Classic Comics Cavalcade: Halloween In Gotham In ‘Batman: Fear’

Wrapping up our series of comics legends we’ve lost this year, I knew that Tim Sale would be the toughest. Sale was still young, and he had a fascinating body of work. While I looked at books like Spider-Man Blue and Daredevil Yellow, I gravitated back to his Batman.

When fans think of Tim Sale Batman, they’ll probably think of the Long Halloween duology. It’s easy to see why. The two maxi-series are probably two of the three most influential stories that took place outside of the main Batman or Detective Comics series. The three Legends of the Dark Knight annuals that form the Haunted Knight trilogy that preceded them are often forgotten.

Coming from Sale, Jeph Loeb, Gregory Wright and Todd Klein, the trilogy told incredibly personal stories about Batman and his supporting cast. I covered Madness, the second part of the trilogy, early in the pandemic, and I’m just now checking out the rest.

On the weekend of Halloween, the Scarecrow is doing what he does best- striking fear in the heart of Gotham. As Batman pursues him, he struggles with his own exhaustion and exposure to fear toxin. Naturally, it’s the worst time for a new woman to enter his life, but he falls head over heels for Jillian Maxwell as he continues his hunt. But is there something more to Maxwell, something that puts Bruce Wayne in even more danger?

This is just a fantastic Batman story. For his many faults, Loeb knows how to write a fascinating Batman story. Scarecrow isn’t much of a character here as he is a plot device. His motivations are much simpler than they usually are- essentially a get rich quick scheme. Loeb needs him in place to dose Bruce with fear toxin, and otherwise he’s just someone that Batman gets to punch. If it wasn’t for the need for fear toxin to cloud Bruce’s mind, he could have been replaced with almost any other Bat-rogue.

The really interesting part of the story is Jillian Maxwell. You know instantly, she’s a con artist. Alfred’s suspicions of her even made me think she may have been Selina Kyle or Pamela Isley in disguise, possibly even Talia al Ghul. But no, Jillian is a classic black widow who stumbled into Batman’s life, trying to con Bruce Wayne into becoming her next victim. The thing is, she’s a very interesting love interest. There’s potential for that in a long form Batman story, but even here it’s done surprisingly well for such a relatively short story.

But I chose this story to talk about Sale, and holy cow this is a great looking story. This isn’t Sale’s first Batman story- he’d done Blades and issues of Shadow of the Bat by this point- but I feel like this is the first where we start to see his more impressionist and stylized take on Batman. The only thing I don’t like is his design for Scarecrow. The elongated and gaunt figure is great, but his patchwork mask doesn’t quite fit.

Otherwise, the art is perfection. This is a gorgeous Batman book. Batman himself always looks imposing, even as he starts to break down and exhaust. Jillian is an alluring presence, and he avoids depicting her as a noir femme fatale. She’s a mysterious, beautiful woman, but she’s not a bombshell dame. I also really like his version of Bruce here, depicting him as a dapper gentleman who’d fit in among Hollywood icons like Clark Gable and Cary Grant. Wright adds just enough color to make the story vibrant as well. It’s a stunning book, cover to cover.

There really isn’t any artist in comics like Tim Sale. His gorgeous work will be greatly missed, and I can’t wait to read his back catalogue, especially stories I haven’t read yet.

Batman: Fear is collected as part of Batman: Haunted Knight and can be found digitally and in your local comics shop.