During the story "Fears",
Batman is hunting down and trying to capture the
Scarecrow. As the title suggests, fear plays a large part in the story, with Batman nearly dying of fear while trapped in a large, poisonous thorn maze. "Madness" tells the story of Captain
James Gordon's daughter,
Barbara, being kidnapped by the
Mad Hatter and forced to participate in a twisted tea party with other kidnapped children. Batman and Gordon finally save Barbara and bring down the Mad Hatter. "Ghosts" is a Batman universe version of
A Christmas Carol, with Bruce's father
Thomas Wayne taking the place of
Jacob Marley, and the three spirits being
Poison Ivy (the
Ghost of Christmas Past), the
Joker (the
Ghost of Christmas Present), and a Grim Reaper figure (the
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) who turns out to be Batman's ghost. The message from the spirits is that Bruce should not let Batman take over his entire life. ==Background==