DETECTIVE COMICS #503

"THE 6 DAYS OF THE SCARECROW"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: On Sunday night, while stopping a crook from robbing a pawnshop, Batman is hit by a dart from a nearby rooftop. The next day, Bruce Wayne finds people reacting to him with unexpected fear. On Tuesday, a group of gangsters from Gotham City meets with the Scarecrow on a farm some miles from Gotham. Scarecrow explains that he has developed a chemical that gives anyone injected with it an aura of fear. That night, Batman stops a robbery at a roller rink, but the patrons run from him. Realizing something is wrong, Bruce Wayne calls in sick on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Alfred, also terrified of Bruce, calls Dick Grayson for help. Dick enlists Batgirl as well, but before the two can begin to help Batman, they respond to a police call at a nearby mall, where Scarecrow is leading a gang of men in terrorizing the patrons. Scarecrow and his gang escape.

Later that night, Robin and Batgirl analyze a gas pellet left by the Scarecrow, and figure out who manufactured it. Batgirl heads to the manufacturer's office and questions the company president, while Robin finds a corn husk on the rooftop from which Batman was darted. Combining their leads, the young crimefighters head for a farm in Hudson County, where they are captured by the Scarecrow. Batman waits a full day for a report from them, but receives nothing -- so on Thursday night, he heads to the farm as well. He rescues his young partners just before Scarecrow doses them with his fear formula, but in the ensuing fight, Scarecrow himelf is injected. Friday finds Batman, Robin, and Batgirl visiting Arkham Asylum, where the doctor in charge tells them that the Scarecrow is now terrified of everything -- even himself.

Continuity Notes: The story opens with Bruce reading in the newspaper that City Councilman Arthur Reeves, an occasional nemesis of Batman's from Denny O'Neil's 1970s stories, is running for Mayor. His opponent is the Reform Party candidate, Hamilton Hill (known to fans of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES as a recurring character).

Hill makes his first appearance at lunch with Bruce and Commissioner Gordon. We'll speak more about Hill as he makes further appearances during this run, but at present he comes across as a geneial acquaintance of both Bruce and Gordon -- though appearances can be deceiving!

During lunch, Gordon is indignant that Reeves blames a recent series of police shootings on his policies... which, here in the twenty-first century -- well, I'm not a "Defund the Police" guy, but I will readily state that the scene has not aged well.

When Alfred calls Dick, narration tells us that Bruce's ward is in his apartment in the Wayne Foundation Building. I know Alfred's probably not going to take the elevator all the way down to Dick's place, but it still seems kind of funny to call him when they're in the same building. (Speaking of which, I guess Dick wanted some privacy by this point in his life, because typically you'd expect to see him living in the penthouse with Bruce and Alfred.)

Robin travels to Washington, D.C. to recruit Batgirl, as this story is set during Barbara Gordon's tenure as a United States congresswoman.

Robin drives the Batmobile to Scarecrow's farm and thus it is unavailable for Batman to use when he comes to the rescue. Not sure why he doesn't use a Batcycle or a Whirlybat or something, but instead he hops into the "backup Batmobile" -- which appears to be the retired 1950s (or thereabouts; I'm not an expect on all the vehicle's various looks) design.

My Thoughts: I think we can safely declare that Gerry Conway's "run" proper begins with this issue. Where his previous stories -- good ones regardless -- felt more like one-offs meant to fill space or kill time or something (again, as I specualted previously, I imagine Conway was waiting to take over BATMAN as well as DETECTIVE before he would really get going), this installment has the feel of a chapter in an ongoing narrative. Mind you, this story is again a done-in-one, but Conway is now bringing soap opera-style sub-plots into the narrative. Or at least, a soap opera-style sub-plot. Specifically, the mayoral race between Arthur Reeves and Hamilton Hill, which I understand will remain an ongoing plot for much of Conway's run.

Beyond that tidbit, however, as noted above, this is basically another one-off -- and another good one, with another BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES style closing scene from Conway. I know I've discussed previously the heavy influence that 1970s Batman comics had on THE ANIMATED SERIES -- specifically the works of Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, and Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. But it seems there's a good amount of Conway in TAS's genes as well, as we will see going forward (and indeed, Conway himself wrote a handful of episodes of the series). And anytime a Batman story can be compared to anything from THE ANIMATED SERIES, I consider that a very good thing.

We also see here the beginning of Conway's desire to bring Robin back into the fold. The writers of the seventies and beyond were mostly content to have the Teen Wonder as a recurring guest-star (though Marv Wolfman is just wrapping up an extended run of stories featuring Robin as well in BATMAN at this point), letting him live his own life in backup stories or in the pages of TEEN TITANS -- which, by this point, has become THE NEW TEEN TITANS (and as a reminder, if you ever want to find out what other issues were on sale the same month as any given story I'm examining, check the tags at the bottom of the post -- and funnily enough, this month's issue of NTT features Robin departing the Titans to visit Gotham!). I believe this becomes -- not exactly a bone of contention between Conway and TITANS writer Marv Wolfman, but sort of a little tug-of-war as both attempt to guide Robin's life, resulting in some conflicted characterization in upcoming months (and ultimately resulting in Robin taking on the identity of Nightwing, but that happens after Conway leaves the Bat-titles).

In this case, it's a simple thing -- Dick Grayson is shown living in an apartment at the Wayne Foundation Building, even though I believe contemporaneous NEW TEEN TITANS issues had him residing at Titans Tower. Which is not necessarily a conflict; he could just be visting Gotham for a few days. But still, I find it notable -- if only due to to the lack of any mention of the Titans. Not that they need to be name-checked; I am a firm believer in never overcomplicating things. But if, as noted above, this month's issue of NEW TEEN TITANS mentions Robin traveling to Gotham, then I feel that DETECTIVE should reciprocate with a stray thought or something to the same effect.

Next week, Conway takes on another member of the classic rogues gallery, the Clown Prince of Crime himself!