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First things first: I hate motion comics. They're an ill-conceived bastardization of comics and animation, forcing the former medium to act like more the latter and ruining both in the process. Granted, I base this opinion on the couple episodes of the WATCHMEN motion comic I've seen, and I seriously do not want to see what they've done with MAD LOVE, which I understand is a similar failure.
Secondly, I'm not wild about man-god Bruce Timm's "Two of a Kind," perhaps the most famous of the BATMAN BLACK & WHITE short stories. By Timm's own admittance, it's pretty silly. It's a by-the-numbers noir story with a Two-Face twist, and the cliches and conventions of both are spelled out from the start. You could tell this story with a checklist.
But it's also perhaps the most famous and beloved of the BATMAN BLACK & WHITE stories. I can only guess it's because of Timm's orgasm-worthy artwork. If I've learned anything from SIN CITY and THE LONG HALLOWEEN, it's that people will happily accept a weak mystery/thriller plot if the art is stellar. But it was what it was, and it knew what it was, so I liked it for that, even though I never loved it. In terms of the Great Two-Face Stories, it always struck me as one of the neater oddities, and little more.
So I was doubly predisposed to disliking a motion comic of "Two of a Kind." But I went ahead and watched it anyway. Here, it's only about six minutes, watch it yourself:
(YouTube version posted for the convenience of my international readers. Here is the slightly crisper official version, available only to those in the US)
That... wasn't bad! Not bad at all! Actually, dare I say it, that all really, kinda, actually worked.
If that sounds like faint praise, I'm just still trying to analyze it objectively on several levels, to see how it works as a piece unto itself, as an adaptation, as a motion comic, and as a Two-Face story. Honestly, for the most part, I think it actually improves Timm's original comic. A certain amount of life and soul is breathed into what was a really pretty piece of noir fluff.
It's the little extra touches, like the warping in his voice when he says "TOO late" and the background blurring as he starts to go nuts. Most motion comics don't really justify their existence this way, because they don't bring anything new to the table other than weak, pointless "animation" that backfires by making it feel even more two-dimensional.
Ultimately, though, it's very much helped by the fact that it's driven by first-person narration with limited actual dialogue. I'm remembering how the WATCHMEN motion comic felt like a very awkward book on tape, with a single male narrator doing all the voices, from Laurie to Rorschach. Oh, it so didn't work. But not only does "Two of a Kind" lend itself better to the bastardized medium, they wisely got voice actors for the fleeting other roles, and generally found a great balance throughout.
There are a couple curious edits from the original story. Cutting out the shadow panel of Harvey screwing her over his desk, yeah, I understand that (but they do keep the sexy image of her as he thinks about how good she'll be in bed later, that's cool? Huh.), and the details of how Madeline tried to kill Marilyn are probably not important, but I still noticed their absence. Otherwise, it's the whole story, yeah.
Y'know, one thing I never noticed till now? This is one of those rare Two-Face stories where he never flips the coin. Hell, we never even see the coin. It's immaterial to this story, although one could argue how it might be impossible to tell a Two-Face story without the coin. But eh, I don't particularly care. I might if it were in canon, but it's a stand-alone out-of-continuity tale, a professional fanfic, so I think it works as is.
Yeah, I really, really dig this. It feels like a mix between BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and SIN CITY. I'm still not sure if it's good, nor how I feel about it as a Two-Face story, but I'm certainly feeling more appreciative of it now than before.
I know some of you have read the original comic, while others like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
1mercystreet (for whose benefit I particularly posted this) wanted to but hadn't. What do you guys make of this?
Secondly, I'm not wild about man-god Bruce Timm's "Two of a Kind," perhaps the most famous of the BATMAN BLACK & WHITE short stories. By Timm's own admittance, it's pretty silly. It's a by-the-numbers noir story with a Two-Face twist, and the cliches and conventions of both are spelled out from the start. You could tell this story with a checklist.
But it's also perhaps the most famous and beloved of the BATMAN BLACK & WHITE stories. I can only guess it's because of Timm's orgasm-worthy artwork. If I've learned anything from SIN CITY and THE LONG HALLOWEEN, it's that people will happily accept a weak mystery/thriller plot if the art is stellar. But it was what it was, and it knew what it was, so I liked it for that, even though I never loved it. In terms of the Great Two-Face Stories, it always struck me as one of the neater oddities, and little more.
So I was doubly predisposed to disliking a motion comic of "Two of a Kind." But I went ahead and watched it anyway. Here, it's only about six minutes, watch it yourself:
(YouTube version posted for the convenience of my international readers. Here is the slightly crisper official version, available only to those in the US)
That... wasn't bad! Not bad at all! Actually, dare I say it, that all really, kinda, actually worked.
If that sounds like faint praise, I'm just still trying to analyze it objectively on several levels, to see how it works as a piece unto itself, as an adaptation, as a motion comic, and as a Two-Face story. Honestly, for the most part, I think it actually improves Timm's original comic. A certain amount of life and soul is breathed into what was a really pretty piece of noir fluff.
It's the little extra touches, like the warping in his voice when he says "TOO late" and the background blurring as he starts to go nuts. Most motion comics don't really justify their existence this way, because they don't bring anything new to the table other than weak, pointless "animation" that backfires by making it feel even more two-dimensional.
Ultimately, though, it's very much helped by the fact that it's driven by first-person narration with limited actual dialogue. I'm remembering how the WATCHMEN motion comic felt like a very awkward book on tape, with a single male narrator doing all the voices, from Laurie to Rorschach. Oh, it so didn't work. But not only does "Two of a Kind" lend itself better to the bastardized medium, they wisely got voice actors for the fleeting other roles, and generally found a great balance throughout.
There are a couple curious edits from the original story. Cutting out the shadow panel of Harvey screwing her over his desk, yeah, I understand that (but they do keep the sexy image of her as he thinks about how good she'll be in bed later, that's cool? Huh.), and the details of how Madeline tried to kill Marilyn are probably not important, but I still noticed their absence. Otherwise, it's the whole story, yeah.
Y'know, one thing I never noticed till now? This is one of those rare Two-Face stories where he never flips the coin. Hell, we never even see the coin. It's immaterial to this story, although one could argue how it might be impossible to tell a Two-Face story without the coin. But eh, I don't particularly care. I might if it were in canon, but it's a stand-alone out-of-continuity tale, a professional fanfic, so I think it works as is.
Yeah, I really, really dig this. It feels like a mix between BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and SIN CITY. I'm still not sure if it's good, nor how I feel about it as a Two-Face story, but I'm certainly feeling more appreciative of it now than before.
I know some of you have read the original comic, while others like
1mercystreet (for whose benefit I particularly posted this) wanted to but hadn't. What do you guys make of this?
