Scarecrow and the Sinestro Corps ring

I like to think that many comic book fans underestimate just how powerful those Green Lantern rings can be.  The potential alone makes a Green Lantern as crazy strong as his or her creativity, which is in a way, a far more dynamic tool than say, muscles and years of martial arts training.  I did a previous article on just how bloody the Green Lantern adventures are if you want to read more.

A few years, before the DC universe rebooted, they had a huge crossover event called Blackest Night. All the dead superheroes/family members came back to life as angry, tough, invincible monsters, and with seventy years of comics, that’s a lot of dead people.  Only the Green Lantern Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, the Blue Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps, the Star Sapphires, Agent Orange, and the Indigo Tribe (lots of colors nowadays) can hope to stop this madness.  Unfortunately, with so many Black Lantern zombies flying around, the rainbow kids needed some extra manpower.

Ganthet the Guardian has a few recruiting ideas in Blackest Night #6-7, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Ivan Reis.

As you can see, each of the rings are powered by a different emotion who then sought out the closest person that most closely symbolizes their little mottos.  The Sinestro Corps (the yellow ring) operates on fear.  Well, since Batman’s currently dead, who would be a close second that best scares/soils the pants of his victims?  I mean, it’s not really a surprise.  You read the title of the article.

No doubt Scarecrow’s crazy.  But I love that he’s been exposed to so much fear gas over the years that it’s now the only emotion he can’t experience.  Just like Riddler needs Batman for the intellectual stimulation and the Joker needs Batman for joy and personal fulfillment, Scarecrow needs him just as badly to complete the one missing element in his life: fear.  That’s deep.  So now that he has a tool capable of replacing the Dark Knight, how does it go?

Y’see, the power rings gathered up other capable individuals as well.  Like Wonder Woman recruited by the Star Sapphires because of her great capacity to love or the Flash never-relenting hope allowing him to be deputized by the Blue Lantern Corps.  Unfortunately, the orange ring is greed, which has the nasty side effect of its wearer wanting everything.

And with that, Lex Luthor ended Scarecrow’s Sinestro Corps career almost as soon as it started.  But we know supervillains, and their most defining quality is forgiveness and an inability to hold grudges. Right?

After Blackest Night ended, the DC universe back to normal.  Except that a few loose ends needed tying up, like in Superman/Batman #77, written by Josh Williamson and drawn by Alé Garza.  More on that in a few pages.

Supergirl, hanging out in Gotham City for the night, witnesses a gruesome crime scene.  And while she can punch bad guys into outer space, a keen investigative mind isn’t exactly one of her strengths. But she’s in Gotham, so a brilliant detective can be found one short flight across town.

If you don’t know Damian Wayne, no better introduction needed.  The biological son of a one-night stand between Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, the ten year-old may actually be one of the finest assassins and warriors in the DC universe.  Also, he’s a massive jerk.  Years and years of having a mother never shutting up about how great you are and what you’re destined to achieve can affect a young boy’s sense of self-worth.  And despite his rudeness and arrogance, the kid is quite good at what he does, especially with that Wayne blood flowing through him.

Eventually, the two superheroes figure out the thread that all the murders have in common:

Yup, those poor college kids were the shining posterity of Lexcorp.  That’s going to hurt the stock. Luckily, and most likely because there’s only 24 pages to tell the story, all the remaining interns are conveniently gathered at that moment for the annual Halloween party.  Time to solve this mystery.

Li’l Matches makes me laugh.  Y’know, because when Batman goes undercover as a mobster, it’s always as Matches Malone, so this a parody of that.  Well, maybe it’s not that funny.  Anyway, the murderer gets uncovered quickly, and you probably figured it out who since the article’s about him.

Yes, things took a turn for the worse.  Let’s be fair: Damian is a master martial artist.  He’s extremely agile.  The kid can take down even the toughest baddies, despite being half everyone’s size.  But to fight Supergirl hopped up on fear gas?  That’s a fight even his father can’t win.

The problem with fear gassing superheroes is that they tend to have tremendous willpower, which allows them to overpower illusions and regain control from the fear gas fairly quickly.  How sad for Scarecrow.  Though not to say it wasn’t rough for a while.

Mission complete.  Except for the whole motive of why Scarecrow’s dousing Lexcorp interns.  The two aren’t exactly friends, but their paths and goals, rarely if ever, intersect.  Let Crane tell you the poor, tragic reason:

It would be kind of sad if he didn’t murder a dozen kids.  Oh well, such is a supervillain’s life.  How else could this story possibly end?