Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Detective Comics #23.3 ScarecrowDetective Comics #23.3 Scarecrow
DC Comics
Tomasi & Kufranski

Tomasi takes a different track in this one-shot dealing with Scarecrow from many other villains books this month: it's not an origin story. While we've seen this in books like the Joker, Tomasi decides to tell his tale set squarely in the middle of the Forever Evil event. Gotham is in chaos and among the lawlessness, Scarecrow decides to do some manipulation of his buddies. It's a good book but does take some odd turns here and there. The book suffers from the hallucination element as it is unclear whether or not the Scarecrow is using his drugs to alter reality or not. I enjoyed the read but it is far from perfect. And yes, the 3D cover is awesome.

Scarecrow is out walking around with one his buddies that happens to be an ex-guard when they run into Mr Freeze. This sets the tone of the book. There are no real confrontations or arguments, instead Scarecrow is set out to inform the upper level villains of the pending war. Obviously he's playing them, but it is not clear to what end.

Scarecrow is out to inform the others that there is a war that is brewing among the Arkham crew and the Blackgate crew. The implication here is that Bane is leading the one group while the other group seems to be leaderless. It's not clear if Scarecrow is soliciting for information or if he is lobbying for leadership, and while that is frustrating, I did enjoy watching him pick away at what makes these classic Batman villains find important when it comes to power.

Scarecrow pays some visits to the Riddler, Poison Ivy and a mild surprise or two. The scene with the Riddler is very good as it explores both characters well. The interaction that leads up to Poison Ivy is confusing. I wasn't sure if any or some of this scene was a hallucination and I'm not sure if that has more to do with the story or the art.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe problem with the sequence is there seems to be two characters that are charging Scarecrow in the exact same pose. This makes me think it's a hallucination. If it is not then why was the decision made to draw the characters identical in consecutive panels. The part where the art works well is with Mr Freeze. These pages are equal parts dark as they are eye catching with his red eyes popping off the page. This can not be said for that of the Riddler. The green parts to his costume simply don't jump off the page the way I would have expected. The artwork is a mixture here but the flow of the story is good, which is one of the more important aspects to the art.

Scarecrow is a good read. It's a professional effort from an old pro like Tomasi. There seems to be more he could have done with this issue but for a throwaway he does a good job of balancing the latest event with simply telling a self-contained story. This is one of the better 3D comics this month. You might want to check it out.

3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles