After starting out with three solid or better issues, THE JOKER’S ASYLUM series had its first miss in the fourth installment about Jonathan Crane, The Scarecrow.

Juan Doe’s artwork is unique and fits Scarecrow like a glove, but Joe Harris’ story borrows far too much from his past as a screenwriter for horror films and turns in an unoriginal effort that leaves one of most Batman’s most famous rogues looking like a cheap Freddy Krueger wannabe.

Dr. Crane is illegally practicing psychiatry in Gotham and one of his patients is a young girl named Lindsey who is the victim of bullying at the hands of the popular girls in school. They have invited her to a party, but Lindsey smells a trick. Her doctor, Crane, advises her to face her fears and attend the party anyway.

Unbeknownst to Lindsey, The Scarecrow has also decided to attend the party. He sympathizes with victims of high school bullies for obvious reasons. Lindsey was right -- the popular kids only invited her to play a cruel trick upon her. The Scarecrow instead picks them all off one-by-one by -- you guessed it -- exploiting their worst fears.

If I hadn’t seen the scenario of a mad killer terrorizing a houseful of teens in so many movies already, I would have enjoyed this issue a lot more. Unfortunately, I HAVE seen this all before and the only thing that’s changed is that a Batman villain was inserted into the story. The predictable twist at the end doesn’t help much either.

I was really disappointed with this issue and it really broke the trend of the previous installments of the series in which we learned a little bit more about and saw a different side of Batman’s most famous villains. Instead of seeing a different side of The Scarecrow, we just have to watch him crammed into a tired archetype.

Unless you’re aiming to pick up the entire JOKER’S ASYSUM run, you won’t be missing much by passing on this issue and just watching the hundred or so movies it’s based upon instead.