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about_facesFor the past couple months at scans_daily, I've been doing Two-Face Tuesdays over at scans_daily, carrying on the tradition of the great ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zhinxy. I've been posted extended versions over at my personal LJ, thehefner, and will be now posting them here.
While I think BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES is pretty much the definitive Batman, and its Two-Face to be near-perfect in spirit, I hate the episode "Judgment Day." Y'know, the one with "The Judge."
It's so close to being something brilliant, but I won't spoil why for those who haven't seen the episode (although really, is there anyone here who hasn't? Most everyone here's seen and loved BTAS, right?). I'll go into details behind the cut, as we delve into this story from 1997's BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #62 and #63, which introduced a new vigilante who specifically targeted Two-Face's men.
After catching readers up on Harvey's origin and methodology, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham posits that the dream represents a deterioration in Harvey's condition, a breakdown between the struggle of his sides. As Arkham ups Harvey's medication, Harvey collapses from a heart attack.
It was faked, of course, but the thing is that Harvey may not have realized he was faking. When his goons bust him out from the ambulance en route to the hospital, Harvey shows no recollection of ever arranging for his own escape.
In the Batcave, Bruce comes up with a theory that strikes me as flimsy at best, considering how much of a difference in weight we're talking about here:
That's the first sign of the Alfred subplot. He's acting suspicious, seeming more exerted than usual lately, and gets rather touchy whenever Batman or Robin ask where he's been.
Of course, Grant is forcing all these hints that Alfred is Janus, which even the next-issue-blurb in the back seems to regard as silly: "Will Two-Face go all the way? Does anyone believe that Alfred is Janus?"
So for no good reason whatsoever, Harvey flips the coin to decide whether to destroy or save half of the city. It comes up good side for "save."
"But save it from whom? From me, of course. And if I have to save half, it means I have to destroy half as well!" *cue evil laughter... no, really*
While Alan Grant would not be the first writer to make the hack creative choice to have Two-Face playing a rigged game between two equally evil choices (thereby instantly reducing the character to a one-note villain with a cheap gimmick), the story makes it a point to have Batman and Commissioner Gordon remark on how Harvey's Bond-villain plan of holding the city for ransom seems out-of-character.
Batman: "Not Two-Face's usual style. He's a gang-boss."
Gordon: "But why threaten to kill half the city? And how? Two-Face is a guns-and-fists man!"
Which is exactly what someone should have reminded Peter Tomasi of before he wrote Harvey's ridiculous death-blimp acid-rain plan in NIGHTWING: THE GREAT LEAP.
Batman tracks Two-Face to a nuclear-armed Destroyer in Gotham Harbor, which Two-Face has hijacked. Arriving on the ship and taking care of the henchmen, Batman discovers the bodies of the ship's crew.
GASP! Whattatweest!
But wait! If Harvey was Janus, then what has Alfred been hiding this whole time?
I never liked this story, since it relied on a bunch of half-baked ideas and loose characterization built around Grant's usual pop psychology (even when he writes Jeremiah Arkham as a figure of satire, I get the impression that he's often a mouthpiece for Grant, much like Anarky was).
But looking at it now, I can appreciate it for at least having more character integrity and potential than "Judgment Day," which revealed that the Judge--a new Gotham vigilante targeting the Penguin, Croc, and Two-Face--was Harvey himself. Which would have been an awesome twist if it weren't a third personality.
Because that just misses the whole point of Harvey's duality. It muddles the whole character, especially when he already has a ready-made and under-utilized good side ready to cast as the vigilante who's thwarting himself! We all know that Two-Face is Harvey's worst enemy, so what why shouldn't Harvey be Two-Face's? With Janus, Harvey could become a street-level Eclipso/Bruce Gordon character, hero and villain in one man, constantly working to thwart himself. Alas, no one's done anything with the concept.
Those closest we've come is from the great Ty Templeton, who wrote the follow-up to "Judgment Day" in an issue of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES, which I shall probably post next week. That little gem rates up there with last week's "Lucky Day," for one of my favorite Two-Face stories ever.
In the near future, I'll be posting all my extended Two-Face Tuesday posts up here for posterity, so apologies to folks fromthehefner's f-list who will have to see them twice! But hey, that's only fitting, isn't it?
zhinxy. I've been posted extended versions over at my personal LJ, thehefner, and will be now posting them here. While I think BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES is pretty much the definitive Batman, and its Two-Face to be near-perfect in spirit, I hate the episode "Judgment Day." Y'know, the one with "The Judge."
It's so close to being something brilliant, but I won't spoil why for those who haven't seen the episode (although really, is there anyone here who hasn't? Most everyone here's seen and loved BTAS, right?). I'll go into details behind the cut, as we delve into this story from 1997's BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #62 and #63, which introduced a new vigilante who specifically targeted Two-Face's men.
After catching readers up on Harvey's origin and methodology, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham posits that the dream represents a deterioration in Harvey's condition, a breakdown between the struggle of his sides. As Arkham ups Harvey's medication, Harvey collapses from a heart attack.
It was faked, of course, but the thing is that Harvey may not have realized he was faking. When his goons bust him out from the ambulance en route to the hospital, Harvey shows no recollection of ever arranging for his own escape.
In the Batcave, Bruce comes up with a theory that strikes me as flimsy at best, considering how much of a difference in weight we're talking about here:
That's the first sign of the Alfred subplot. He's acting suspicious, seeming more exerted than usual lately, and gets rather touchy whenever Batman or Robin ask where he's been.
Of course, Grant is forcing all these hints that Alfred is Janus, which even the next-issue-blurb in the back seems to regard as silly: "Will Two-Face go all the way? Does anyone believe that Alfred is Janus?"
So for no good reason whatsoever, Harvey flips the coin to decide whether to destroy or save half of the city. It comes up good side for "save."
"But save it from whom? From me, of course. And if I have to save half, it means I have to destroy half as well!" *cue evil laughter... no, really*
While Alan Grant would not be the first writer to make the hack creative choice to have Two-Face playing a rigged game between two equally evil choices (thereby instantly reducing the character to a one-note villain with a cheap gimmick), the story makes it a point to have Batman and Commissioner Gordon remark on how Harvey's Bond-villain plan of holding the city for ransom seems out-of-character.
Batman: "Not Two-Face's usual style. He's a gang-boss."
Gordon: "But why threaten to kill half the city? And how? Two-Face is a guns-and-fists man!"
Which is exactly what someone should have reminded Peter Tomasi of before he wrote Harvey's ridiculous death-blimp acid-rain plan in NIGHTWING: THE GREAT LEAP.
Batman tracks Two-Face to a nuclear-armed Destroyer in Gotham Harbor, which Two-Face has hijacked. Arriving on the ship and taking care of the henchmen, Batman discovers the bodies of the ship's crew.
GASP! Whattatweest!
But wait! If Harvey was Janus, then what has Alfred been hiding this whole time?
I never liked this story, since it relied on a bunch of half-baked ideas and loose characterization built around Grant's usual pop psychology (even when he writes Jeremiah Arkham as a figure of satire, I get the impression that he's often a mouthpiece for Grant, much like Anarky was).
But looking at it now, I can appreciate it for at least having more character integrity and potential than "Judgment Day," which revealed that the Judge--a new Gotham vigilante targeting the Penguin, Croc, and Two-Face--was Harvey himself. Which would have been an awesome twist if it weren't a third personality.
Because that just misses the whole point of Harvey's duality. It muddles the whole character, especially when he already has a ready-made and under-utilized good side ready to cast as the vigilante who's thwarting himself! We all know that Two-Face is Harvey's worst enemy, so what why shouldn't Harvey be Two-Face's? With Janus, Harvey could become a street-level Eclipso/Bruce Gordon character, hero and villain in one man, constantly working to thwart himself. Alas, no one's done anything with the concept.
Those closest we've come is from the great Ty Templeton, who wrote the follow-up to "Judgment Day" in an issue of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES, which I shall probably post next week. That little gem rates up there with last week's "Lucky Day," for one of my favorite Two-Face stories ever.
In the near future, I'll be posting all my extended Two-Face Tuesday posts up here for posterity, so apologies to folks from
thehefner's f-list who will have to see them twice! But hey, that's only fitting, isn't it?
