Good Two-Face Stories?

[Lapis Exilis]

Does anyone know of any good Two-Face stories in the comics? I remember several people saying he was a favorite villain during all the discussion of TDK, and as I've been catching up on some Batman reading lately I've noticed that good Two-Face stories are few and far between. Most writers seem to reduce him to a guy with an obsession for 2's, as opposed to a guy who believes purely in random justice. Please let me know any titles you've read that use the character well.

 

[TheBrew]

I liked "Face the Face" from right after Infinite Crisis.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Matt Wagner's "Faces" was quite good.

And, of course, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

I've never read Face the Face, so I'll check that out. I've always liked Faces, and still have the original run issues. Just reread Long Halloween and it is as unsatisfying as I recall it being. In fact it was the inspiration for this post, because I thought it didn't use Two-Face in anything remotely approaching an interesting way.

 

[TheBrew]

I've never read Face the Face, so I'll check that out. I've always liked Faces, and still have the original run issues. Just reread Long Halloween and it is as unsatisfying as I recall it being. In fact it was the inspiration for this post, because I thought it didn't use Two-Face in anything remotely approaching an interesting way.

It do understand the difficulty in finding good Two Face stories, though I liked TLH. "Face the Face" was good, though I am not sure that it is great.

No huge spoilers (and nothing about how it is resolved), but just in case:

Spoiler: Premise of "Face the Face"

While Batman is gone for a year after the events of Infinite Crisis, he appoints a healed Harvey Dent to be Gotham's protector. When Batman returns, a string of murders linked to Harvey Dent occur and some people think that he is up to his old ways, even without scarring.

 

[DarKush]

There was an origin, written around 1990 by Andy Helfin/Helfer I believe that I loved. I owned it once, and would love to find it again. It really explained the character and his motivations beautifully for me.

 

[nx1701g]

Another vote for The Long Halloween.

 

[ELURIA]

"Two Of A Kind"

Best.Two-Face.Story.Ever.

EVER !!!

Look for it in Batman: Black & White

Or... http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/671281.html

 

[Lapis Exilis]

"Two of a Kind" is pretty good, but it doesn't go far in exploring Harvey. There have been a few stories that play on him being healed and cracking again, rescarring himself. Gotham Central's "Half a Life", which is really much, much more about Renee Montoya, has some good Two-Fafce moments, but I'm beginning to believe Two-Face is incredibly hard to write.

 

[DoctorPhantasm]

There was an origin, written around 1990 by Andy Helfin/Helfer I believe that I loved. I owned it once, and would love to find it again. It really explained the character and his motivations beautifully for me.

I believe you're thinking of Batman Annual #14.

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Annual-1990-Eye-Beholder/dp/B000K7BXH2

 

[cardinal biggles]

Yet another vote for Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

 

[Timby]

Dark Victory.

Sweet Jesus, no.

And pretty much all of The Long Halloween is for the dogs, too. This is a good explanation of why.

 

[suarezguy]

I agree that Batman Annual #14 was pretty good. I also liked "Showcase '93" #7-8, they took place after Bruce's back was broken by Bane but the main story is before that, haven't read them in a while but I think both issues reflected Two-Face's personality and justice mentality pretty well.

 

[Capt_Piett]

Eh, for those that didn't like the Long Halloween or Dark Victory, there's not much those of us that did can say to convince you otherwise. So we'll all agree to have to disagree.

 

[TheBrew]

Dark Victory.

Sweet Jesus, no.

And pretty much all of The Long Halloween is for the dogs, too. This is a good explanation of why.

SPOILERS for The Long Halloween:



Not really. It was just a rant. About the only salient point he had was the disconnect between the transition between Gilda and Harvey as the killer and Alberto being "dead."

I mean complaining because the water was "red" when Alberto wasn't killed? Give me a break. No person would make the water that red anyways with their blood and the whole point was to convey the thought that he was dead, not to based in some sort of fact.

If you wanted to, you could easily critique TLH is meaningful ways, but that link had only a trace of actual, meaningful comments.

 

[TheArsenal]

Two-Face: Year One. This is a soft reboot which bends his origins to more closely fit the movie version.

I also really enjoyed Two-Face in the Gotham Central series which is more about his relationship with Renee Montoya than a Batman story.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Dark Victory.

Sweet Jesus, no.

And pretty much all of The Long Halloween is for the dogs, too. This is a good explanation of why.

SPOILERS for The Long Halloween:



Not really. It was just a rant. About the only salient point he had was the disconnect between the transition between Gilda and Harvey as the killer and Alberto being "dead."

I mean complaining because the water was "red" when Alberto wasn't killed? Give me a break. No person would make the water that red anyways with their blood and the whole point was to convey the thought that he was dead, not to based in some sort of fact.

If you wanted to, you could easily critique TLH is meaningful ways.

Yes, you could point out that it sags terribly for over half of the story while villains are packed in for absolutely no reason other than to include them and regardless of how the plot had to be tortured to cram them in. Or you could talk about how characters are reduced to one sentence descriptions (which are repeated ad naseum) and rarely move beyond those descriptions to become anything like fully fleshed characters - including Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent, who are ostensibly the main characters (Batman especially is nothing but a cardboard cutout when it comes to characterization). Or you could critique it for cribbing plot point directly from numerous films like Godfather and Presumed Innocent to the point that the whole thing ends up being a loosely stitched together pastiche that has no strength or structure of its own.

Doon't get me wrong - it has a moment or two that's pretty nice, and occasionally Sale's art is really lovely and evocative, but overall it's a very unsatisfying read. For me anyway.


Thanks for the recs, folks - I'll check those out.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I like the Two Face origin story in Batman the Animated Series (90s)...even better than Dark Knight...imo.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

... villains are packed in for absolutely no reason other than to include them and regardless of how the plot had to be tortured to cram them in.

I remember a discussion on another message board where people were talking about Loeb admitting to throwing so many villains into his stories because he can't wait to see how the artists will draw them.

One poster suggested that next time he should just commission the drawings like everyone else.

I think The Long Halloween was a lot more fun while it was published in monthly installments. The resolution was still a letdown, but getting monthly episodes of Sale doing his damnedest was enjoyable enough to keep picking it up.

I still can't fathom why it ends up on so many favorites lists, though. If you ask for favorite moments from other Batman stories, like Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, etc. people seem to be able to come up with them quickly. ("Because I've heard it before--and it wasn't funny the first time.") But despite so many people loving The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, they rarely seem to conjure up great moments that aren't just one of the oft-repeated lines you mention.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

But despite so many people loving The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, they rarely seem to conjure up great moments that aren't just one of the oft-repeated lines you mention.

Oy, maybe that wasn't as annoying when reading them as monthlies, but in TPB, I got to where I was ready to stick a fork in my eye if I read "Gotham's untouchable crime lord" one more time. And someone should really inform Mr. Loeb that telling your audience someone is an untouchable crime lord over and over doesn't actually add any menace to the character - it is helpful occasionally to show that a mob boss is frightening. Batman Begins made Carmine Falcone convincing and threatening in a bare two minutes of screen time. Loeb didn't make him convincing in about 200 pages.