The Scarecrow was created by writerScott Edelman and artist Rico Rival and first appeared in Dead of Night #11. Gil Kane and Bernie Wrightson provided the cover art. Artist Bill Draut 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 #26, and was eventually concluded by Bill Mantlo and Ron Wilson in Marvel Two-in-One #18. Many years later, he was brought back in the pages of Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #31 in which he took on the name "Straw Man" to differentiate himself from the costumed killer the Scarecrow. 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."
The Scarecrow is an extra–dimensional magical entity, possibly a demon, which takes vengeance on its enemies. He lives inside a palimpsest painting of a laughingscarecrow 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 and the Scarecrow. The Straw Man was invited by the Dweller-in-Darkness to join the Fear Lords, but he betrayed them to Doctor Strange. During the Fear Itself storyline, the Straw Man fought against Nightmare's attempt to use the fear brought by the Serpent to become the King of Fear.
Straw Man possesses superhuman strength, plant and weather manipulation, the ability to command crows, the ability to create portals and induce fear in others. He is also invulnerable to anything except fire.
