This review contains spoilers.
In this issue, Batman and Robin have their first encounters with Scarecrow and Killer Croc.
The comic begins with the dynamic duo discovering that the G.C.P.D. headquarters is being robbed by a new villain called the Scarecrow. This nefarious foe releases a toxin that causes the caped crusaders to see their worst nightmares. However, Batman is able to track the toxin to a farm outside of Gotham and discovers that the Scarecrow is Jonathan Crane; Bruce is then able to turn Crane’s own fears against him.
In the second story, security guards are attacked by what they describe as a dinosaur. Batman and Robin figure out that this dinosaur is actually a former henchmen of King Tut that drank an Egyptian elixir. This turned Waylon Jones into Killer Croc. The crime-fighting pair head to the apartment of Jones’ girlfriend and confront Killer Croc. The battle continues into the sewer, of course, and Batman is able to outsmart and defeat Killer Croc.
Positives
The Scarecrow story is actually kind of dark. I expected this issue to contain a campy reinvention of the character and he’s actually not that different from his classic comic counter-part. The visions that Batman and Robin have are actually the typical visions that would be done in a dark Batman story. Dick has the exact same hallucinations in this that he had in the first issue of Batman and Robin: Eternal.
I like how much of a detective Batman is in this. He puts together clues and it’s fun to watch the ridiculous leaps that his brain makes just like in the show; it’s just hilarious.
Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara have hallucinations of a city without Batman and that’s hysterical.
Jeff Parker portrays the voices of the original actors perfectly. The language and rhythm of these characters is well-represented.
Negatives
The art isn’t great. The cover looks cool but the art inside just doesn’t match. That is something in comics that really bugs me; it feels like false advertising. The art in the book should match the cover. In the book, facial expressions are just off. No one looks right; the artwork has a bizarre feel to it. The art actually reminds of cartoons from the 1990s such as Ren and Stimpy when instead, it should feel like something out of the 1960s.
The Killer Croc story isn’t great. It’s fun to see Batman use his brains to defeat a villain, which he does with Scarecrow as well, but nothing else in the story is that fun. It’s short and mainly relies on action.
Verdict
The Scarecrow story is good and surprisingly dark in the context of this show but the art and the dull Killer Croc story weigh this issue down.
