Terror

Fear is integral to the power of Batman - it is his motivation to don the cape and cowl, as 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot'. When he first started out, simply taking to the streets and confronting criminals wasn't enough, so Bruce Wayne became the Bat, harnessing fear for the greater good. There are times when he has to harness his fear or his doubts and use them to continue fighting, or to defeat an enemy who has got the better of him. That is the essence of Batman - the conquering of fear to use it for good.

Jonathan Crane, introduced earlier in the 'timeline' in Four of a Kind, takes centre stage here as the pawn of Hugo Strange in this sequel of sorts to Prey. Both men make an abandoned cliff top house their base of operations - Strange murdering the previous owner still dressed in the bat suit he disappeared in at the end of Prey.

Through hypnosis, Strange foolishly removes any fears or doubts from the mind of Scarecrow, before breaking him free of Arkham Asylum so he can be used in Strange's plans against Batman. But hypnotising Crane to 'fear nothing and no one' soon backfires in a twist which I found shocking - even the second time reading this story, as I had forgotten that this happened!

Crane is another character who is steeped in fear - he took his childhood fear of bullies and the names he was called and twisted it to be the weapon he uses to take on people he perceives as 'bullies'. In a strange and twisted sense, probably in Crane's own mind, he is fighting injustice in the same way that Batman is.

Something about Scarecrow as a villain, when written well, is deeply unsettling. What could be worse than an enemy that can use your own fears against you with his potent fear gas? And this story sees Scarecrow written well, creating his own house of horrors with its creepy traps and paintings which emit his fear toxin! The final sequences in the house of horrors are some of the greatest action sequences in this story, and we see Batman literally fighting off delusions as he struggles to maintain control after being injected with Crane's toxin.

As with Prey, Doug Moench's writing is slick and shows an excellent grasp of the characters involved. Crane is maniacal, Catwoman effectively straddles the grey area between criminal and seductress, Strange is (briefly) the master planner he was in Prey and Batman is determined and resourceful throughout. 

Several standout moments which I loved - the new gadgets that Batman trials in the opening sequence, the final death trap which Batman has to find a way out of and the resolve to strengthen the Wayne Foundation to help victims of crime and poverty to name but a few. And of course there is Batman's assertion that Bruce Wayne is the Bat, and the Bat is Bruce Wayne - one cannot survive without the other.

Next up - Dark Legends