Two Face is a character that I think we are all familiar with. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane (more like Jerry Robinson) for Detective Comics (vol 1) 66, Two Face has since become one of the most famous and loved Batman villains. Like the Joker, there have been numerous stories focusing on the character that explore the aspects of his split character of both former District Attorney Harvey Dent and the evil criminal Two Face. A notable example of a story that focuses on the scarred villain is Batman: Face the Face (Batman (vol 1) 651-654 and Detective Comics (vol 1) 817-820), which presents the return of Two Face, after surgery seemingly rescued Harvey Dent from his other self. I reviewed the story fifty posts ago (read it here) and at the end, I promised I’d review the sequel. Well, here we are. Over a decade after the original great eight-part story, written by Starman (vol 2) author James Robinson, we have Deface the Face, another story that obviously focuses on Robinson’s favourite villain. But the big question is, does it live up to the original, or is it a disappointing pile of excrement?
Batman: Deface the Face was a six-part story, published in Detective Comics (vol 1) 988-993 fortnightly from November 2018 to January 2019. Like the original, the tale is written by James Robinson, but unlike the original, there are two new artists. Parts One to Three are drawn by Stephen Segovia while Parts Four to Six are drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico. Lastly, I have read this story in the Batman Detective
Comics Volume 9: Deface the Face trade paperback
THE STORY
Batman is called to a murder scene by Commissioner Gordon, who is at first concerned at about what Batman has been going through (Batman (vol 3) 50, part of Tom King’s run on Batman). Afterwards, the two get on with solving the crime and Gordon tells Batman that the murder victim is named Harold Frank. Batman leaves Gordon to look around the city when he speaks to Alfred through his cowl. Still thinking about what happened between him and Selina (more Tom King Batman run stuff), Batman asks Alfred for information on Harold Frank. Although Alfred tells Batman that he was shot with two different guns, he already knows this. This makes Alfred theorise that there could be two killers, but as there is no evidence for that, Batman believes it could have been one person with two guns. Alfred then asks if he is on route to Frank’s apartment, but Batman tells him that he is already there and that he has found a secret room full of photographs, maps and guns. Once Batman sends the images through to Alfred, the whole apartment catches fire as the hero is attacked by Firefly, a new female version. The two battle each other, ending with Firefly being defeated, but this makes Batman realise that the male Firefly will be nearby. After saving an old woman and her dog, Batman finds the other Firefly, who manages to escape after causing a huge explosion. As the fire department arrive at the ruins of the apartment building, Batman speaks to Alfred and how the Firefly’s target may have been the hidden room, not him. As the detective leaves the scene, the villainous gang Kobra watch the fire, in satisfaction that Harold Frank is dead.
In the Bat-Cave, Batman and Alfred discover that there are two Harold Franks, one Is real and the other is the murdered one at the crime scene. This is due to their differences in height and eye colours. Batman then reveals that the real Frank was killed a decade ago and was only a petty crook. Although Alfred thinks that Batman has all the answers, he doesn’t, so he decides to hunt the two Fireflies down. Meanwhile, the Fireflies, Ted Carson and Bridgit Pike, argue about how easily they lost to batman and after they compare themselves to the other foes that the dark knight has fought, the two decide that every time Batman defeats them, they will become stronger. At the same time, Batman meets with Gordon, who tells him that the murdered man is in fact named Karl Twist, but Batman knew this. He explains that Twist was a terrorist and that he may have been planning something when he was killed. Gordon suggests that the Fireflies could have attacked Batman as he nearly discovered what the plans were. Batman leaves the scene and breaks into the warehouse where the Fireflies are training, since he put a tracker on them. As Batman now wears a fire-resistant suit, he beats the two villains and asks Pike for any information that she knows. Later at the abandoned Duotone Record Pressing
building, Batman breaks in to find Dweedle-Dum and Dweedle-Dee. He easily takes them both out and then finds the villain behind the murder of Twist and the Fireflies, Two Face, who blames Gordon for everything that has happened.
After failing to get answers out of the villain, Batman is attacked by Two Face and his guards and a fight ensues. During the battle, Batman tries to speak to Harvey, instead of Two Face, but this fails as well, causing Two Face to blow up the building and escape. Batman rescues the unconscious Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee from the destruction, but he is angry that Two Face escaped. The next day, Bruce Wayne speaks to the Signal, Duke Thomas, who has discovered some information about Two-Face’s bases and how a gang named Kobra have arrived in Gotham City. Bruce recognises the name. Later at the GCPD building, all the power is cut and members of Kobra storm the building, killing as many police officers as they can. However, Two Face arrives at the scene, killing members of the Kobra. He then runs into Gordon, who is heading to see if his officers are safe. Two Face prepares to shoot his old ally, but instead kills another Kobra member, before running away, causing Gordon to call out Harvey. After the assault is over, Gordon speaks with Harvey Bullock, who is sad to say that both civilians and cops were killed. Gordon then tells Bullock that he saw Two Face and thinks about why he was here. Gordon speaks to Batman, who is in the Batmobile, about how Two Face decided to save him, making him believe that part of Harvey Dent is still alive. Then, surprising his ally, Batman says that he is on his way to Two Face. Soon after, Batman meets Two Face on the Robert H. Kane memorial bridge and after deducing that the bridge is rigged to explode on the villain’s command, he asks Two Face to take a moment’s truce and talk. Two Face agrees.
As Batman promises that the talk will just be between the two of them, Gordon is heading to scene. Batman accuses Two Face of killing Karl Twist, who was the last case which Harvey Dent had when he was DA, before the accident. Two Face says that Twist was released as a free man. Two Face also was surprised when he learnt that Twist was selling his talents to Kobra. However, Two Face tells Batman that he wasn’t the one who killed Twist, despite the pattern involving two Fireflies, two bullets, two guns. But, before he can tell the dark knight who the real killer was, Gordon arrives, causing Two Face to become mad. The villain then jumps off the bridge to escape, but luckily, Batman rescues him, causing Two Face to accept Gordon as part of the conversation now. It is then that Two Face reveals that the killer of Twist was in fact Harvey Dent and that he isn’t always buried by Two Face. Speaking as Harvey, he admits to killing Twist as he attempted to imprison him for crimes when he was still DA and he couldn’t take it that Twist was working for Kobra. Then, as Two Face, he hired the two Fireflies to burn Twist’s apartment, destroying all evidence of his terrorism. However, this isn’t the end of it as Twist may have shown the terror plans to Kobra before they were destroyed and the gang must be defeated. Gordon then tells Batman that all Kobra members have a neural bomb planted in their skulls, which explodes when they speak of their plans, as Bullock discovered during interrogation. Due to that, Gordon begs Harvey for information about the gang, to which Harvey is angry about since he prefers to be called Two Face. The villain reveals how he has been hiding a copy of Twist’s map, which has all of Kobra’s targets which they will hit in a terror attack. Batman, Gordon and Two Face leave to go and defeat Kobra.
On the way to defeating Kobra, Two Face asks Batman about them and their history. Batman explains that a man named Jeffery Burr was kidnapped as a baby by the cult and raised to be their leader. However, after years of terrorism, Burr’s heart was ripped out by Black Adam (Captain Marvel villain), causing Burr to become a martyr and membership of Kobra to increase. However, since then, Kobra has become much smaller, explaining why they are using hired terrorist help like Karl Twist. Afterwards, Batman and Two Face arrive at the Gotham Natural History Museum, where they defeat numerous members of the gang. However, one remains, which Batman recognises and captures. However, the explosive in his skull goes off and he is killed. The reason Batman recognised the Kobra member was because of his helmet, signifying he’s a Naga, a leader of the group which aims to fulfil the prophecies of Kali Yuga. While Two Face is confused as taking out the Kobra gang was much easier than he expected, Batman tells him that the rest of his Bat-Family, including Katana, Black Lightning, Orphan, Batgirl, Signal and Batwoman, along with the Fireflies, have been fighting and defeating other Kobra gangs. However, it is then that Batman discovers from the Naga’s helmet that all the attacks the heroes have been taking care of have actually been a diversion. Their real plan is to release a new mind-controlling agent into the sewers and water supply, meaning that all of Gotham will become followers of Kobra.
In a graveyard, Commissioner Gordon, Bruce Wayne, Alfred and a very small group of people come to mourn the death of Harvey Dent. During the funeral, Batman remembers heading into the sewers with Two Face in order to find the toxin Kobra plans to release it into the city before it is too late, since the toxin is sensitive to heat before it is dispersed. Not long after, the duo finds the Kobra gang, ready to release the toxin. Two Face, in order to defeat Kobra, decides to throw himself at Kobra while shooting the toxin, causing a huge explosion and the apparent death of Harvey Dent.
After Bruce remembers this, Harvey is buried and laid to rest. After the funeral, Bruce heads to the Wayne Enterprises building to work. He speaks with Alfred and tells him that although Kobra have been defeated, the toxin is still out there somewhere in the city. Then, shocking Alfred, Bruce tells him that Harvey Dent is still alive, and that the funeral was just for appearances. Later on, Batman meets with Two Face and the Fireflies in order to thank them for aiding in defeating Kobra. Batman also tells Two Face that he knows how he escaped the explosion in the sewers using the skills of Ted Carson, the male Firefly. Although the Fireflies threaten to attack Batman, he tells them to do the smart thing and just go away. When they do, Batman flies away as well, saying that he is glad Harvey is alive, while Two Face says that he is too, he is two.
MY THOUGHTS
Pretty much identical to the Batman: Face the Face story, Robinson excellently writes and portrays Two Face and the separation between Dent and Two Face is twisted and presented to us in a way that never really has been seen before. In the original classic story, we witness the good in Harvey Dent, such as how he stands up for justice and the law system and to contrast, we see the evil in Two Face, committing crimes and killing innocent people. However, in this story, Robinson cleverly twists this, showing Harvey Dent to have some evil in him. For instance, he is the one who kills Karl Twist. While on the other side, Two Face does have some good in him, as we see him help Batman in taking out Kobra, resulting in him being seen as hero by some. This actually adds so much more depth to the character as it really isn’t as black and white as we are led to believe. The greatest part of the story in terms of Two Face’s character has to be Part Four, where we see Batman and Commissioner Gordon speak with Two Face/Harvey. Not only does this part of the story mostly get us away from the Kobra story (thank f*ck), but it allows for the writer to experiment with Two Face and the way he acts. When he is with Batman and Gordon, he isn’t really secretive with them and he constantly changes between Two Face and Harvey Dent. This is very much helped by the standard, but great, six panel pages where Panel 1 has Dent’s dialogue along with that side of his face, while Panel 2 does the same for Two Face. A lot of credit has to go to both Robinson and Di Giandomenico for that, since it is such an imaginative way of telling this great character piece and it pays off brilliantly. That was a bit of a ramble.
Back to the original point, Harvey Dent seems to be more present when Batman and Gordon are around, which makes sense as he once worked with them very closely. This allows us to see the guilt that Harvey has, giving us a very different look at the character. Another fantastic aspect of the Two Face character in this story is the funeral in Part Six. While reading this for the first time, I didn’t really like the whole funeral thing as I found it to be ultimately pointless, on second reading I thought it worked. Harvey Dent’s innocence was tainted when he killed Karl Twist and therefore, the original morals he stood for no longer apply. He is a changed person and that isn’t just because of Two Face, but also his own choice to kill Twist. Of course, at the end of the tale, we discover that inside of Two Face, Harvey is still obviously alive as the two are basically there to keep each other in balance, but like I said, the slight reversals in the two characters and their sort of dependency on each other is so unique and there isn’t any other character in comics like that. Now, after basically going overboard about why I think Two Face and Harvey Dent is the greatest part of this story, lets move on. With everything that has been going on in the Tom King Batman (vol 3) run up until this story, Batman’s character makes a lot of sense. This story takes place after Batman (vol 3) 50, aka, the Wedding of Batman and Catwoman. This explains the reason why Batman is so moody and basically, an a*sehole throughout this whole story as Catwoman didn’t turn up… to her own wedding. Basically, I like this as there is a reason for it. If Batman acted like this normally, then I wouldn’t like it, since Batman isn’t supposed to a horrible person who seems to hate everyone. He should be a darker hero, sure, but not constantly. I mean, just read All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller for a badly written Batman. But in terms of continuity, it makes sense for a darker Batman here. Plus, he does sort of see a recovery in his character when Two Face helps him defeat Kobra, so there is a change. This next point is very much linked to the point I made about Two Face, but it is much wider than that. I think that Parts 1-3 (4 in terms of character) are very well written. Robinson takes us back to the old days of Batman. I’ll tell you what. Do you remember the first comic that Batman debuted in and still to this day features in? I’m sure everyone knows the answer: Detective Comics. This last decade has been praised as being a great one in terms of Batman comics, but to me, it rather lacked mystery stories where Batman acted like a proper detective. There have been many which try to act like a detective story but fall short. With the exception of Scott Snyder’s Black Mirror and The Court of Owls, there really weren’t many stories like this, until now. In Part One of this story, Batman says that he is a detective and that he solves crimes. This is the Batman. This is what he should do. He can be a superhero sometimes when he is with the Justice League, but on his own, he should be solving complex murder cases that actually interest readers. Deface the Face does just that, with the brilliantly told Karl Twist Harold Frank story. Constantly, you are asking questions about who the killer is, or why these villains are involved and that is definitely a great thing. Other than that, the best aspect of Robinson’s Deface the Face has to be his grasp on character. Nearly all of them feel so real and work so well together, that moments like we see in Part Four are really what makes the story good.
Now, to the stuff I don’t like, or despise and unfortunately, there is quite a bit. I guess the biggest problem of the story has to be Kobra, just for how generic, boring and honestly, unnecessary they are. Starting in that order, Kobra are just a cult of criminals. There really isn’t much else to say. This is the reason they are generic, there is not anything unique about them and really, that is a huge f*cking disappointment as Two Face is a brilliant villain for this story and it’s a shame that these generic villains are in it too. Now, to why they’re boring. In Part Five, we learn about some of the history of the cult and how they follow the legends of some old guy and might or might not have a beard. I don’t know, but I’m sure you can tell by what I’m saying that this still is boring as hell. Maybe their history would be memorable if it featured interesting characters that you care about or feel a certain emotion towards. We don’t get any of that. Then, to the reason why they’re just not needed in the story. Robinson could have picked pretty much any other gang and the chances are, it would have worked better. Or better yet, make up a new one that Twist was involved in, meaning that we experience more of Harvey Dent’s change in morals. This would have bene much better than the useless Kobra. In fact, that takes me to another point. Compared to the original story, the impact just isn’t big enough. In Face the Face, we see characters like Arnold Wesker and the KGBeast die. This had so much impact in the story, meaning that everything becomes more intriguing as it progressed, but here, with the exception of the revelation that Harvey Dent is a killer, there isn’t much else, meaning that the story can feel quite underwhelming at times. Then we get to the plot, which was very well done up until Part 3, when the Kobra stuff started to become more and more involved in the main plot. Unfortunately, the great mystery story ended up becoming a generic boring thriller, that lacked any tension or drama. Due to the boring Kobra, you don’t really care about their plans, meaning that second half of the story falls down rather short. Apart from that, my only other real gripe with the story is the inclusion of the Fireflies and the Tweedle Duo, since, apart from playing up on the number two, didn’t add much of anything to the story. Like I said, the big problem with the story (apart from Kobra, obviously) is the lack of any surprising moves or decisions that weren’t expected, which was something that made the original story great.
As previously mentioned, the first half of the story is drawn by Stephen Segovia and the latter half is done by Carmine Di Giandomenico. The art by Segovia I think is quite good. It has a nice retro edge to it, which can be seen in the way that Batman is drawn, along with the backgrounds. He may go over the top sometimes on the old crosshatching, sometimes making things look quite rough, but I’ve seen much worse. Plus, Segovia tells the story well and his use of shadows really adds an atmospheric feel to the story. Then to Di Giandomenico, who, while I admit does use some very interesting page layouts and designs, isn’t great. For starters, I think his depiction of Two Face looks a bit too over the top, with the amount of lines on his face seem endless. There are also times when the panels are visibly overloaded with too much content and I must admit, the new-style colouring doesn’t really help. That said, the story is told well enough by both artists, but neither of them are ones I’d shout about.
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Deface the Face is an above average story. While the positives going for it are incredibly good, such as the characterisation of Two Face and pretty much
the first half of the story, the negatives are large problems as well, like Kobra and unfortunate change in plot direction. The artists do their best drawing a fantastic character piece for Two Face, even if it can look either too messy or cluttered. Therefore, the big question arises does this stand up there with Face the Face. No. But is it worth reading. I think so, especially if you’re a fan of Two Face, like Robinson clearly is…
Story: 6/10
Art: 5.5/10
Next Week: Animal Man: Born to be Wild (Animal Man (vol 1) 27-32). Written by Peter Milligan with art by Chas Truog, Mark Farmer and Steve Dillon. Expected to be published by 26/01/2020.
Comments