We Believe in Harvey Dent

Something awesome was brought to my attention this past weekend, and boy, I needed it.

( First, some venting about online Batman-fandom stuff that's been pissing me off for the past week. Feel free to either read or just skip to the comic! )


So thank god for a guy named DeptFord, artist for the webcomic Surrealist Obituaries who sent me a PM a couple of days ago. Deptford is a Two-Face fan who read a bunch of my Two-Face Tuesday entries over at scans_daily (the series of posts that led me to creating About_Faces in the first place), which had subsequently inspired to dedicate a whole strip to Harvey.

I was intrigued but apprehensive, as I've seen a LOT of sub-so-so fan fic/art out there, and even some of the truly GOOD stuff can frustrate me because it doesn't fit my own criteria of what makes a good Two-Face story. Case in point: the best Two-Face fanfic I've ever read is firmly set in the Nolanverse, with "RAY-CHULL" motivation fully intact. So, feeling that I wasn't in the right mood to critically appreciate (read: JUDGE) an examination of a character for whom I have very strong and particular opinions, I put off reading Deptford's comic for a couple of days.

Now I feel a bit like a fool. Not only did I have nothing to worry about, but this comic is... well, I'll just let it speak for itself, and discuss it at the end. But read it. Read it read it read it.

( Everything you ever wanted to know about Two-Face's personal philosophy but were understandably afraid to ask )

Now, that said, I have to wonder how applicable this can be to any given take on Two-Face we've seen. Take Eye of the Beholder, for instance, which gives a very specific idea of what the coin means to Harvey. What would it say about Harvey if he held this philosophy using the instrument his father used for years of physical and psychological abuse? What about DeMatteis' Two-Face: Crime and Punishment, which greatly emphasized the adversarial conflict between Harvey's two halves? Is there a way to reconcile that tormented Harvey Dent with the one who seems to have found the best answer available to him?

I welcome your ideas, although I fear that there's no simple answer. Then again, there never is when it comes to trying to reconcile all or even some takes on Two-Face, no matter how great each may be. That said, speaking as someone who really resonates on a personal level with the "abusive alcoholic parent" origin, the idea of Harvey giving himself up to a non-religious "higher power" takes on a WHOLE new resonance for those us who know our Twelve Steps.