“Batman and Robin” gets a face lift with Two-Face’s first big outing in the New 52, and they already mess with his origin.
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Illustrated by Patrick Gleason“The Big Burn” part one of five! Two-Face’s first epic in The New 52 sees Batman unraveling the mysterious connections between Harvey Dent’s life and the origin of Carrie Kelley!
The newly retitled “Batman And…” has undergone a series of strange mutations on its way to its current form. Until recently it was “Batman and Robin” and, as the title implies, focused on the adventures of the Dynamic Duo, but even the description is deceiving. It began in the pre-New 52 era as part of the Grant Morrision run on the various “Batman” books, and focused on Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne as they adjust to their new roles as crime fighting partners. The New 52 reboot turned it into a father/son book, as Bruce and Damien grew closer while beating up thugs. Then Robin had to go and get killed by an aged clone of himself (long story) and throw the future of the series into doubt. Initially, the book began a five issue arc modeled on the five stages of grief, as Bruce mourned the death of his only child. It was emotional and sincere, as it explored the depths of Bruce’s psyche in a way that had never been seen before. When that arc concluded, DC never afraid of overlapping the Bat-titles, rebranded the book as “Batman And…”, with a new story co-starring Two-Face in his first big New 52 storyline.
This issue begins with Two-Face camping out in a seedy motel room, putting a gun to his head and placing his life in the hands of coin toss. The scene flips to Erin McKillen, head of the McKillen crime family, as she returns to Gotham after hiding in Europe. She has called a meeting with the other mob families, and intends to spearhead a plan to reclaim Gotham from the “freaks”, the super villains that now run amok, and return the city to its former place as a haven for illegal activities and general mob rule. The other families agree to McKillen’s plan, on the condition that she first eliminates Two-Face, whom with she shares a sordid personal history. McKillen agrees but before she can act, Gotham Police raid her safe house, and now she is being hunted by the law, a scarred psychopath of her own creation, and the Batman.
Peter Tomasi has been one of the unsung heroes of DC comics. He has been a real workhorse/ pitch hitter at the company for over a decade now. Crafting interesting runs with B and C-level characters, always good for an event tie-in or miniseries, and long apprenticed under heavy hitters Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison on the “Green Lantern” and “Batman” families of books. Tomasi has written “Batman and Robin” since the start of the New 52, a remarkably stable run in an era becoming infamous for frequent creative team turnovers. He remained on the book for so long because he was always able to turn out quality entertaining stories, all while facing the continuity induced challenge of straddling the sometimes disparate worlds of Morrison’s “Batman Incorporated” and the rest of the Bat-verse. The death of Damien really gave Tomasi the opportunity to explore an emotionally charged story without a rushed schedule so the next big adventure could start. The end of “Batman Incorporated” has finally given Tomasi the freedom to create his own path in Gotham, and bring in one of Batman’s most interesting foes.
The first thing that becomes apparent when reading “Batman and Two-Face” #24, is that Two-Face isn’t in the story a whole lot. He is featured in the opening scenes, which quickly recaps his villainous tics (coin tossing, self-loathing, etc), before the real villain the issue turns up. Tomasi dives headfirst into Gotham’s organized crime underworld, and uses just a couple scenes to set up the mutual distrust and lust for power that surrounds all the mob families. The idea that the mob wants to rid Gotham of its more outlandish villains, and put power back into the hands of honest criminals, it actually is a really interesting idea. The mob doesn’t like the super-villains because they bring too much attention on everyone else, and makes the whole situation far too combustible for their liking. McKillen’s monologue is well scripted, with the necessary exposition kept to a minimum, all while continuing to set up Erin McKillen as a crime lord just as ruthless as any other. She is a new character, and Tomasi cements her role by tying her into the origin of Two-Face. McKillen and District Attorney Harvey Dent crossed paths when he attempted to bring the law down on the mob, and would play by the old rules of bribes and blackmail. McKillen kills Gilda, Harvey’s wife, and scars his face with acid. The retooled origin for Two-Face is just one of many in the New 52, and feels like another example of DC fixing something that wasn’t broken. It also brings up an issue regarding Two-Face’s relationship with Batman. In the old origin, Batman was present when Harvey was scarred, and Dent always blamed him for failing to act, while Batman also feels responsibility for Harvey’s fate. This new origin seems to remove Batman from the equation entirely, and makes their relationship much less complex and interesting. It seems like Two-Face is now just another bad guy that Batman fights just because he’s a bad guy.
Continued belowDespite the changeover into the new “Batman And…”format, Patrick Gleason remains the regular artist on the book for the Two-Face story arc. Gleason has been another DC stalwart for the past decade, and has a long history of collaboration with Tomasi on both “Green Lantern Corp” and “Batman and Robin”. His style actually bears a resemblance to that of Batman: The Animated Series co-creator/designer Bruce Timm. The proportions are top heavy, and the angles a little sharper, and the fight scenes are more stylized. The art hits a nice middle ground between the Lee-esque realistic style DC espouses and something a little unique and visually interesting. Gleason adds a number of little flourishes throughout the book to highlight Two-Face’s duel nature, such as one side of his motel room being filthy and ragged while the other is in perfect condition.
The storyline in the first issue is a little spastic, jumping from scene to scene after only a page or two. Gleason, along with colorist John Kalisz manages to give each scene its own look, greatly cutting down on the amount of possible confusion. Of special note is the lengthy flashback to the day McKillen scarred Dent, which places the characters in an unadorned room full of shadows. The bareness of the scene make it feel like an actually memory, with only the important details remaining. Gleason draws Dent’s initial scarring in a way that is still horrifying, but avoids anything super-grotesque. The reader already knows Dent’s fate, so there’s no point to trying to shock them by making the scene uber-violent. When the action set piece kicks in, Gleason’s art becomes very fluid and quick moving, adding to the pacing of the scene. This is when some of his looser tendencies become more apparent and characters seem to fluctuate a little from page to page. McKillen’s face in particular seems to change in every panel on the last page.
“Batman and Two-Face” #24 is a decent, but not amazing, start to a new era for the series. Free of responsibilities to the stories of other books, Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason can finally carve out their own place in Gotham City. The books present a lot of ideas which are mostly handled well, but there still is a bit of ‘first issue syndrome’ to be found. The retelling of Two-Face origin is the main problem of the book, as it actively makes Batman’s and Dent’s relationship less interesting. It’s hinted that there’s more to the story, but if it remains changed it’s a real flaw.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – Not a terrible start, but wait an issue or two to see how the story is playing out.
