The Straw Man, originally called the Scarecrow, is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Publication history

The Scarecrow was created by writer

Scott Edelman Scott Edelman (; born 1955) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor. Career In the 1970s, he worked in American comic books, in particular writing horror comics for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics. For Marvel he ...

and artist Rico Rival and first appeared in ''Dead of Night'' #11 (August 1975).

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

and

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

provided the cover art. Artist

Bill Draut Bill Draut (August 14, 1921–March 3, 1993) was an American comic book artist best known for his work at Harvey Comics and DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1970s. Biography Bill Draut began his career as an artist in the 1940s by drawing the " ...

was to have drawn the first appearance of the Scarecrow, but did not complete the assignment. The Scarecrow was originally scheduled to appear as a feature in '' Monsters Unleashed'' and '' Giant-Size Werewolf'', but both of those series were cancelled before the Scarecrow feature could appear. It was then rescheduled for ''Dead of Night'' and after that series was cancelled as well, the character was to have a self-titled ''Scarecrow'' series, but it was not published. Edelman and artist Ruben Yandoc produced a follow-up story which appeared in ''

Marvel Spotlight ''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book comics anthology, anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. ...

'' #26 (February 1976), and the story was eventually concluded by

Bill Mantlo William Timothy Mantlo (born November 9, 1951) is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: ''Micronauts'' and ''Ro ...

and Ron Wilson in '' Marvel Two-in-One'' #18 (August 1976). Many years later, he was brought back in the pages of ''

Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorc ...

'' #31 (July 1991) in which he took on the name "the Straw Man" to differentiate himself from the costumed killer named the

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...

. He subsequently appeared in issues #38 and 40, meeting Daredevil in the latter issue. The Scarecrow did not speak in his early appearances, but in his later appearances he did and he pretended to be a newscaster named "Skirra Corvus", Latin for "Scarecrow".

Fictional character biography

The Scarecrow is an extra–dimensional magical entity, possibly a demon, which takes vengeance on its enemies. He lives inside a

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

painting of a laughing scarecrow purchased by Jess Duncan and opposes the centuries-old Cult of Kalumai. The Scarecrow battled demons at a police station to recover the Horn of Kalumai, which would have allowed Kalumai to travel to Earth. Kalumai later spread his influence through the painting into a man who was mutated into a fiery creature and then fought the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

and the Scarecrow. The Straw Man was invited by the

Dweller-in-Darkness The Dweller-in-Darkness is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a demon, one of the Fear Lords, who has clashed with Doctor Strange. The character made its film debut in the 2021 Marvel Cine ...

to join the Fear Lords, but he betrayed them to

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

. During the '' Fear Itself'' storyline, the Straw Man fought against

Nightmare A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...

's attempt to use the fear brought by the

Serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

to become the King of Fear.

Powers and abilities

The Straw Man possesses superhuman strength, plant and weather manipulation, the ability to command crows, the ability to create portals and the ability to induce fear in others. He is invulnerable to everything, except for fire.

Reception

The Straw Man was ranked #30 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters.

References

External links

* * {{Marvel Mystic, state=collapsed Comics characters introduced in 1975 Fictional scarecrows Horror comics Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Marvel Comics demons