Scarecrow wants to become a God – we’ll see what the new Dark Knight has to think about it.

Shadow of the Bat #18

Written by Alan Grant
Pencils by Bret Blevins
Inks by Steve George
Colors by Adrienne Roy
Letters by Todd Klein

Scarecrow, or rather one of his followers, walks into a police station, feigns turning himself in, and gasses it, with the follower getting hit by a bullet fired wildly by one of the police officers.

Batman II shuts down a projector, and returns to the Batmobile just in time to get a list of missing students from Bullock.

Gotham TV news covers the mounting death toll, as Scarecrow taunts Phil Harold. Anarky has found Scarecrow’s lair and looks on, but he wants to wait until Batman shows up so he can take both down at once.

Back at the Batmobile, Batman II has gone through the list, and Paul recognizes Phil as a former classmate, and knows about his inherited library.

At GCPD, Gordon and Kitch are trying to get teams to hang in there as they deal with the fires and panic through the street, before Scarecrow calls to taunt him.

Batman II finally arrives at Scarecrow’s lair, and Scarecrow is stopped from escaping through a carefully aimed flare-gun by Anarky. Just as Batman has Scarecrow incapacitated, Anarky covers them both with a net and begins to electrocute Batman II with the intent to kill him.

Scarecrow takes advantage of this to get Phil to hit Anarky with a fear dart while he doses Batman II as well. Jean-Paul basically goes through an existential crisis over how much of his identity is really due to The System, and Anarky bemoans the status of the world as a whole.

However, The System forces Jean-Paul to power through the fear, and he attacks Scarecrow again. Scarecrow orders Phil to kill himself – and Batman II continues to attack Scarecrow without hesitation. Crane is shocked, which lets Batman II deal the knockdown blow.

Fortunately for Phil, Anarky had lassoed Phil by the ankles, and the two pull him up. Batman berates Anarky, before leaving with Scarecrow.

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