The Caped Crusader is being infused with a heavy dose of psychology beginning in Batman: The Dark Knightissue 10, the first for new writer Gregg Hurwitz as he teams with artist David Finch. The novelist will be peeking into the mind of Bruce Wayne, the man under the cowl, and also one of his classic foes, the Scarecrow.

Hurwitz took a new, noir-esque look at another Bat-villain in his recent DC miniseries Penguin: Pain and Prejudice, and he's doing similarly with Scarecrow, exploring where Jonathan Crane came from and what motivates this psychotic psychologist.

"I kept thinking about what kind of background would somebody have that would make him obsessed with fear? That's his primary focus," Hurwitz says. "I wanted to go all the way back to his childhood and to show a series of scenes that would account for that academic fascination with fear and the ways in which that could get off-kilter, surreal and insane."

Hurwitz's prescription, though, calls for plenty of two-fisted action to go with all the deep thoughts — issue 10 includes a two-page spread that is one of Hurwitz's favorite Finch-drawn pieces. "This is not people sitting around on psychologist couches," he says.