Two-Face vs. a Werewolf. Okay, then!

[about_faces]

I was all ready to finally write about the Two-Face story from Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 when I remembered that the author, Brad Desnoyer, had actually written *another* Harvey short story for another anthology: THE 2008 DC UNIVERSE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL.

You know... the story where Harvey fights a werewolf. Yeah, that one

Comments

[thehefner]

It's understandable! And hey, we all have to start somewhere.

Well, then! *puts on comic shop clerk hat* What's your interest? I'm assuming Batman is one, so let's start there. Most people would recommend starting Batman with Miller's Batman: Year One (a wonderful, wonderful book), or Loeb/Sale's The Long Halloween (BOOOOOOOO, heck no, not for your first).

Me, I strongly recommend Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told. These "greatest ever told" collections are often mixed bags, particularly the recent Joker volume. But this one is pretty well stellar throughout, and it gives what few others can offer: a well-rounded sampling of great Batman tales from every decade and comics era.

I'm gonna stop there, otherwise I will go into full detail of other possibilities and why they're good, etc. So for now, I'd day definitely start with Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol. 1, and if you can, also Year One.

I absolutely adore recommending books to people based on their interests, especially if it means turning them onto great stories that are off the standard reading lists. If there's anything else you're interested in, whether it's a character or a genre similar to something you already like, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help. Really, I live for this sorta thing. :)

[lego_joker]

And from there, I'd ask, is there a certain villain you're interested in? Or a certain type of personality for a villain?

[lady_vaguely]

Oooh, well. I like Two Face (shocker!) and Clayface (I'm only really familiar with the one in the cartoon) and some portrayals of the Mad Hatter. I tend to like tragic and unhappy villains.

I am really curious if there are any well done stories about Croc or Bane. I want to like them, for some reason, but they both seem like they could be poorly used.

[lady_vaguely]

Gosh, thanks for being so helpful! That kind of welcoming into fandom is just lovely.

Maybe I should give a little summarization of how I am a Batman fan who is comic-ignorant. I've loved the animated series since I was a kid, so that's my real frame of reference. I borrowed and read all the "Blank Adventures" comic books drawing from the series and liked quite a few of them. I've read the novelizations of Knightfall and, due to the adorkable excerpts you posted here, No Man's Land. Good stuff, but I liked No Man's Land better. And since I'm primarily a video game nerd, I loved Arkham Asylum.

I'm not saying I'd be adverse to portrayals that don't link up with the above, just that that's what I'm most familiar with (and gaga over.)

I tend to like villain teamups that go south, things that get into the backstory and motivations of characters, and tragic themes. I guess that's pretty general, sorry.

For now, Greatest Stories Ever Told and Year One are on my list!!

[thehefner]

TAS is the perfect framework for any Batman fandom, in my opinion. It's the distillation of everything that's great, and comics enjoyment grows out of that foundation splendidly. I think those two books will therefore serve you well. Let me know what you think if/when you read 'em!

The traits you specified are somewhat general, and yet they're far from universal. Sad, because those are what I love too. Until TAS, very few writers were ever interesting in giving fleshed-out motivations and backstories to the villains.