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In the DC/Top Cow crossover one-shot Batman/Darkness (or was it Darkness/Batman? Meh.), writer Jeph Loeb devoted little pointless page-full cameos to several Gotham characters, including Harvey. These cameos served no purpose other than to make the reader go "Hey, I know that character!" while annoying the mobster character who was forced to interact with the Rogues. Harvey's cameo takes up a two-page spread, and since I lack both a large scanner and photoshop abilities, I have to present it here in two awkwardly broken-up scans.
( We're not above being fair... )
As this story had a couple different artists, I can't be sure which drew this scene, but it might be the work of David Finch. Y'know, the guy who is drawing the OMGWTFBBQ Venom!Harvey in an upcoming issue of The Dark Knight. The DCU Blog recently posted Finch's uninked, unlettered pages of the fight scene between Batman and Hulk!Harvey, whereupon I learned that it's being written by none other than Paul Jenkins, author of the Two-Face "epic" Batman: Jekyll & Hyde. I just finished scanning pages from that entire mini for a review, but dear lord, tearing apart that particular clusterfuck is gonna take a while. But I really should examine it, if only because Harvey's big grand plan was pretty much just used again as the finale for Scott Snyder's critically-beloved "Black Mirror" story from Detective Comics.
Henchgirl and I just finished reading Snyder's story, and we are frustrated and disappointed. On one hand, I can understand why it got hyped so much, because there's so much there to like. At its best, it's one of the most compelling, maturely-told Batman stories in recent memory. At its worst, it's a flawed pseudo-Morrison pseudo-Milligan pseudo-Dexter story that turns James Gordon Jr. into a murderous Gary Stu (who's supposed to be a "psychopath" but is written more like a sociopath and/or someone with Aspergers) with a big scary plan that falls apart if you actually think about it. Do you know how much it hurts me to admit that Batman: Jekyll & Hyde actually did something BETTER? Because ouch, man. Ouch.
I wish I had more free time and brainpower, because I'd love to write a proper teardown of Snyder's story, while celebrating all the stuff I liked. I think that's what really gets me. The good stuff is so good that it makes the bad stuff all the more frustrating. This is the exact same problem I have with Flashpoint: Batman--Knight of Vengeance, which is STILL getting praised to high heaven. I'm fighting the urge to just troll every review and message board with my lengthy, in-depth criticism of that story.
Between that and Snyder's story, I'm itching for a fight. Or at least, a challenging discussion. But I'm not sure anybody would really be up for that, nor care. So meh, maybe I'll just stick to reviewing more Two-Face comics until then.
( We're not above being fair... )
As this story had a couple different artists, I can't be sure which drew this scene, but it might be the work of David Finch. Y'know, the guy who is drawing the OMGWTFBBQ Venom!Harvey in an upcoming issue of The Dark Knight. The DCU Blog recently posted Finch's uninked, unlettered pages of the fight scene between Batman and Hulk!Harvey, whereupon I learned that it's being written by none other than Paul Jenkins, author of the Two-Face "epic" Batman: Jekyll & Hyde. I just finished scanning pages from that entire mini for a review, but dear lord, tearing apart that particular clusterfuck is gonna take a while. But I really should examine it, if only because Harvey's big grand plan was pretty much just used again as the finale for Scott Snyder's critically-beloved "Black Mirror" story from Detective Comics.
Henchgirl and I just finished reading Snyder's story, and we are frustrated and disappointed. On one hand, I can understand why it got hyped so much, because there's so much there to like. At its best, it's one of the most compelling, maturely-told Batman stories in recent memory. At its worst, it's a flawed pseudo-Morrison pseudo-Milligan pseudo-Dexter story that turns James Gordon Jr. into a murderous Gary Stu (who's supposed to be a "psychopath" but is written more like a sociopath and/or someone with Aspergers) with a big scary plan that falls apart if you actually think about it. Do you know how much it hurts me to admit that Batman: Jekyll & Hyde actually did something BETTER? Because ouch, man. Ouch.
I wish I had more free time and brainpower, because I'd love to write a proper teardown of Snyder's story, while celebrating all the stuff I liked. I think that's what really gets me. The good stuff is so good that it makes the bad stuff all the more frustrating. This is the exact same problem I have with Flashpoint: Batman--Knight of Vengeance, which is STILL getting praised to high heaven. I'm fighting the urge to just troll every review and message board with my lengthy, in-depth criticism of that story.
Between that and Snyder's story, I'm itching for a fight. Or at least, a challenging discussion. But I'm not sure anybody would really be up for that, nor care. So meh, maybe I'll just stick to reviewing more Two-Face comics until then.
