about_faces: (Two-Face... FOREVER!!!)
Four months have passed since the release of Walt Simonson's excellent new graphic novel, The Judas Coin, so I think it's finally time for me to examine the story's Two-Face segment, Heads or Tails, in full, exhaustive, spoilery, scan-heavy detail.



First off, Heads or Tails works as standalone Two-Face story, so it's not entirely necessary to have read my previous two Judas Coin posts to understand what's going on. If you are interested in the greater context of this great book and you haven't already read my review (plus my pre-review tour of all the neat, obscure, non-Harvey DC characters featured within), then by all means, please do! But if you're like me under most other circumstances, you're probably only interested in the Batman/Harvey stuff, so I can't blame you for skipping those if you want. Even after all the hard work I put into them…! *sniffle*



Just to catch everyone up, the gist of The Judas Coin is that it involves six stories told over a couple millennia, each of which star a different DC Comics character as they come in contact with one of Judas Iscariot's cursed thirty pieces of silver. That's really all you need to know for the Two-Face segment, which is the only story to be set in "The Present." It's also worth mentioning that Simonson originally intended this to be a solo Two-Face story with no Batman, and although the Dark Knight does feature prominently, this is still Harvey Dent's story. It also happens to be one of the best Harvey tales I have read in years.



Shh, just a moment… I'm thinking… )

As I've said before, The Judas Coin was the best comic I'd read in 2012, so I strongly recommend checking out the whole thing even if you only care about Batman-related stuff. The full cover price is a bit out of my price range, but you can find affordable copies over at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, which also offers it for Nook. Other ways you can get it digitally include Kindle (the best deal of them all), and iBooks for iPad/iPhone. And if you are willing to spend the full cover price, then awesome, go support your local bookstore/comic book shop!
about_faces: (Default)


My favorite new DC release this whole year has been Walt Simonson's new graphic novel The Judas Coin. However, I'm not quite sure how to recommend it to anyone, since my enjoyment is based on several factors beyond the face-value of the story itself. Or rather, the stories themselves. Ahh, yes, you see what I did there! Unless you didn't, in which case, how awkward.

My lengthy, tangent-filled introduction behind the cut! )

Or if you're thinking, 'Dammit, Hefner, I don't want your long-winded ramblings! Just show me the review, already!' then just click here. )

If you're interested in buying The Judas Coin, you have several options. As I've said before, I think that the cover price of $22.99 for a slim 94-page hardcover is outrageous. 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!
about_faces: (Default)
For the past couple weeks, I've been working on my review of Walt Simonson's new graphic novel, The Judas Coin, watching my post get increasingly long-winded as I filled it with more scans, tangents, links, gifs, and all manner of distractions until the actual review itself was dwarfed by everything else! The post is currently huge, and I haven't even gotten to the book itself!

How did I manage to pull this off, you ask? Well, because I realized that it was impossible to talk about The Judas Coin without talking about all of the characters involved. One of the biggest hang-ups some readers are having with The Judas Coin is the cast of D-list Silver Age characters who are so obscure here that they didn't even appear on Batman: The Brave and the Bold! And that show had EVERYBODY! Sure, a couple of them appeared on Justice League Unlimited, but I can attest that nobody who saw those episodes remembers those characters if they hadn't already been familiar with them going in. Those were great treats for fans, but generally insufficient intros for n00bs.


So this is "Flower Cowboy," got it.


Personally, I don't think you necessarily need to know anything about them to enjoy Simonson's stories because Simonson is just that good of a storyteller who knows how to play up their archetypical aspects to make them pretty much accessible to everyone. But even still, a bit of familiarity with these characters couldn't hurt. Speaking personally as someone who was at least familiar with most of these characters and completely ignorant about one of them, I enjoyed the story on the first go-round, but I've come to love it even more after researching these characters for the past week!

So before I post (or even write) the review itself, I'd like to examine the characters involved first in their own post, just to give everyone--including me--a crash-course tour of these obscure heroes of yesteryear, and the subsequent attempts to make them relevant in the decades well past their prime! There's a lot of history behind the cut, so grab a snack and let's dig in!

What do an ex-slave warrior soldier, a warrior seafaring prince, an ex-slave antihero seafaring pirate, an antihero gunslinger/gambler, and a gunslinging, gambling, spacefaring, pirate-hating, ex-slave bounty hunter have in common? I mean, besides all that... )

By the way, would anybody be able to provide scans from The Judas Coin? I don't have a scanner at present, and while I have several of Simonson's sketches, there are some parts that I really want to actually show those of you who aren't able to get the book immediately. Obviously, the Two-Face section especially takes priority, especially the last few pages. The climactic moment was ambiguous enough that it got me and Henchgirl into a briefly-heated debate over how we interpreted it, so I want to run it by you guys and see what you make of it.

If I have to settle for taking a blurry photo from my iPhone camera, I will, dammit! But nobody wants that! So be a pal and help your old buddy Hef out, if you can!
about_faces: (Default)
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.
about_faces: (Default)
This news is eleven days old, but still worth posting: Comic Book Resources recently interviewed comics legend Walter Simonson about his upcoming Two-Face-related graphic novel, The Judas Coin, an exciting project which I've previous posted about here.

While it's been clear that Harvey is going to be but one of several characters across this story which spans across millennia, apparently his role will actually be more central than I'd previously suspected. According to Simonson, The Judas Coin is "really a Two-Face story with Batman/Bruce Wayne as a participant, but Two-Face is the one making the decisions." In fact, the story was originally just going to be about Two-Face, but it greatly expanded once it became a full-sized graphic novel. Still, Simonson says that it all "hang around" Two-Face, so it sounds like he'll be more than just an antagonist for Batman, who will be more of a "participant." On top of that, Simonson seems to have a good understanding of the character, saying that "I think Two-Face was the second easiest guy behind Bat Lash that I had." Considering that I also love Bat Lash, this is incredibly exciting stuff all around.

Furthermore, it sounds like Simsonson has put a hell of a lot of work into this book, drawing from a number of influences such as Hal Foster, Phillipe Druillet, and in the case of the Two-Face segments, newspaper comic strips. Or at least "faux-newspaper... it's faux in the sense that I break the mold of newspaper strips frequently in the story." The whole interview is very much worth reading just to hear how much thought and detail Simsonson has poured into this understandably-long-in-the-works project. If all this weren't enough to get you hyped, my artist pal Michel Fiffe* has actually seen some of the pages, and claims that Walt is "still killing it."

So yeah, The Judas Coin is now pretty much the DC Comics project about which I am most excited to check out. Even if it's not a perfect Two-Face story, it damn well promises to be the most interesting one in years, not to mention a must-read major work by one of the greatest comics storytellers of all time. It comes out in September, and I've already pre-ordered my copy!



*Worthy plug time: in addition to his own excellent comic series Zegas, Fiffe recently published an awesome Suicide Squad fan-comic which is both awesome to behold on its own merits as well as a glorious treat for fans of John Ostrander's late lamented series such as myself. The comic comes as an incentive with a signed print, both of which you can get here at his Etsy store.
about_faces: (Default)
Well, I was going to post the finale of Two-Face, Part II today, since I had the whole thing ready to go, but LJ ate it. Not all of it, but at least a day's work. Since I'm too tired and too upset from the setback, it'll be another day or two before I get that rewritten and posted. It's fine, it'll just give me a chance to do it better this time! Oy, I'm gonna throw up.

In the meantime, please accept the following from an issue of The Amazing World of DC Comics, 1975, wherein writer/editor Jack C. Harris (self-proclaimed creator of Arkham Asylum, as well as a Two-Face fan who shares my initials, so I feel some kinship there) proves his geek cred by describing step-by-step his methods for Two-Face cosplay! Bear in mind, this appeared shortly after Harvey's return from years of obscurity in O'Neil and Adams' Half an Evil," so the character was still relatively new to many readers! Plus, bonus Sergio Aragones! Everybody wins!





Oh, he is adorable. And priding himself on taking second prize for his Two-Face costume? Yeah, definitely feeling a kinship there!

A couple years after this, Harris would prove his devotion to the character a second time by rewriting the entire character's origin for the Bronze Age! I've reviewed that story here, and if you'd like to read the entire thing, it's all been posted up here by the groovy guy Diversions of the Groovy Kind. It's a neato attempt at developing the origin that never quite panned out, but I rather enjoy it for all that. I think that it fits nicely in the Bronze Age universe right along with Duela Dent being his daughter.

As if that weren't enough to solidify JCH's cred as a major Two-Face fan, I found the following buried in the back of The Art of Walter Simonson, a trade paperback dedicated to stories by the legendary artist. It was too tricky to crop on its own, so as another bonus, you get cool concept art for a Green Lantern film that never was! Because I'm generous (read: lazy and lack photoshop) like that!



So yeah, I think it's safe to assume that JCH is a fan, which is awesome. For these alone, he deserves to go into the Two-Face creator Hall of Fame, if such a hall existed. Maybe I should get on it. Who else would deserve inclusion? I'd vote for Andrew Helfer, Ty Templeton, J.M. DeMatteis, and maybe Judd Winick. But even still, aside from maybe Ty coming the closest, I can't think of any creator who has achieved the heights of passionate geekiness that Jack C. Harris did in the above essay. So to JCH, my brother in fandom and initials, I salute you, you great big geek, you!

Okay, sleep now. Tomorrow, rewriting the post. As always, thanks for bearing with delays and long-windedness, folks.
about_faces: (Default)
So holy crap, DC has just announced that comics legend Walt Simonson is releasing a new graphic novel called The Judas Coin, featuring Batman and Harvey!



Holy crap. Well, this certainly helps make up for the fact that Tony Daniel is most likely doing Harvey's new origin.

According to Simonson, this story has been in the works for years. It was originally going to be published in Solo, one of the best series that DC has ever done, sadly cancelled before its time. Solo was one of the many brilliant projects by artist/editor Mark Chiarello, and his involvement in getting Simonson to create The Judas Coin marks yet another example of Chiarello's ongoing connection with Harvey. With Solo cancelled, Simonson ran the idea by Dan DiDio (whom I understand is a huge Two-Face fan), who greenlit the project. Now, several years later, it's finally coming out!

Here's the official press release:

This fall, DC Entertainment will be releasing THE JUDAS COIN, an original 94-page hardcover graphic novel written and illustrated by industry legend Walter Simonson.

THE JUDAS COIN features characters from all across the DC Universe. Today, take an exclusive first look at the book’s cover based on a featured showdown between Batman and Two-Face.

“The cover for THE JUDAS COIN was designed and drawn with inspiration provided in part by movie posters from the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Simonson exclusively told THE SOURCE. “In particular, I was thinking of the posters of Bob Peak, who did such beautiful work back then with montage. Peak was a master at creating a strong central image and surrounding it with smaller, often fairly loose images derived from various scenes in the movie.

I make no claims to Peak’s draftsmanship, but for a work like THE JUDAS COIN, comprised as it is of six separate but related stories, I wanted a cover that would provide both a strong visual image at its core, and a series of small drawings that would reflect the structure of the book’s interior. Batman and Two-Face, eternal enemies, provided a good focal point. The vignettes around them echo the individual stories within the book.”

Look for THE JUDAS COIN in bookstores everywhere on September 18th and be sure to keep checking THE SOURCE as more details about the book become available.


In the video interview up at the link, Simonson gave no further details as to what role Harvey would play, but added that the story takes place over two thousand years, and will feature cameos of many, many old DC characters. Naturally, one of them will be Bat Lash, a character of whom I am rather fond. A gunslinging fop who was once voiced by Farscape's Ben Browder? What's not to love?

That said, if there was going to be a western flashback, this could have finally been a way to tell a story with both Harvey and Jonah Hex, but eh, never mind. Maybe we'll just have to wait for some story where Harvey encounters Hex's stuffed corpse, because that's totally what happened to Hex. Seriously, look it up.

Man, why does big Two-Face comic news always hit mere hours after I've finally posted a long review?

Profile

about_faces: (Default)
about_faces

July 2013

S M T W T F S
 123 456
789 10 111213
14151617181920
2122 2324252627
28293031   

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 11th, 2025 02:24 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios