We Believe in Harvey Dent

Another quick post today. Real life is too busy and hectic with the holidays coming up, and all my free writing time has been devoted to working on something more personal over at my neglected original LJ, thehefner. Sadly, I fear that I may not be able to whip together a Batman Returns review in time for Christmas, as I'd hoped! Well, until I can pull together anything new, let me at least tide you over with something cool and mysterious I've found, with the hope that maybe some of you might be able to shed light on this.

In my search for rare art by artists like the late, great Marshall Rogers (Strange Apparitions/The Laughing Fish, the Batman comic strip, Dark Detective), I've found four pieces of what is clearly concept art for a Batman project which never happened. More than just art, they include liner notes which hint at story details and show how this take on the characters stands out from the rest.



Thing is, though, I have no idea what the hell this project might have been! There are no details online, no clues, no hints. The only possibility that comes to mind is that maybe they were for the Dark Detective sequel which Rogers had only started at the time of his death, but nothing about these images really jives with the scant info that Steve Englehart himself has provided. So what the heck was this? Let's try to figure it out together!

( Four large scans behind the cut! )

Hey, everyone! Life has been pretty crappy over the past few days, so I haven't been able to finish any new reviews just yet, much less respond to the epic discussions in my last Rogues Gallery post, but I just wanted to write a quick round-up of remarkable tidbits that've come my way recently!

First off, I want to thank writer Jonathan Larsen for his generous and gracious response to my review of his Two-Face brain surgery story, Together. At his suggestion, I bought the other issue of Legends of the Dark Knight he wrote, which also happens to be his first-ever comics work. The standalone story in LotDK #2, entitled All of the Above, is about Batman versus Amazo, the android who can replicate the powers of the entire JLA, and the two of them battling alone on the League's satellite HQ.



It's a simple story executed eloquently, and Larsen manages to do more with it than just show how the guy with no powers takes down the guy with all of the powers. It's also helped by the artwork of J.G. Jones, thus reaffirming my belief in the review for Together that Larsen's writing would benefit from a cleaner style of art. This story is only 99¢, so definitely pick it up! And speaking of new comics you should buy:



So Walt Simonson's graphic novel The Judas Coin is finally out, not that you'd know from the complete lack of publicity it's gotten. Over the course of a week, the post I was working on has evolved into way more of a long-winded essay regarding the genesis of the graphic novel and the histories of the characters involved rather than a straight-forward review/analysis.

The short version is that I adored it, but it's not going to be for all tastes. Until I can go into details in my review, I'll just say that you'll probably love it if you already love Walt Simonson and/or classic DC historical adventure comics from the Silver and Bronze Ages. If that sounds at all up your alley, I urge you to buy it so we can hash it out in my eventual massive review/essay/rant thing.

That said, it is with great reluctance that I concede one big problem: it's way too expensive at cover price. $22.99 for a slim 94-page hardcover? Yeesh! Even though Simonson made the most out of every page, that's still WAY too much, DC. Thankfully, there are cheaper options, with print copies going for $13.77 on both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, which also offers it for Nook for $12.64. Other ways you can get it digitally include Kindle for $9.99 (the best deal of them all), and $12.99 for iBooks for iPad/iPhone. Few are talking about this book and DC has done nothing to promote it, so check it out however you can. And if you are willing to spend the full cover price, then hey, go support your local bookstore/comic book shop!


As a further incentive, here's an awesome Harvey sketch by Simonson.

And speaking of comic book shops (he said, trying desperately to come up with a relevant segue), I've just learned that I need to track down old back issues of Comic Shop News. You know, that freebie newspaper that many shops give away that features solicits, reviews, etc, that everyone probably just glances at and throws out? Well, I'm hoping that not everyone did, because guess what ran in the back of several issues around 1989-1991?



That's right: CSN ran color Sundays for the Batman newspaper comic strip in each issue! Egad, look at the quality of that! That's probably better looking than anything I might find at the Library of Congress archives! But argh, even if I could find back issues (roughly around issues #150-215), I couldn't afford them under the present financial circumstances, so I guess that will just be something to look out for once IRL things get back into shape for me. In the meantime, if anyone knows where I can find scans of these color strips, please do point them my way! I want to be able to include as many color Sundays as I can for The Daily Batman!

Okay, that's enough of an update for now. I was originally going to end with my quick thoughts on the animated Dark Knight Returns movie, but they soon took on a life of their own, so I'll give them their own review later. For now, I'll just say that I liked the film way more than I thought I would, and that it caused me to completely reevaluate my previous views on Harvey Dent's subplot. Pretty impressive feat, that.

Welcome to the next installment of my three-part review series which I have dubbed "Harvey and pals!" Why? Because calling it "Harvfield and Friends" probably wouldn't have flown with anybody. That said, now the theme song is stuck in my head...

The first uniting of the Unholy Three ended, unsurprisingly, with defeat and arrest, but this doesn't prove to be the only time that Harvey, the Joker, and the Penguin decided to hang out in their downtime away from schemes and deathtraps. Maybe the events of the previous episode taught these rogues to enjoy (or at least tolerate) one another's company? To paraphrase a character from the wacky cannibal movie Ravenous, "It's lonely being a supervillain. Tough making friends." Perhaps that's what led to the scene of villainous socializing that occurred in one of B:TAS' best-ever episodes:



Wherein several of the rogues play cards and trade stories about how they each almost killed Batman, but there's more going on than meets the eye. Watch it here!

( I threw a r... well, you know the rest. )

As a bonus, I am delighted to present to you something which I found whilst scouring for rare B:TAS/Two-Face memorabilia, especially limited edition collectibles from the late, lamented Warner Brothers Studio Store chain of shops. That store would often carry animation cels, lithographs, and other cool works of Batman art, and it's so hard to find good-quality scans of them anywhere online. Thankfully, I found a fantastic scan of this, one of my very favorites:



Man, forget dogs playing poker, I want this hanging in my den whenever I play cards and smoke cigars with the boys. Not that I play cards nor smoke cigars, nor do I even have boys anymore. Whatever, I still want it anyway. That and the other WB Studio Store sericels of the Rogues:



There is not a single one of these that I don't love. There were at least two others in this particular series of character line-ups, including one of the heroes (like Robin, Commissioner Gordon, Renee Montoya, and even Harvey Dent!) and a second one for the villains! Sadly, I haven’t been able to find the first one at all, and the only scan I’ve found for the second is this grainy, teeny one here:



So yeah, if you know where I can find better quality images of these awesome works of art, let me know.

Honestly, I could devote a whole separate fanblog just for the Harvey Dent from the various DC Animated Universe properties*, from B:TAS all the way to today, as that version of the character still manages to endure in fandom.

At first, I thought about doing like I did with the Who's Who posts and just writing about EVERYTHING there is about Harvey over fourteen daily posts in an event which I was going to call Two Weeks of Two-Face in the DCAU. Of course, I soon realized that such a project would not only be overload for everyone involved (especially me!), but it also wouldn't do the character justice. And if anyone deserves justice, it's Harvey Dent. /I see what I did there!

For a whole generation, the DCAU Two-Face was the definitive version of the character. Sure, the Nolanverse owns the current generation, but B:TAS seems to still have a healthy following nonetheless. At the very least, I'm certain that the DCAU Two-Face will continue to be more popular and influential than, well, any version from the comics. I dare say that'd be true even if we lived in a better world where comics would be as popular and well-known as cartoons and movie (*weary sigh*). But even as a fan, I never gave much thought about just WHY this Two-Face was so great, much less the work that went into making him that way, until I discovered the actual B:TAS writer's bible on World's Finest Online, the single greatest resource for all things DCAU and beyond.

Reading that writer's bible, you can see that so much of what made B:TAS in general so brilliant was no accident. It wasn't just that a handful of smart writers tried their damnedest to tell great Batman stories. These people had a vision, and set themselves with high standards right from the outset. Even though many of those plans in the bible were changed or scrapped before the first episodes even made it to air, the importance of that foundation cannot be understated, and you may be surprised just well the greatness of that show was planned from the outset.

Which, naturally, brings us back to Harvey. Before we look at any of the DCAU episodes, comics, toys, merch, Happy Meal boxes, and so on, let's look at the roots of Two-Face in the DCAU--the design, the groundwork, the plots, the voice, and more--as we examine what was planned... and what was changed.

( Behind the scenes, behind the cut! )

Next time: Harvey's very first (and very brief) appearance in On Leather Wings, followed by a major role in The Batman Adventures comics, which I consider to be the very best appearance of pre-insanity Harvey in the DCAU.







*Honestly, I could write a couple hundred posts just about the DCAU villains in general. I'd love to look at all the Mister Freeze stories, since the DCAU comics fill in the gaps between episodes and Sub-Zero that, combined with his finale in Batman Beyond, make for a powerful tragedy in epic scope. I mean, even more powerful than the one people already know if they've just seen the episodes. The comics, as I was reiterate throughout these posts, are THAT good.

**The fact that Harvey, Thomas Wayne, and the Bat-Computer all have the same voice raises a few questions about Bruce. Did he pattern the Bat-Computer to sound like his father or Harvey? Is he friends with Harvey because the latter sounds like his father? INQUIRING MINDS THAT READ TOO MUCH INTO THINGS WANT TO KNOWWWWWWWW.

Today, I bring you a post which I fear may be unreadable. At least, if you don't own old-school 3D glasses. And even then, can 3D be viewed on a computer screen? Either way, I'm gonna ask you to bear with me as we look at selections from Batman 3D: Ego Trip, a graphic novel by comics legend John Byrne with effects by 3D master Ray Zone.

I enjoy Byrne's story and art here quite a lot, but I had a damn hard time settling into it in either two or three dimensions. Obviously, 3D isn't meant to be viewed without glasses, and while the actual 3D effects are often spectacular beyond the sheer novelty value, my eyes can't really handle it for long stretches. I wish they'd rerelease this story in 2D with coloring, so Byrne's story and artwork could be appreciated on their own merits, even with all the panels of various objects COMIN' RIGHT ATCHA!

So as I'm going with the assumption that we're all here to focus on the story, let's squint and try to take a look at Ego Trip, a Batman caper written in 1990 but with a distinctly old-school feel, guest-starring four of his greatest villains (including, naturally, Two-Face, who gets a slightly tweaked origin here) as they torment Batman and cause him to trip balls:




( IT'S LIKE YOU CAN TOUCH THEM behind the cut! )

As a bonus, Batman 3D also included a pin-up gallery by an all-star roster of artists. Because I love Batman pinups, here's the whole lot!

( Toth, Adams, Zeck, Gibbons, and more! Holy crap! )

As always (well, as usually), I've made certain to post no more than 1/3rd of the graphic novel's content, so there's plenty more to read for those who can track down this hard-to-find book. It's available for pretty cheaply used on places like Amazon.com, although there's no telling whether any copies will still have their glasses. Proceed with caution! If you have a local comic shop that might carry it, always try for that first. It's definitely worth checking out in whole. Hopefully someday, it'll find a new audience. In either dimension.

Hey. How's it goin'?

Since LJ is still under DDoS assault and I am thus unable to respond to a number of comments from you fine folks, I figure that this might be a good time to bring up the fact that I have started an About_Faces account for Twitter. I don't update much, and most of what I do update with is just to alert whenever I post something here at LJ, but I figured it would be a good idea. All part of my grand scheme to become the King of all things Two-Face, and the... um... reasonably powerful feudal lord of all things related to the Batman villains in general!

Tangental rant: Because really, it seems like the villains need more love these days. Now, you wouldn't think that'd be a problem. I mean, they're the Batman Villains, for Grodd's sake! But these days, it's like fandom is more interested in the Bat-Family than the Bat-Rogues, with more fan love centering around Dick, Tim, Jason, Babs, Steph, Cass, Damian, and Terry rather than Harvey, Pam, Eddie, Ozzie, Squishy, Vic-F, Vic-Z, Jervis, and pretty much everyone who isn't the Joker and/or Harley. Love for heroes over villains? Doesn't that fly in the face of all fandom? On top of that, the upcoming crop of DCnU Bat-Books will be carrying on the Grant Morrison tradition of All-New Villains, which strikes me as unnecessary and wasteful. Why flood the market with far more villains who will just end up being cannon fodder in tomorrow's Face the Face-style kiss-the-D-listers storyline when you have a couple dozen excellent pre-existing characters going under-developed and unloved? I'd argue that it takes LESS imagination to create a new character than it does to find something new to say and do with a pre-existing one. /Tangental Rant

So in these times when people are forgetting how great the Rogues are, I've been thinking about expanding about_faces' mission to looking at the villains in general, going so far as to consider starting up a FuckYeahBatmanVillains account. Thankfully, a FuckYearBatmanVillains already exists, and it's awesome. It's just a daily dose of happy, even including more obscure characters like Hugo and Ratcatcher. I told the maintainer how much I loved it, and he/she linked to here, which is awesome! ... Well, except for the DDoS attack making it near-impossible to most to leave comments, much less actually get LJ to load. In my IRL persona, I'd refer to that turn of events as being rather "Hefnerian."

Through FuckYeahBatmanVillains, I also discovered a FYeahTwoFace Tumblr, which is pretty self-explanatory, and equally as happy-making. I was already loving the hell out of FYeahTwoFace before I discovered that, hey, I think they (or one of the contributors) follows this very blog! Neato! The Capullo Bat-Villains image linked to my most recent entry, and I dare say those are my scans of that Azrael story where Harvey pulled a Christopher Walken from Pulp Fiction! Neato! If anybody behind FYeahTwoFace is reading this, keep up the great work!

If you need to kill some time, those are the two Tumblr feeds to check out! I scoured through and saved tons of great images, but there are three Harvey images in particular I hadn't seen before, which deserve special attention.





I love this piece by Eric Cante, which reminds me of Nate Bellegarde's amazing sketch (when're you gonna make that into a print, Nate? I have money that should be better spent on diapers and formula that could be yours!), which gives you only a hint of the scarring. The lanky design strikes me as this being Two-Face by way of Gabriel Ba's Casanova and Cowboy Bebop, which just gives him a general air of slickness that I dig. For all the brutality of his actions, Harvey here doesn't seem particularly happy, like he's a badass who's all business.





Maybe I'm just a sucker for the vest-and-holsters look, but I love this piece by Adam Withers. I can't put my finger on why, but there's something about the jacket lying at his feet that just works, and the scarring is uncommonly creepy.





I've seen Dan Hipp's artwork featured on various comic sites before, and I've always enjoyed it, but this one blew me away. Not just because it's Harvey, as he's drawn Harvey in the past, but because--like Bellegarde and Steve Lieber before him--he captures the character of Harvey Dent above and beyond his grotesquery. It's all in the hunched-over pose and pensive look, which show him as a burdened character. The very best Two-Face images are the ones that show that burden, in my view. I also love the limited use of color, especially how it's used for the coin. I'd buy the hell out of a print of this. After checking out Hipp's wonderful artblog, I think I'll dedicate an entire post to rounding up all of his Batman related artwork sometime.



That's about it from me for now. Apologies if the HTML is screwed up, as I'm not sure I'll be able to edit this post until LJ gets fixed. I have a couple more posts in the works, including--finally!--a new analysis of a classic comic, and maybe a proper review of Tony Daniel's recent Harvey/Gilda mediocrity. I'm a bit too underwhelmed to feel any particular drive to review that story, so maybe I'll hold off until I can first look at Two-Face Strikes Twice! and The Long Halloween, once I get my scanner back in working order.

Oh, and the next chapter of Dent will be on the way soon, too. Thanks to everyone who's reading and commenting so far. I'll get back to your feedback once LJ lets me post comments!

I've found a handful of little things which don't really warrant posts on their own, but by their powers combined, you get a thinly-connected grab-bag assortment of Two-Face goodies and baddies alike!

Chris Sims at Comics Alliance gave a feature story wrote a feature story about the Capcom-style fan-made Batman fighting game that's still in progress. I think one of the creators commented to me about something on an old scans_daily post, but maybe that was somebody else trying to create MUGEN Batman character sprites. Either way, what we've seen so far is damn exciting, but you can guess the part that really got my interest, right?





Really, all you need is a courtroom setting and you're good. Hell, maybe then someone could finally create a piece of Two-Face fanart with him doing a proper Phoenix Wright "OBJECTION!" In a better world, where the character would actually be popular with fans, we'd have seen that sort of thing yesterday, right alongside a Two-Face mashup with Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.





Why yes, I would indeed buy that for a dollar. Thankfully, the game (if it's ever completed) will be free, unless DC realizes the potential here and actually gives these fans money to get it properly produced. They reportedly have a long, long way to go yet before it's completed, but they're still dedicated to the project for the time being. Would that I could find their actual site or blog where they could update with their progress from time to time!

There's so much I'd love to see in this game. Like, maybe the Joker could use a crowbar to beat up a Robin. Or Two-Face could use a baseball bat to beat up a Robin. Or the Riddler could run a Robin over with a tank. Why a tank? Because fuck Robins, that's why a tank. Hmm, I think my sleep depravation is showing.

And speaking of video games, let's look at a real one, now that alert reader Vito tipped me off to this "secret tape" from Batman: Arkham City. God, it's like every time I think I'm done with this damn game, something pulls me back in again! But how could I resist a dialogue exchange written by Paul Dini (I assume) featuring the first-ever meeting of my two all-time favorite Batman villains, Harvey and Professor Hugo Strange?





Ohhhhhh, so many conflicting feelings. First off, I'm annoyed that after DC Universe Online, this is the second time that we've had Harvey's face (body?) scarred by Falcone, not Maroni/Moroni. Why the change? Hell, Falcone's arguably LESS well-known and related to Harvey than Maroni thanks to The Dark Knight.





But I'm more annoyed by the snarling, nasty, humorless Two-Face character here. When I was lamenting the sad lack of Two-Face fic on FanFiction.net, Henchgirl summed up a major reason why Harvey has so few fans in fandom: he lacks charisma. I feel like this take on Two-Face is a perfect example of what she means. There's not much here to really love or even like, just a self-righteous monster who needs to be kicked in the face and taken down. Compare that with the other "leaked secret tape" of the Riddler vs Hugo, where Eddie isn't depicted perfectly, and yes is still practically sparkling with charisma compared to Harvey. That said, I do like hearing the voice shifting from good side to evil and back again, which gives him some dimension.

I also think I'm in love with Hugo Strange's voice performance, and the way he's properly being written as a psychologically manipulative bastard. I wonder what this game will do to his non-existent fan base over the next few months. He can also be heard in the third and final (so far) leaked audio interview, this one between him and Catwoman. I'm still not digging her voice (it's supposed to be Grey DeLisle, and if so, it's the weakest performance I've yet heard from that talented actress), but I like that Holly is canon in the Arkhamverse. Take THAT, everyone who hates the Miller/Brubaker origins!

And speaking of Arkham, I just found a fascinating Two-Face sketch by Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth artist Dave McKean:





McKean has expressly said that he didn't care about the Batman characters when he did the story, which I think helps give this sketch such a uniquely abstract flair. I could and will eventually rant at length about McKean and Morrison's graphic novel, but I can already tell you that most of my positive notes will be about McKean's artwork, which I love (but not without reservations and considerations). This sketch reflects that. It's not my favorite Harvey sketch, but it's one of the more interesting I've seen.

And speaking of sketches, I was just remembering the failed Portraits of Villainy project that Dini and Alex Ross were going to do, but which DC rejected. Like their tabloid-sized Secret Origins book, I believe it was going to be two-page origin portraits of several DC villains.





I go hot and cold on the work of both creators, but as a great fan of villains, I'm very sad that this never happened. At the very least, I wish these could have been inked and painted up properly. Even in pencil, I think the Penguin one is my favorite. I like how he's focused on Harvey's good side because, well, not enough people focus on that aspect. At the same time, I'm especially sad that we didn't get to see a full Dini/Ross origin for Harvey, considering that Ross (at least, over Doug Braithwaite's pencils) painted one of my very favorite depictions of Harvey's scarring.

I've been noticing the cinematic artwork of Justin Reed ever since I saw his great take on the titular stars of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. His work pops up on film geek sites every so often, and it makes sense, as his pieces are warped tribute pieces to great films and film in general. Personally, I run hot and cold on them, because some feel more like cobbled-together collages, and I think his Spider-Man movies piece is a good example of what I mean, where half of the characters kind of tacked on and out of place.

That said, I have to give special attention to his tribute to The Dark Knight. Actually, it appears to be his second piece (here's the first), and how appropriate considering the subject matter:





This might just be my favorite piece of TDK artwork, as well as my favorite take on the film's Harvey Dent. I love that it actually plays with theme in ways that are obvious to me but are pretty much ignored by everyone. Everyone remembers and celebrates the Joker*, whereas Harvey and his arc are pretty much forgotten (possibly because the arc was botched in the last twenty minutes, but that's another rant). So it's great to see someone outright depict Harvey as he should be, torn between the Batman and Joker's extremes, and emphasizing how he embodies the soul of Gotham City itself hanging in the balance.

Between that and the fact that Reed uses this very image of Harvey for his blogspot profile, I think it's a safe bet that this artist appreciates the character in ways that many don't. I rarely collect, much less display, Two-Face stuff from TDK, as I far prefer to celebrate the character in comics, but if Reed put this image out as a print or poster, I'd be first in line to order one up.




Note to fandom, especially in fanart and cosplay: there is more to the Joker than Heath Ledger. Stop narrowing the entire character down to that one specific interpretation. At this point, drawing on the Joker from The Killing Joke would be considered an exception. That's sad. Please read comics. Thanks.

My scanner's out of commission for the time being, which will make my ability to post reviews rather interesting over the next couple months. On top of that, the unholy spawn of Hefner and the Henchgirl should be born within the month (it damn well better!), all while we're in the process of moving AND while I'm ramping up to perform at the Capital Fringe Festival here in Washington, D.C.

What does this mean for about_faces? That depends. I have a handful of scans for things which I'd meant to post about at some point, including the Gilda-specific aspects of Two-Face Strikes Twice! and The Long Halloween, although not the rest of those stories, so full reviews will have to wait until later. Aside from that... well, you guys might finally be starting to see some fic of my own here, as Henchgirl has been pushing me to gradually release my Harvey Dent novel here, the one which I've been writing for... about five years now? What am I on, draft eleven? Thereabouts. I think it's finally ready to be done.

So keep your eyes out for that, if you're so inclined. And for folks who prefer reviews/scans/news, I'll scour through my photos and see what I can use to pepper up about_faces so it doesn't totally become my own personal fic dispensery. I want this place to be about Harvey Dent and the Bat-Rogues, not just my own personal take on Harvey Dent and the Bat-Rogues.

To emphasize that commitment, I offer you one of my favorite pin-ups ever.





Aparo makes me so happy in places that like happy things. I even love the fact that they've all apparently chosen to drink champagne out of martini glasses, because they're classy AND they break all the rules!

First off, the great captaintwinings made several awesome icons based on comics I've posted here, and while I plan to use several, my favorite has to be this one:





Unfortunately, LJ hates icons of even moderate size. It's the same problem I rant into too many damn times trying to make .gif icons of my own. Anybody know how to make this icon into a smaller file while still having it look not-crappy in quality?

Every so often, the art round-ups at Comics Alliance yields something related to Harvey and the Bat-Rogues in general. Here are some recent findings:








I've never played Angry Birds, which is apparently a hugely popular app or something, so maybe some of you might find this amusing yourselves:







I promise a post of actual substance at some point. Or at the very least, another batch of covers with commentary.