For decades, people have been asking me which of two brothers had his body taken over by the Scarecrow, a character I created back at Marvel Comics in the mid-’70s. And for decades, I’ve been telling those people—I can’t remember!

But at last, the answer can be revealed.

For while going through a box of papers recently, I discovered my plot for a Scarecrow adventure which was never drawn. And this being Halloween, it seemed like a good time to unleash it on the world.

The Scarecrow concept led a complicated life, both before and after his first story was published.

I created him to appear as a backup in Monsters Unleashed, one of Marvel’s black-and-white books, where he was meant to rotate with Tigra and Frankenstein. His debut there was even announced in the August 1974 issue of the fanzine The Comic Reader.

But Monsters Unleashed was cancelled before the world ever got to see him.

Next up, he was going to appear as a back-up feature in Giant-Size Werewolf by Night … which also got cancelled before the world could meet him.

But at last, the first Scarecrow story was published … in Dead of Night #11, the final issue of what had previously been a reprint title.

After that, he was scheduled to move on to his own comic, as you can see from this subscription ad.

But that book never launched, swallowed by the great Marvel implosion, and the story which was to have been in Scarecrow #1 was burned off in Marvel Spotlight #26.

But up until the cancellation occurred, I moved ahead in hope, and plotted what was supposed to have been Scarecrow #2, a plot which I assumed had long been lost, but which has now been found.

The 5-page plot for an 18-page comic is dated June 5, 1975. I wince when I read it, and I normally wouldn’t share writing which makes me wince, but then I remind myself of two things—

First, that I was only 20 years old when I handed this in to then Editor-in-Chief Marv Wolfman.

And second, that all those people who’ve asked over the years which brother I thought would end up as the embodiment of the Scarecrow deserve an answer.

And so … pretend it’s the summer of 1975, and get ready for some answers … and for some extremely clumsy writing from a much younger me.

Okay, Marv. Since we never got around to talking out the second issue of The Scarecrow (which only goes to show that both of our jobs keep us so busy that our spare moments during the day don’t coincide), I finally got around to writing it down. And although hints from Big John seem to wilt my prospects for the book’s continued existence, we might as well continue on until there is definite news (even though he told us to even hold off on plotting the thing for awhile—I’d prefer to get the thing scripted and have it ready to go to a penciller than start writing it at the last minute). Hopefully, we’ll be able to fix up the rough edges on Monday. And away we go!

Page One

You’ve already seen the script for this page, and if you’re lucky, you’ve also seen Don’s pencils. This splash is meant to be one of the actual boards of the magazine which Dave does most of his work for, and which has been put together to accompany his article. Artwork by Jess Duncan; poem by Harmony Maxwell!!!

An aside from 2017: According to the page of script attached to Don Perlin’s art—the only page of this story ever drawn—here’s the text which was supposed to go with that art—

In the dead of the night,
By the full of the moon,
The evil that drives us
will breath its last breath …

For the chase with the hell-fiend
is won by the swift—
However you look at him
the SCARECROW SPELLS DEATH!

(Yeah, I know … but remember, I was only 20!)

Now back to 1975 we go!

Page Two

We cut to a panel showing Dave and Harmony looking at the board, with us looking over their shoulders. The section of the loft that we’re in now is the one with the painting, which can be interior decorated differently than the last two times we’ve seen it because until now there has been no definite map of the loft. (When I get around to it I’ll make a floor plan of Jess’ loft and put it in a letter column or something, ’cause it seems that the artists have no idea how to draw a loft.)

Harmony and Dave are discussing the board. Harmony does not like her poem, as she does not like anything she’s been forced to write on command. She basically writes what she wants to most of the time, since she makes her money from the critical exhibition reviews and art reviews she does for a small elitist newspaper/magazine. She can choose (or rather, has worked up to the point where she can choose) to do reviews of whatever she wants. Since Dave had asked Harmony for the poem, Harmony feels stagnated by the request—one of Harmony’s little quirks. Dave tells Harmony not to worry—that the poem’s fine.

Harmony mentions that it would have been better if she’d gotten around to writing it before he asked for it … then we cut into a flashback of a few panels duration. We see Jess locked outside the aquarium door from #1 and sketching (which Harmony brings up to point out that Jess had his art almost done before Dave wanted it). Then we cut to the fight that Harmony and the Scarecrow were in in #1. Then we cut back to the present where Harmony finally asks something like, “Jess and I were talking about where you had disappeared to, and he didn’t think I should talk to you about it, but —” Suddenly—

Page Three

Jess walks in. He says hello, looks at the boards, makes some comments about how good the artwork is, and generally introduces some snappy patter. (And by the way, there is a reason why the two brothers have different last names … and it all ties in with the reason why the spirit of The Scarecrow painting will eventually take over Dave and not Jess.) Dave turns around to put the board back in his portfolio. His back is now towards Jess, Harmony, and the Scarecrow painting. Harmony’s back is to the painting, Jess is facing it. A hand reaches out from the painting, clamps around her mouth, and pulls her into the painting. She makes no noise. Dave doesn’t hear her. Jess screams.

Page Four

Jess screams and runs at the painting, seeking to enter the same way Harmony did. Dave whirls and sees nothing but Jess running toward the painting. Jess runs into it, and since it’s directly in front of a wall he almost breaks his neck—bounces back and falls right on his tuchus. (I’m told that writers aren’t allowed to use dirty words in plots.) CUT TO: The interior of the painting.

(While we’re on this end, Dave will be trying to convince Jess that Harmony just stepped out of the room and the house and that he’s just having delusions … which is as ridiculous as it sounds … it shouldn’t sound plausible … ’cause that hints to us, since we know that Dave himself would not believe something so ludicrous, that Dave must have a reason for saying this to Jess … that maybe Dave knows more than he’s telling.)

Inside the painting, we get a glimpse of Kalumai’s dimension. Harmony is lying on the floor on which she’s just been thrown, Kalumai is ranting over her, and two robed and faceless guards are standing beside him. He’s being the regular ham actor villain —melodrama just oozing out of his pores. He begins explaining his plan to her, which includes the origin of The Scarecrow.

Page Five

Perhaps this page can be done with a huge Kalumai figure in the center, and unbordered shots, montage-like, surrounding him. Kalumia tells us that there was a wizard/god whose magic was strongly based on his art … whatever he drew or painted would come alive for him with the proper incantations. That was his forte. Well, Kalumai finally, after many years, succeeded in destroying the other wizard/god, but like all evil persons, he had a flaw … he wanted it to be a slow and painful death. So he just zapped him with a spell that would cause him to wither up and die.

In the last few hours left to him, this wizard/god fashioned the Scarecrow painting, and since has has knowledge of other dimensions, he caused the painting’s frame to become the gateway to the dimension Kalumai now inhabits. He (the wizard/god) was never able to do this before, because to do it right his death had to be one of the ingredients … but now, since he was losing it anyway … Well, the wizard/god let his life-force enter the painting, which caused the creation of the Scarecrow.

One night, the Scarecrow threw Kalumai and his minions into this dimension in a huge battle (during which Kalumai lost his horn) which was won by the Scarecrow only due to the element of surprise. Ever since that day, The Scarecrow has thwarted Kalumai’s plans for conquest. (By the way, although it won’t be mentioned in this story, Dave was the first and only person that The Scarecow ever took over … for reasons which shall be explained in future issues. Up until now, the spirit merely materialized by itself. All sorts of strange thing happened to Dave when he ran away from home as a kid.)

Harmony is cowed and speechless by all this … ’cause regardless of what she’s been through, she’s never seen a god.

Page Six

Cut to Jess and Dave arguing with each other in front of The Scarecrow painting. Dave keeps telling Jess that he was seeing things, that Harmony just left. Jess replies, “But you didn’t see it!” Dave keeps telling Jess not to worry. Dave goes to another room in the house, saying the whole thing is ridiculous … he’s not going to make mountains out of molehills. Jess places himself on watch before the painting in an easy chair … and eventually nods off, regardless of his vigilance. The Scarecrow enters and dashes into the painting, which awakens Jess, who jumps up and stares at the painting. A cap will make mention of the fact that search the house as much as he wants, Jess will not find Dave at all.

Page Seven

The first panel on this page would show The Scarecrow entering the dimension of Kalumai and looking around. The next shot would be of the Scarecrow seen in the same pool that Harmony and Jess were seen in by Kalumai last issue. Kaulmai is off-panel though. Then we see Kalumai who’s ranting and raving. Harmony can be seen, wrists tied to pillars, over Kalumai’s shoulders. While ranting some more, Kalumai gestures and this huge three-headed Cerebus-type beast appears. He gestures once more and a crackling warp appears, through which we can see the back of The Scarecrow.

Page Eight

The Scarecrow is walking towards us. Behind him we can see a warp appearing … through the warp we can see the creature charging, and behind the Scarecrow we can see Kalumai. As the creature runs at the Scarecrow, the warp is quickly disappearing … the Scarecrow leapfrogs over the center of the head of the creature, narrowly evading the teeth of the other two heads … bits of cloth are caught and ripped free though. The Scarecrow makes a three-point landing (two feet and an arm) behind the creature, with the creature running away from us and the Scarecrow facing us.

Page Nine

The Scarecrow turns and faces the creature who also whirls to face him. The Scarecrow attempts to outstare the Cerebus creature, as one might outstare a lion. Thinking the fight is over, after a few minutes of tenseness, the Scarecrow walks off towards where he knows Kalumai is, with his back toward the creature. The creature begins growling, and lo and behold, three heads begin moving at angles to each other—the creature begins splitting into three giant creatures.

Page Ten

Back on Earth, Jess is trying to chop away some paint from a relatively unimportant area near the bottom of the painting. He succeeds and looks through, only to see the scene shown on the previous page a few seconds later … with the Cerebus creatures split apart even further … splitting like paramecium reproduce. The Scarecrow pays no attention and continues walking … and Jess screams a warning which cannot be heard through the dimensions.

Page Eleven

In a large panel the three huge creatures are running at him from three sides. The Scarecrow jumps up into the air and kicks two of them in the face, with his legs being almost at a 180 degree angle, as if he jumped up and did a split. Upon kicking them, the two of them shrink away to nothing, and the third triples in size.

Page Twelve

The Scarecrow looks at the huge vicious creature and realizes that the opposition is too tough to play clean with, so he might as well pull some of his tricks out of his bag. Wildly gesticulating and laughing hysterically, The Scarecrow’s eyes begin glowing. The ground begins shaking and the creature halts, sniffing the sky. Suddenly, the Earth cracks, splits open, swallows the creature, and closes up without leaving a trace.

Page Thirteen

A huge head of Kalumai appears in the sky before the Scarecrow, with Kalumai sarcastically congratulating The Scarecrow on a job well done. The Scarecrow suddenly appears before Kalumai, with Harmony still tied to the pillars. Jess, still on Earth (see, he plays as large a part in the goings-on this issue as he did last issue … but don’t worry … wait’ll next issue!), screams out a “Harmony!” or two.

Page Fourteen

Kalumai says he’s sorry he has to kill The Scarecrow in this way, but it’s the only way left, no matter how risky. The Scarecrow would be able to defeat everything else. Kalumai reaches inside his robe and pulls forth one of those fairies from Fantasia—a Tinkerbell. He throws her to the ground, and she explodes into a huge hulking figure whose hands are on fire … and who shoots bolts from them. When this creature changes, Kalumai becomes very old and ancient and decrepit looking … he’s spending all his powers to create a spiritual flame that can destroy the Scarecrow in the form of this creature.

Page Fifteen

The creature shoots bolts at The Scarecrow, all of which he dodges. Finally, the creature employs a bit of strategy here and realizes The Scarecrow is too agile—that there’s only one way that he’s going to hit him … so he throws a bolt at the bound Harmony. Harmony cringes and closes her eyes and finds it odd that her last thoughts should be on what an odd poem her approaching death would make and too bad she won’t get to write it. The Scarecrow leaps in front of it and catches it in the chest, catching on fire.

Page Sixteen

Kalumai is now laughing uproariously, even in his weakened condition. He has won. But—The Scarecrow leaps over to Kalumai and throws his arms around Kalumai’s neck. Kalumai screams and catches on fire. In this weakened condition, it means death. When Kalumai catches on fire, so does the dimension, piece by piece. Jess jumps back from the painting because right at the very bottom, it catches on fire—frame and all.

Page Seventeen

One of the first things to catch on fire (ta-dah!) is the rope which binds Harmony to the pillars. She’s free! Kalumai and the Scarecrow are struggling, and now even the sky has caught on fire! The dimensional doorway itself appears, a flame along the bottom. It just looks like a hole in space from this end. We can see Jess on the other side looking through the hole he scraped for himself, shocked. Harmony hesitates to leave. She wants to stay and help, but what can she do? Finally, The Scarecrow talks for the first time … in Dave’s voice. “Get out!” or some such piece of deathless prose. Harmony does jump through, landing on Earth, in Jess’ arms. We can see the painting once more, and the line of fire has traveled farther up the front.

Page Eighteen

We get one or two more panels of the flame traveling farther up the front of the painting (with Jess and Harmony worrying over The Scarecrow/Dave?), until, finally, Dave dives past through the remaining space, landing behind Jess and Harmony. We just see him going through the air in a blur, not able to tell whether he’s conscious or not. The painting continues burning up, and Jess and Harmony watch it, ready to put out the flames if the spiritual fire decides to turn Earthly. Harmony suddenly calls out for Jess to turn around to look—and we see Dave unconscious on the floor, vibrating back and forth between Dave and The Scarecrow. We fade out on this scene, with a sliver of the painting still on fire.

NEXT: Super-natural turns Super-hero!

After all that, you might be asking yourself several things, one being—how did this kid ever get a job at Marvel writing comics? (I often ask that question myself.)

But the other might be … “Super-natural turns Super-hero” … what’s that all about?

Which is a question some Scarecrow fans may have been asking since the concept was first floated in the June 1975 issue of Marvel’s fan magazine, FOOM.

Unfortunately, unlike the question of which brother ended up becoming the Scarecrow, that’s a question unlikely to ever be answered. No plot was ever written out for a potential Scarecrow #3, and I have no memory as to why the character was shifting away from horror and into the superheroic. So—a mystery for the ages!

Happy Halloween!