Scarecrow Scans Master Post: The Complete "HAROO HRAAA"

[about_faces]

Back during that mystical period known as the nineties, Batman writers Alan Grant and Doug Moench decided--for whatever reason--to give the Scarecrow a bizarre laugh that went "HAROO HRAAA" or sometimes "HAROO HRAAII."

At least, I think it was meant to be a laugh. Maybe it was meant to be the Scarecrow version of "BOOGA-BOOGA!" which would

Comments

[abqreviews]

I've got to admit I love the work that went into this, and I find it amusing that you've created a (mini) meme.

As for Scarecrow himself, I still stick to my guns that the best way to portray Crane is to show HOW he has mastered fear, like in 'Six Days of the Scarecrow' and 'Fear for Sale'.

I still like the "bully" origin, it just needs to have better stories built around it. Ironically, the best story featuring Crane taking revenge on a jock that I know of was actually written before the "bully" origin, that was "Study Hall' from the Batman Adventures annual. It's one of the stories that I wished had made it into Scarecrow Tales.

I know I've gotten flack for saying I liked "Mistress of Fear" (and NO, I do not like the Becky Albright character or the fanfiction she has inspired), but I genuinely liked the basic idea and wished it could have been told better. I've heard there was a Joker's Asylum story with a similar idea.

*Sigh* I've still yet to watch any episodes of Futurama. I feel so old. Time to sacrifice another child again this May Eve.

[about_faces]

I would not be adverse to seeing someone try to pull off the bully origin stuff as long as they didn't lose focus on the "professor" aspect of the character, as Moench eagerly did. Funny thing is that one of Moench's very earliest Scarecrow stories showed several pages of Crane lecturing quietly to himself about science and psychology of fear, which is one of the best examples of "man of science" Scarecrow that I've ever seen in the comics. Go figure.

The Joker's Asylum story was great, one of the two in that first series which were genuinely excellent. It's well worth checking out.

Futurama's also worth checking out, but I have no idea what your viewing experience will be like. For me, I gained a great fondness for the show watching the reruns every weeknight on Adult Swim back in my college days, so it had that ritual experience going for it. Even then, I rarely laughed out loud, but I still loved the show for its intelligence, wit, and great characters. If you do check it out sometime, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[psychopathicus]

I actually think that the whole bully thing adds a needed bit of depth to the character, as without it, his origin is basically just 'grew up obsessed with fear, liked to scare birds, became the Scarecrow to get money'. The bully angle is both semi-plausible and adds that element of twisted wish-fulfillment that is present in a lot of great villains - I mean, who hasn't wanted to get back at their tormentors at some point? I think Crane being a refined man of science who is basically just a bitter child at heart makes for an interesting bit of character duality - the trick, however, is to focus on both of these elements, not just one or the other.

[about_faces]

Then I take it that you haven't read the Scarecrow: Year One origin, have you? It provided a great basis for captaintwinings to build upon for her version of the character. Here, read this to see some of the details from that origin, and how she and Henchgirl developed it from there. I personally find the southern gothic horror family dynamics far more interesting. As for the bully origin, I agree with you in theory, but in practice, I find the results far too ugly and disturbing. I loathe stories about bullied kids becoming bullies themselves. It upsets me on a personal level, as well as on a moral level, because it comes dangerously close to suggesting that they deserved to be bullied in the first place if he ended up becoming a killer and sadist. With the Year One origin, you can still have a degree of "bitter child at heart," but I far prefer how it's employed there.

[abqreviews]

> I loathe stories about bullied kids becoming bullies themselves. It upsets me on a personal level, as well as on a moral level, because it comes dangerously close to suggesting that they deserved to be bullied in the first place if he ended up becoming a killer and sadist.

What did you think of Stracynzski's Spiderman stories about the same subject? That school shooting story and the 'Skin Deep' arc were textbook examples of what you described.

[about_faces]

No lie, Skin Deep was the storyline that caused me to finally drop JMS' Spidey title halfway into the story. I loved so much of his run, but that was the exact story where I just went, "Eh, not worth my money anymore."

[psychopathicus]

I actually did read that. It sounded like it was pretty interesting, all right, although I must admit I always saw Crane as more of a Midwesterner than someone from down south - what with the endless cornfields and whatnot. Much more appropriate for a man who styles himself after a scarecrow.
As for the whole 'bully becomes a bully' thing, I agree insofar as that is indeed somewhat disturbing, but I don't really think that sort of thing applies to Crane. After all, the two major elements of his background that have been there from day one are vengeance and power, and the bullying angle addresses both of them. He doesn't become the Scarecrow under the 'if you can't beat them, join them' theory - he does so in order to get back at his tormentors, and he continues doing so under the justification that if he goes back to being plain old Jonathan Crane, he will be once more the small and powerless victim that he once was. In essence, he takes on the qualities of a monster in order to fend off his own weakness, not because he actually wants to become a monster himself.
I would refer you to the sequence in 'No Man's Land' (can't remember the issue, sorry) where a group of people he has been psychologically manipulating find out about it, and come this close to tearing him to pieces - something that doesn't phase him at all. Then they get talked out of it by the local pastor (this is in a homeless shelter), and all agree to forgive him and welcome him among them once more - and that freaks him the hell out "What are you doing? No! NO!" He screams and runs, and we next see him babbling and weeping naked in an alleyway as he burns his costume - because he's just lost his power. He's not scary anymore. He's been made weak again - a target again - and he can't face that.

[captaintwinings]

We do grow corn in the south, especially in the part of Georgia where Crane is supposed to have grown up. It's generally smarter to plant something that won't scorch in the ground during a hot summer, but it can be managed. And of course, there are plenty of other crops to plant. The south's economy was primarily agricultural from the beginning, and even though the Civil War and reconstruction got rid of the plantations, there are farms existing to this day as part of that legacy. They just don't go to feed the whole country.

Didn't really expect to be leaving a comment about farming. I like that part of No Man's Land.

[psychopathicus]

Oh, I wasn't saying you don't. For that matter, I'm fairly sure there are people in my neck of the woods who grow it. I was just saying that, for me, those flat, endless fields in the midwest, corn or no, are far more connected with scarecrows in my mind than the South. It's just a more iconic agricultural image, not to mention that at this point it has mental connections with such stuff as Children of the Corn. Corn itself, though, was not the issue - I was focusing on the fields. They don't have to be cornfields; it's just that they often are.

[abqreviews]

>I think Crane being a refined man of science who is basically just a bitter child at heart makes for an interesting bit of character duality - the trick, however, is to focus on both of these elements, not just one or the other.

Have you read 'Fear for Sale'? Although written before the Moench origin, it fits perfectly into it because Crane seems to delight in going after athletes. It also manages to make him both a calculating, clinical man of science and a delightfully over-the-top screwball with a child-like sense of glee.

[psychopathicus]

I have indeed read that. I hadn't thought about the athlete angle, but there may indeed be an element of that. As for the glee, one of my favorite parts of that story is his gloating ongoing conversation with Robin as Batman runs the gauntlet of traps he's set up - whereas some villains would get annoyed at the kid's neverending 'Batman's gonna getcha!' routine, Crane just keeps going 'oh yeah? Watch this! Hee-hee, he'll die any minute!' It really does almost seem more like two kids taunting each other over a video game than kidnapper/kidnappee dialogue.