After being released from ARKHAM ASYLUM, the DARK KNIGHT'S most frightful foe, the SCARECROW, sets out to cure his one and only fear - birds! With a new and improved fear toxin, he's going after ROBIN, BATMAN'S powerful partner.
Matthew K. Manning is the author of over eighty books and dozens of comic books. He has written books for Scholastic, Disney Press, Abrams, Amazon, Capstone, DK Publishing, Insight Editions, Andrews/McMeel, and Running Press, dividing his time between writing original chapter book series and coffee table books. His chapter books include the six-book series Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns (Capstone), the four-book Drone Academy series (Capstone), Backstories: Batman and Backstories: Batgirl (Scholastic), and Artemis Fowl: How to be a LEPrecon (Disney Press), released in both paperback and on Audible. Many of his books have reached best-seller status on Amazon, including DC Comics: Anatomy of a Metahuman, DC Comics Encyclopedia, and Batman: A Visual History. In addition, Manning specializes in comic books, writing for the titles Beware the Batman, Teen Titans Go!, The Batman Strikes!, Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, Justice League Adventures, Scooby-Doo, and Looney Tunes for DC Comics, Marvel Action: Avengers for IDW/Marvel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures and TMNT: New Animated Adventures for IDW, and the top-selling Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures for DC/IDW, nominated by the Diamond Gem Awards for comic of the year. Manning’s work has received acclaim in Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Washington Times. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife Dorothy and his daughters Lillian and Gwendolyn.
First, can I just start off by saying that scarecrow is one creepy dude? The master of fear but is afraid of his own shadow, kind of redundant. I was leery of reading this novel to my children, but we pushed through until the end for I wanted my son to see that evil wouldn't win.
I don't want to say too much about this novel, for it is entirely based off of Scarecrow trying to get over his fear of Batman. The only way that he could work out to do this in his mind was to go after Robin, and I will leave it at that so that I don't give anything away.
Batman novels by Super DC Heroes are clean and wholesome. I never have to worry about what my child my hear and learn when reading these novels to him, they never disappoint and I am always able to say that justice prevails through every trial that the hero must face.
Now this is what I expected from this series - getting inside the heads of the characters while telling a good story. I was well pleased with this book, and with the closer look at Scarecrow, a villain that I didn't know a whole lot about. The examination of fear and what fear does to you leaves a deeper and more lasting message long after the book is finished and put away.
I'd definitely put this into the hands of my young readers who love Batman.