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I adore DC's Elseworlds books for reasons I've already mentioned, even though most really aren't that great. Today, I bring you one of those which I'd always put firmly into the not-all-that-great camp. But the great thing about doing this blog is that I give these stories a second chance, and I almost always find something neat to appreciate that I'd never noticed before.
That said, I still don't think Batman: Masque is a great comic. Written and drawn by Mike Grell (Green Arrow, Jon Sable: Freelance, and Neal Adams' successor on Green Lantern/Green Arrow back in the day), it shoots for the same kind of sweepingly operatic feeling of The Long Halloween, but somewhat falls short without Loeb and Sale's penchant for pulling off that empty storytelling with emotional impact. Grell's art is very pretty, much like other great artists like Adams and Gil Kane, he goes way to heavy on his own inks. I don't know why that's a pattern.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting take on Batman and Two-Face by way of Phantom of the Opera (but which character gets to be the Phantom?), which supplants the opera setting for ballet, which lends itself much more to comics. Also, Harvey Dent is a ballet danseur. Not even joking.
( No fucking Andrew Lloyd Webber references behind the cut )
Of all the Elseworlds versions of Two-Face, this is one of the weakest and least sympathetic, and one whose death won't be mourned by anyone. As such, I think it's rather appropriate to end this post with a song from Phantom of the Paradise, Brian De Palma's great 70's glam-rock musical take on Phantom by way of Faust. You may recognize the singer/songwriter Paul Williams III, and if you're like me, you'll be imagining this as Oswald Cobblepot singing his non-lament to Ballet!Harvey:
That said, I still don't think Batman: Masque is a great comic. Written and drawn by Mike Grell (Green Arrow, Jon Sable: Freelance, and Neal Adams' successor on Green Lantern/Green Arrow back in the day), it shoots for the same kind of sweepingly operatic feeling of The Long Halloween, but somewhat falls short without Loeb and Sale's penchant for pulling off that empty storytelling with emotional impact. Grell's art is very pretty, much like other great artists like Adams and Gil Kane, he goes way to heavy on his own inks. I don't know why that's a pattern.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting take on Batman and Two-Face by way of Phantom of the Opera (but which character gets to be the Phantom?), which supplants the opera setting for ballet, which lends itself much more to comics. Also, Harvey Dent is a ballet danseur. Not even joking.
( No fucking Andrew Lloyd Webber references behind the cut )
Of all the Elseworlds versions of Two-Face, this is one of the weakest and least sympathetic, and one whose death won't be mourned by anyone. As such, I think it's rather appropriate to end this post with a song from Phantom of the Paradise, Brian De Palma's great 70's glam-rock musical take on Phantom by way of Faust. You may recognize the singer/songwriter Paul Williams III, and if you're like me, you'll be imagining this as Oswald Cobblepot singing his non-lament to Ballet!Harvey:
