More pages from late 1966

As I’ve mentioned before, Batman #189 brought back the Scarecrow after twenty-three years of obscurity. He would become a regular foe of the Dark Knight from that point on.  The Gardner Fox/Sheldon Moldoff story “Fright of the Scarecrow.” is adequate, though not a stand-out: the Scarecrow commits three crimes based on the phrase “Park. Ark. Mark.” with the Dynamic Duo busting him at the “Mark” crime.

What I’m looking at today, though, is the opening of the story, retelling the Scarecrow’s origin from World’s Finest #3. It’s the only time since the New Look era began that the Bat-creators have bothered with retelling an origin. Of course the Penguin didn’t have an origin back then but the Joker and the Riddler did and the Riddler’s, at least, was a good one. Maybe it was because nobody knew who the Scarecrow was after so long an absence; then again, Riddler had been gone fifteen years when he showed up in the Silver Age. In any case, here’s one page of the origin, showing Jonathan Crane going over the edge.And seriously, who can blame him? Like any intelligent person he sees that books are more important than clothes yet his supposedly educated, intellectual colleagues laugh at him! Has anyone ever been so justified in turning to crime! See what you almost drove me to, Mom and Dad — er, wait, never mind.

A month later, we get the debut of B’Wana Beast, which I’ve blogged about before. Rereading doesn’t make me reconsider anything I said, but I did want to highlight this full-page ad for the new hero on the block.I’ve been more than slightly mocking about DC’s 1966 advertising efforts, such as the go-go checks. But when it came to pitching specific comic books, they (and Marvel, of course) still had what it takes. I’d rush out and by that issue if I didn’t already have it.

Third we have a page and some panels from “The Exile of Steel,” Supergirl’s story in Action Comics #345 (by Jim Shooter and Jim Mooney. In the previous story (same creative team) Supergirl visited Gaea, an Earthlike planet where a plague killed so many adults that teenagers had to take over and run everything. By busting what she assumes are a gang of juvenile delinquents — they’re actually federal agents — Supergirl becomes the world’s number one supervillain. She sticks around as Linda Danvers, however and winds up becoming president.

Alas, it’s a scheme by A.R.M., the Adult Revolutionary Movement, to expose President Danvers as Supergirl, exile her, then have their agent, teen Vice President Dick Malvin, step into her place. What happens next?And when it appears loyal Americans are engaging in sabotage —Scenes of tyranny were a staple of Silver Age comics; Marvel never passed up a chance to show the evil of communist dictatorships. I can’t recall any earlier stories that felt this grim. Is that this one is set in the U.S. (more or less) rather than Siancong or Latin America? Either way, it’s effective.

#SFWApro. Art by Carmine Infantino, Sheldon Moldoff, Mike Sekowsky (the Showcase cover) and Jim Mooney.