. Although caught, the Scarecrow knows something happened, he might have gotten to him this time; but Batman isn't about to tell him.

Batman tells Gordon the Scarecrow has made him question some things; but Gordon advises him to consider the source, with a surprisingly heartfelt moment that he knows Batman probably ducked out of midway through. Batman takes Scarecrow back to Arkham, along with a guard that had been working with him but turned on him in the end: Bats appears to be giving him a second chance. He also bumps into a young doctor, who tells him he saved not only her once, but her husband: he had been a goon for the Riddler, but one meet-up with Batman put him on the straight-and-narrow, and he was able to make something of his life. She also advises that while the recidivism rate in Gotham was usually around 50%, for criminals stopped by Batman it was less than two. That two percent was largely Arkham inmates, the usual suspects, and just went to prove they were crazy.

After stopping a break-in with a stern look on his way home, Batman is more emotionally exhausted than anything when he gets back to the Batcave. Alfred doesn't mince words with him: if it came down to Bruce leading a happy, long life; and Gotham going up in flames, well, let it burn. He hates Batman--that Bruce has chosen to do that with his life--but still believes Batman has done good for the city. Otherwise, what was the point of everything they had been through? 

In fairly typical Bat-fashion, Bruce gets about two whole seconds to mull on that, before the radio announces a breakout at Blackgate. I had thought it was Arkham for a moment, since we do see the Joker briefly welcoming the Scarecrow back, and I could absolutely see the humor in him busting out after he figures Batman is home and about to go to bed... 

The argument hopefully hasn't come back to Twitter since posting this; that Batman should take all the money he puts into Bat-crap instead into making Gotham a more livable place to reduce crime. First, I don't think Bruce as that cash as liquid assets, a lot of his gear is embezzled. That and doesn't Bruce do all of that already; it's just that Gotham is so bad it still has crime?

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As I pick up random comics, a lot of times I note here to pick up the next issue or the conclusion. This time, meh; even if I've got part seven of eight today. From 2006, Detective Comics #820, "Face the Ecaf, part 7 of 8" (I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "Face the Face," right?) Written by James Robinson, layouts by Leonard Kirk, finishes by Andy Clarke.

We're coming to this one mid-stream, but I do remember this was the big storyline after Infinite Crisis, with Batman returning to action "One Year Later" after leaving Gotham to the care of former Two-Face Harvey Dent. Who has since been framed for murder (including that of the original Ventriloquist and the KGBeast, both jobbed out here) but Bats is working the case, even while he and Robin fight the Scarecrow, and hallucinations of the Thomas Wayne Bat-Man, the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Earth 2 Robin, and the Earth-Prime Superboy. Batman defeats the Scarecrow, as you might expect; but then trash-talks him, which surprised me.

Batman downplays that as "part of the game," to throw Scarecrow off next time; but it still doesn't sit well with me. He does praise Robin, Tim Drake, for getting past the fear gas and his nightmares so quickly; but Tim shrugs that off: he had lost so much, what was left? Batman does hint at an idea for what Tim could do next; but back at police headquarters, after explaining to Gordon how Dent was framed; Bats takes a moment to speak with a uniformed officer. Explaining he was trying to "undo past wrongs, not make new ones," he tells Officer Harper he knew something about her:

Despite his seeming desire to not make old mistakes, Bats gives her a slightly-nicer version of the "thou shalt have no vigilantes before me/Stay outta Gotham" speech he's given multiple times before. And he almost has a point: just because your grand-uncle was the Guardian or your third cousin was the Red Bee, doesn't mean you're a legacy and should join the Justice Society. It does feel a bit condescending, though.

Then, a Jack Ryder appearance! But only as a talking head on TV, breaking the news of Two-Face's return! Which was a foregone conclusion, wasn't it? Between that and Batman seemingly insuring the Scarecrow would come after him again by rubbing his nose in it, we're finally adding that tag for recidivism! Still, in-story Bats could be justified here: he, and we, know full well Scarecrow is going to get out someday, and Batman may want to make sure Scarecrow comes after him rather than someone that couldn't protect themselves. But overall, this issue didn't sit well with me.
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It's always fun to find a comic from one of your favorites, that you didn't know about before. A creepy, creepy comic, in this case: from 1994, Ghost Rider Annual #2, "Wish for Pain" Written by Warren Ellis, pencils by Javier Salares, inks by Mike Witherby.

The cover proclaims "Through the eyes of a Scarecrow," and it delivers on that promise, as the villain narrates his story. Now, Marvel's Scarecrow is not really as developed as his DC counterpart: he's a contortionist, he has trained crows, which has been more or less expanded to crow control; and this time around he has what I'd describe as a healing factor powered by the fear of others. (I don't know if there's even an attempt at a comic-book science explanation for it.)  Building off that, Scarecrow has been murdering and abducting innocents, to set a trap for Ghost Rider.

Scarecrow builds himself "a house that does my screaming for me," with victims and hostages hung up throughout it. The hostages' terror not only makes him virtually invulnerable, they're also convenient human shields to keep Ghost Rider from cutting loose.  Ellis may be playing this both ways, though: Scarecrow seems to know the Rider's rules, but may not believe he is a supernatural entity. 

"This from a man who sets his own head on fire before he goes out at night?"

Either way, Scarecrow overplays his hand, trying to get the Rider to let himself be killed, to protect the hostages. The Rider points out, without the hostages to protect him, it would not go well for him...and it doesn't. The Rider breaks every bone in the Scarecrow's body, then "held them so that they healed crooked." (Which I would've thought to be more time-consuming; not just over a single night...unless Scarecrow's fear-healing factor actually worked against him in that instance!) Still, that's hardly a career-ending injury in the Marvel U. It's basically time to catch up on your TV...

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Long-time comics readers are used to the spectacle of characters being killed, only to be brought back a few years later. But what I find even less productive and more annoying than that, is a redemption arc for a major super-villain. (I added major there, since you might be able to get away with it with a smaller name, but even those get rolled back!) If Two-Face gets his face fixed, it's a safe bet that it'll be wrecked again soon enough. If Dr. Doom sees the error of his ways, you don't have to be a genius like Reed Richards to realize that's not going to stick. Even if the writer manages to sell it, it can be walked back no matter how well it's sewn up--which may be mixing a couple metaphors, so let's just hit today's issue: from 2004, Batman: Gotham Knights #49, "Veritas Liberat, chapter three of three: the Redeemer" Written by Scott Beatty, pencils by Charlie Adlard, inks by John Floyd.

Even though this says part three of three, I think this storyline had been running a little past that: Bane had been searching for both redemption and the identity of his father. A red herring had indicated Thomas Wayne might have been it; instead, Bane's dad was the blind villain King Snake. (King Snake was also created by Chuck Dixon, although I don't know if Dixon intended to connect the two.) King Snake was usually a bit more robust, and I thought he had a snake tattoo on his chest as well; but he's a bit malnourished here since he had been stuck on a mountain for some time. He had infiltrated Kobra, and currently working on taking over the remnants of that cult, or at least their giant robot. (Which wasn't even that giant, all things considered.)

Batman has a full crew in on this one, with Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl. (The Cassandra one.) King Snake is a little pissed, especially since Robin had actually foiled him a couple of times already; but Bane had not betrayed Batman, and wanted to keep the robot's battery away from the Snake. Snake shoots Bane (no easy feat for a blind man, but he can hear just fine) but then falls into a chasm as Bane hits him with the battery and a Kobra goon tackles him in. Batman saves the mortally wounded Bane by putting him in a supposedly-depleted Lazarus Pit. Bane asks Batman to tell Leslie Thompson that Bane was gone, that he had found the truth and was better for it.

Of course, Bane's next appearance would be in Infinite Crisis #7, breaking Judomaster's back. No explanation for his return to villainy, other than "I finally know who I am. I am 'Bane'. I 'break' people."

This issue also features a Black & White story, "Fear is the Key" Written by Geoff Johns, pencils by Tommy Castillo, inks by Rodney Ramos. The Scarecrow murders some cops while lecturing about fear, and his own battle with pantophobia...here described as the "fear of fearlessness," when it's actually the fear of everything. A few quick checks online didn't find fear of fearlessness either, so you may have to give Johns that one. Maybe not though, since Lucy describes pantophobia correctly in A Charlie Brown Christmas, so I kind of have to figure Professor Crane would know better. Anyway, Johns portrays the Scarecrow as a junkie for fear, but he's so attenuated to even his fear toxins, that only Batman can give him that sweet, sweet fix.

This would be the last issue of Gotham Knights with the Black & White feature, the next issue would begin a Hush storyline. Yay...





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There's more than a few cheats in this one:

1. "One Fine Halloween," the Mad Hatter returns to the disused Arkham Detention Facility for Youth, at the behest of the Penguin. But the Penguin has a note from the Hatter suggesting the meet. Realizing they've been played, they plan on turning on the Scarecrow when he arrives, but his note has both names on it! I'm not sure why, because that only works if they meet in the order we see here.

2. The trio intends to leave, but a dramatically-timed lightning strike casts one of those perfect Batman-shaped shadows, scaring them back inside. I kind of wonder if maybe Batman doesn't set those silhouettes up all over Gotham, just on the off chance it'll scare the hell out of someone. Inside, a chandelier nearly falls on them, giving credit to the idea that Batman may have left traps for them.

3. After a moment of bonding complaining about Batman, and being terrified by another shadow, Scarecrow suggests making a break for it, through the hedge maze. What kind of detention facility has a hedge maze? After being scared by a Batman-shaped remnant of a scarecrow--"I believe they call that irony," Penguin tells Scarecrow--the three are back inside.

4. Imagining schoolchildren making fun of him, Penguin takes a swipe at Scarecrow, which sets off Scarecrow's fear gas. All three have suitably traumatic flashbacks to their childhoods, but wouldn't Scarecrow, who's around that gas all day, take some precautions, like maybe a mask? Or antidotes?

5. At dawn, all three wake up, chagrined. Resolving to never speak of this again, they leave. You kind of think they'd be maybe a smidgen pissed at Batman, who of course sent the notes and took the rest of the night off. Bruce Wayne only appears the last couple of pages, and Batman only on the cover.

6. This issue was $4.99 cover, but I got it for $1.99! For the price, can't complain, I guess.

Batman: the Dark Knight Annual #1, "Once Upon a Midnight Dreary" Written by Gregg Hurwitz, art by Szymon Kudranski.
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"Better Living Through Chemicals."

This one took me a bit longer than I'd expected, partly because I shot it out of sequence; but mostly because I had a lead pipe in mind for "Crackman." One with the traditional bend at the end, straight out of the cartoons. I thought I knew exactly where I had one, in my case full of swords and whatnot; but didn't find it. Now I'm not even sure I actually have one, or if it was only in my head...

"Crackman" is a joke dating back years, since a college friend and I had the notion of "Crackman and Syringe, the Disposable Sidekick." Every issue, Syringe would be a different sidekick: one issue, he's a preteen boy, the next month a six-foot-two Grace Jones type, then a 67-year-old Italian man..."Stay off the pipe!" would be his catchphrase, and those were about all the jokes we had for that.

I think there actually was a storyline, where someone maybe was mixing the Scarecrow's fear toxin and Bane's Venom. A Judd Winick issue, possibly? "Scarebeast" ringing any bells? I might even have those issues, but I'm not going out of my way to look that up right now.

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"Ringfinger."

I forget when I did this one, but how much mileage can I get out of that yellow Batman? Uh, well, there was "That Yellow Batman," then "Nokking to Fear," and "Ring Around the Rampage."

And sadly, Sinestro is probably a better boss than the Guardians of the Universe...
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