Late Henchmen Week Addition: Caught In The (Supervillainous) Crossfire

[stig]

From Joker #8, a couple of good reasons not to get mixed up in the battle between two Super-Criminals, in this case our favourite circus maniac and his psychiatrist counterpart, the Scarecrow. As it was the big J's first solo series, he actually comes off as incredibly fun and full of ingenious plans...





(Six Pages from Joker #8, reprinted in the 160-page Batman: Scarecrow Tales.)

The Joker, being a smart bloke, realises that simply APPEARING to be the Scarecrow can cause people to become pathologically afraid due to the Pavlov's dog effect. And just in time, as STAR labs has, for heaven knows what reason, been developing a fear gas more powerful than that of Doc John Crane...



(That trampoline...call it a fixation.) Anyway, along the way we get acquainted with this week's Henchmen Du Jour, 'Tooth', 'Southpaw' and 'Sonny November'. As you'll hear, Sonny's just gotten out of jail. The Scarecrow has just gotten back from STAR labs in his mini-helicopter, angry to discover he (his pet fear-inducing Raven, 'Nightmare') got there second...





...You'll admit, that IS a pretty clever move on the part of the writers...less so than 'That Crooked Entomologist We Know'. I'm sure the world of Butterfly collection is as intertwined with sex, drugs and violence as two pythons on a hot day in mating season.

Joker lures Scarecrow to the scene of his next job by leaving a message and address on his hideout wall (Crane thinks to himself 'It's Darn White Of Him To Tell Us!'). Diverting the crowds at Gotham Zoo with fear-stained moths, he has his remaining henchmen take away the 'beautiful' decorative wall of the Hyena enclosure - just as the Scarecrow turns up! Leading to this response...





(He'll knock off six kindergartens before breakfast, but Ravens are endangered...)

After some more scuffling, the Joker's STAR Labs gas canister is broken. "You'll have to answer for this, Scarecrow..."



Left helpless before Joker's 'special giggle gas' due to his usually dour character, Crane sits down to chortle at the approaching cops as Joker hi-jacks his mini-copter, leading to another bit of clever ingenuity...

Comments

[thehefner]

Why the hell hasn't this run been collected?

[icon_uk]

Read all together it's a slightly weird read, since the CCA required that the Joker never be allowed to prosper from his crimes and ALWAYS had to brought to justice at the end of each story. So his escapes at the start of every issue just amplified the revolving door policy of Arkham.

[crinos]

Yeah, IIRC there was one issue where The Joker was beaten by an actor who got hit on the head and thought he was Sherlock Holmes.

[cricharddavies]

No, he was beaten by an actor who played Sherlock Holmes, but there was no head injury or personality derangement involved.

[yaseen101]

It's too good a run, obviously.