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about_facesYou may have heard of Batman Live, "an all-new, live-action arena adventure, set to take the world by storm."
I don't particularly care, since it sounds like a more extravagant version of one of those live Batman action shows you'd catch at Six Flags, but I have to admit I'm at least intrigued now that they've announced the full roster of the villains. Not just Harvey, who we'll get to in a second, but also classic Ventriloquist! Arnie! Yay!
It always pleases me to see non-comic Batman stuff remaining more true to the comics than the far-more-popular films or TV shows. And if the site's character bios are any indication, maybe the actual show will have enough faith to the actual comics' spirit to be worth checking out. Just look at how uncommonly well they get Harvey:
BIOGRAPHY
Left-right. Up-down. Good-bad. The world is based upon duality, but the choices are usually determined at random. At least, that's TWO-FACE'S world.
HARVEY DENT was the finest district attorney GOTHAM CITY had ever seen. With Police Commissioner JAMES GORDON as his trusted ally, and in conjunction with the efficient if legally dubious BATMAN, Dent cut massive swaths through the underworld. At times he may have been overwhelmed by flashbacks to his childhood, a childhood tormented by a drunken father who forced him to guess which side of a trick coin would come up, but he had those under control. He did…
…Until a mob boss on trial for life, knowing he was going to go down in flames, decided to take the crusading district attorney down with him, and tossed a bottle of acid at him during the cross examination. Harvey threw up his hands, but it was too late. Half his face and one hand had been scarred far past the point of reconstructive surgery. The dashing young DA had been cut in two, half still handsome, half now monster.
The rational side of Harvey was splintered, and the side he had kept repressed for so long bubbled to the surface, a side bent on decimating the underworld he'd prosecuted for so long as district attorney. Now free of legal niceties, TWO-FACE would become the unfettered scourge of the underworld…and its eventual undisputed boss.
TWO-FACE is what BATMAN might have become had things turned out a little differently. Once law-abiding, he now has become that which he had held in contempt, only more successful. His entire life, however, is ruled by a scarred, two-headed coin he inherited from his father. TWO-FACE is incapable of making a major decision without first flipping the coin in order to decide which way to go.
Once TWO-FACE had asserted his dominance over the mafia families he began pulling crimes based upon the number two and duality. But when the coin says not to do something, whether it be to take the million dollars that's simply lying there, or to kill the unconscious BATMAN, he doesn't do it. You can never cross the coin.
BATMAN, meanwhile, has never given up hope that his old ally and friend can be rehabilitated.
ATTRIBUTES:
* Homicidal maniac
* Strong hand-to-hand combatant
* Weapon of choice: twin .45 automatics
* Driven insane by criminal attack that left his face hideously scarred
* Compulsion to tackle crimes based on the number two
Unlike most other Two-Face bios, this one actually hits all the right points: emphasis on his genuine heroism and capability as D.A., the abusive father (and actually describing how the "coin game" was played!), Two-Face as a vengeful scourge of the underworld, how Harvey is what Batman might have become, and that the coin's rule is the absolute law.
The most intriguing/disturbing part of this whole bio? The idea that he's actually now more successful as an insane criminal than he was as a law-abiding, sane District Attorney. Of course, I imagine that all depends on one's definition of "success."
Going back to Batman Live in general, all of these bios are exceptionally written, clearly by someone who knows their stuff. Just check out how the Penguin's profile begins: It's not easy always being the smartest person in the room. It's even harder when you're so funny-looking that no one knows you're the smartest person in the room. How sad is it that a live Batman show understands the characters better than most of the actual comics writers?
I can only hope he or she will be involved in the writing of the actual live show, because if they can somehow actually capture the spirit of the characters in a live-action family friendly special FX extravaganza, I'll actually shell out the cash to see it myself.
Either way, it's certainly looking more promising than Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.
I don't particularly care, since it sounds like a more extravagant version of one of those live Batman action shows you'd catch at Six Flags, but I have to admit I'm at least intrigued now that they've announced the full roster of the villains. Not just Harvey, who we'll get to in a second, but also classic Ventriloquist! Arnie! Yay!
It always pleases me to see non-comic Batman stuff remaining more true to the comics than the far-more-popular films or TV shows. And if the site's character bios are any indication, maybe the actual show will have enough faith to the actual comics' spirit to be worth checking out. Just look at how uncommonly well they get Harvey:
BIOGRAPHY
Left-right. Up-down. Good-bad. The world is based upon duality, but the choices are usually determined at random. At least, that's TWO-FACE'S world.
HARVEY DENT was the finest district attorney GOTHAM CITY had ever seen. With Police Commissioner JAMES GORDON as his trusted ally, and in conjunction with the efficient if legally dubious BATMAN, Dent cut massive swaths through the underworld. At times he may have been overwhelmed by flashbacks to his childhood, a childhood tormented by a drunken father who forced him to guess which side of a trick coin would come up, but he had those under control. He did…
…Until a mob boss on trial for life, knowing he was going to go down in flames, decided to take the crusading district attorney down with him, and tossed a bottle of acid at him during the cross examination. Harvey threw up his hands, but it was too late. Half his face and one hand had been scarred far past the point of reconstructive surgery. The dashing young DA had been cut in two, half still handsome, half now monster.
The rational side of Harvey was splintered, and the side he had kept repressed for so long bubbled to the surface, a side bent on decimating the underworld he'd prosecuted for so long as district attorney. Now free of legal niceties, TWO-FACE would become the unfettered scourge of the underworld…and its eventual undisputed boss.
TWO-FACE is what BATMAN might have become had things turned out a little differently. Once law-abiding, he now has become that which he had held in contempt, only more successful. His entire life, however, is ruled by a scarred, two-headed coin he inherited from his father. TWO-FACE is incapable of making a major decision without first flipping the coin in order to decide which way to go.
Once TWO-FACE had asserted his dominance over the mafia families he began pulling crimes based upon the number two and duality. But when the coin says not to do something, whether it be to take the million dollars that's simply lying there, or to kill the unconscious BATMAN, he doesn't do it. You can never cross the coin.
BATMAN, meanwhile, has never given up hope that his old ally and friend can be rehabilitated.
ATTRIBUTES:
* Homicidal maniac
* Strong hand-to-hand combatant
* Weapon of choice: twin .45 automatics
* Driven insane by criminal attack that left his face hideously scarred
* Compulsion to tackle crimes based on the number two
Unlike most other Two-Face bios, this one actually hits all the right points: emphasis on his genuine heroism and capability as D.A., the abusive father (and actually describing how the "coin game" was played!), Two-Face as a vengeful scourge of the underworld, how Harvey is what Batman might have become, and that the coin's rule is the absolute law.
The most intriguing/disturbing part of this whole bio? The idea that he's actually now more successful as an insane criminal than he was as a law-abiding, sane District Attorney. Of course, I imagine that all depends on one's definition of "success."
Going back to Batman Live in general, all of these bios are exceptionally written, clearly by someone who knows their stuff. Just check out how the Penguin's profile begins: It's not easy always being the smartest person in the room. It's even harder when you're so funny-looking that no one knows you're the smartest person in the room. How sad is it that a live Batman show understands the characters better than most of the actual comics writers?
I can only hope he or she will be involved in the writing of the actual live show, because if they can somehow actually capture the spirit of the characters in a live-action family friendly special FX extravaganza, I'll actually shell out the cash to see it myself.
Either way, it's certainly looking more promising than Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.
