Two-Face crashes Jim Gordon's retirement party in Greg Rucka's "Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?"
Sometimes, a character can dominate a story while barely appearing in it at all. I'd call this the "Harry Lime" effect, after Orson Welles character in The Third Man. Welles' Lime only appeared on screen for about ten minutes of running time over just three scenes, yet he's the most celebrated and memorable part of the film.
Fittingly, Harvey Dent has been used this way at least twice: the first being that wonderful Aparo-drawn issue of The Brave and the Bold from the Bronze Age, and today's story, "Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?" from Detective Comics #755, by Greg Rucka:
That cover image actually has nothing to do with what happens in the story. Hell, Two-Face's appearance is actually something of a spoiler, but the cover gave it away entirely, and I don't imagine it would have been much of a surprise to you guys here. So I'm including the image anyway, mainly because it's just a wonderful illustration by the great Dave Johnson, whose amazing work I can never fully enjoy without remembering the mishap I had trying to get a Harvey Dent sketch from him at New York Comic Con a couple years back I still love his covers for Rucka's run on 'Tec, which was a generally-solid run that seems to be strangely ignored these days.
I think the problem was that it was hindered by being in continuity, which meant that it had to tie into crossovers like Joker's Last Laugh and the tediously overlong Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive epic, which served no other purpose than to temporarily shed light on the problem of Batman being too much of a dick before ignoring his character epiphany entirely Loeb and Lee's Hush came around. To top it off, the vast majority of Rucka's run wasn't collected in trade, so it's seemingly been forgotten and/or ignored. Many stories from Rucka's run should be considered classics, including this one, so why aren't they?
I think it ties to the big problem with ongoing comics continuity, which is that some truly get stories and scenes get swallowed up by the bigger stories, thus not allowing them to stand on their own as they would in a one-shot or graphic novel. This happens to TV series as well. I mean, no one can really enjoy a great episode of The X-Files the same way without thinking about where the series eventually went from there, y'know?
Today's story itself can't stand up as a solid standalone issue, since it directly follows the events of Officer Down and also leads directly to what will become Bruce Wayne: Murderer, but it still features wonderful moments nonetheless, and perhaps one of the all-time greatest Two-Face bits ever.
Shortly into his run, Rucka introduced new character named Sasha Bordeaux, a bodyguard assigned to protect Bruce Wayne, whether he liked it or not. As the prospect of constantly being watched was problematic to Bruce, he dedicated his life to ramping up the Bruce Buffoonery(TM) with the intention of making her so fed up that she'd quit before learning his secret. The run-around between Sasha and Bruce reached a fever pitch in this issue, which began with Bruce screaming for Sasha to help him... with his bow tie.
I imagine it wasn't and isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the coloring of Rucka's Detective Comics. Emphasizing the noir/crime nature of the title, it gave the book a black-and-white moodiness, but with a different muted color scheme per issue. It was a bold creative choice, much bolder than one would expect from one of DC's biggest titles, but I loved it, and was sad when it was inevitably abandoned. I also generally like the pencils and inks by Shaun Martinbrough, which at their best feel like a sharper Jamie Hernandez by way of art deco. The characters in his art look very much in line with the architectural aesthetic employed by Batman: The Animated Series.
This storyline takes place in the wake of Officer Down, the storyline where Jim Gordon was shot by an old enemy (who himself was subsequently secretly killed by Harvey Bullock). Alfred also left Bruce's side in the storyline, thus why we have Bruce's line about how "Alfred used to do it for me." Officer Down was the first big crossover of Rucka's run since landing the title immediately following No Man's Land, and it marked the first huge change in Rucka's Bat-Status-Quo: the retirement of Jim Gordon.
The character went through a lot by this point, kicked off by the probably-editorially-mandated-and-out-of-nowhere murder by his wife, Sarah Essen, by the Joker at the end of NML. On one hand, it made a lot of sense, emotionally and for the character. If comics were a finite thing, it would be a logical and moving exit for the character. On the other hand, Jim Gordon is probably the single most important character to Batman's world (second to or in a dead tie to Alfred), and more vitally, he's the most life-sized, realistically human character in Batman comics.
I could rant at length about what Gordon's absence meant as a loss for Batman comics in general, which would eventually turn into my long-in-the-making tirade "Why I actually think Gotham Central is kinda boring and overrated, please don't pelt me with fruit" but we haven't even gotten to Harvey yet. So on with the story!
I love seeing the inclusion of Shotgun Smith, one of the coolest and least-appreciated of the Batman supporting characters. He's rough like Bullock, but much less of a buffoon (word of the day, apparently): a hard-line, no-bullshit, grizzled old badass of a cop.
According to ComicVine, Smith was a recurring character in Chuck Dixon's Robin, which alone makes me want to catch up with that series. I was assuming that his last major appearance before this story was in Dixon's Gordon's Law mini-series--along with Dixon's previous GCPD mini--introduce a fair bulk of the guest stars in this story. I think it's fair to say that Chuck Dixon really laid the groundwork for what became Gotham Central, and along with the fact that MANY people don't realize that he was the creator and long-time original writer of Birds of Prey, that's just another example of how Dixon's considerable legacy has been ignored and forgotten by time.
Back in Rucka's story, another Dixon regular, Tommy "Mangles" Manchester, bursts into Gordon's retirement party with a giant-ass gun and a loud grudge against the former commissioner. Within seconds, the meat-headed thug finds a couple dozen guns aimed at his heart and head. Crashing a police retirement party? Oh Tommy, you didn't think this through at all. But just when it looks like the trouble's over before it even starts, both Sasha and Bruce notice something amiss behind a curtain, and the latter promptly "accidentally" knocks over a table, then slips away in the confusion.
Fully humiliated, Sasha storms after her troublesome client, proving herself as someone willing to go into even the most forbidden of places:
"... Toots"? Oh dear, Rucka's going for the gangster vibe with Harvey.
Does anyone else see Tim Sale's Two-Face from The Long Halloween and Dark Victory in Shawn Martinborough's Harvey? I think what really does it for me is the hair, which matches the original take by David Mazzucchelli in Year One that Sale used as his basis. Henchgirl also made note of the fact that Martinbrough didn't draw Harvey as being burned clean down the middle, a touch of which I greatly approve.
See, unlike Tommy, Harvey actually plans things out. That's how you separate a thug from a mastermind. On top of that, he has two elderly henchmen not-at-all-distractingly-named after a certain influential pair of comics creators!
Also, eyepatch guy there in the last panel is not, in fact, a sneaky Nick Fury cameo, but rather Captain Hugh Danzizien, another Chuck Dixon creation from Gordon's Law. This issue really does feel like a quiet tribute to Dixon's cop comics set in Gotham, which is only fitting for a farewell to Jim Gordon.
The very next panel is the only reference that Rucka makes to his ongoing Two-Face/Renee Montoya... what would you call it, a story? A subplot? An element? It was just a little something-something that went on between the characters from way back in Rucka's very first Batman comic, and then simmered for years before finally boiling over in Gotham Central: Half a Life. Funny thing is, as the years have gone by, I think far more people have just read GC:HaL rather than any of Rucka's other Batman stuff.
When this very scene was posted in the Good Comics blog as part of A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments, someone in the comments remarked: "if this takes place in the same continuity as Gotham Central 'Half a Life' where Two Face kidnapps Montoya, thats a nice little nod to their relationship." Considering that I think GC: HaL is the absolute nadir of Rucka's Harvey/Renee thing, it's disappointing to think that some fans only know about it from how it ends, and not though NML, and stories like this where Rucka was building upon the "thing" for years beforehand. Although I suppose we won't ever see a reprint of the weird-ass issue where Harvey writes and draws a Gary Stu comic book for therapy, wherein he makes Renee his spunky sidekick.
You know what? I'm shutting up now for the last two pages. Here we go.
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS. Awkward, awkward HUUUUUUUUUUUUGS.
Also, I can't help but notice Renee's "Jesus, and this guy has a crush on me" look. I always wanted to believe that maybe she felt platonic affection, or even just sympathy, for Harvey, but panels like that really do indicate that Harvey's crush is tragically one-sided. Then again, I prefer Rucka's novelization of No Man's Land, where Harvey's crush seemed tender rather than pathetic and creepy, as it was in the comics. COMPLEX FEELINGS ON THIS STORYLINE, I CAN HAS THEM.
But let's look at the real point of this page, and the story itself. How does it make you guys feel? Me, I'm torn. I know that story length is a problem, and that Harvey isn't the focus but rather a special guest star, but damn it, I've always wanted to hear (erm, read) that speech! Getting Sasha's summation isn't enough, and goes against the storytelling principle of "Show, Don't Tell."
Or maybe not. Perhaps this reinforces the principle entirely. Here, we don't know the substance of what Harvey said, only the spirit, and as such, his unheard words can blossom in the imaginations of the readers. Perhaps the words themselves don't matter as much as the spirit and sentiment behind them. Besides, Rucka's version of Harvey isn't exactly the character at his most eloquent. "Toots" and "You look REAL nice." So maybe in this case, it's for the best.
But all the same, damn it, I still wanted to hear what he said!I want to hear a moving speech delivered with all the skill that a former District Attorney can muster. If the character and/or I had a big enough fan base, I'd kinda like to hold a fic contest to see who could write their best take on Harvey's speech. Maybe that'll be something to consider, depending on how things go down the line.
P.S. Hey guys, sorry for the utter lack of any updates, but I imagine you can guess why. Updates will be slow going for the next few weeks, as will new chapters of Dent. Henchgirl's helping me edit the next chapter during the rare moments when we're feeling intelligent enough while Hal is fleetingly sleeping. It'll be a huge-ass chapter, though, enough to tide you over, but we just need to get it edited just right before then. Silly me, thinking I could actually stick to a weekly deadline with a baby! How could this possibly have gone wrong?
Fittingly, Harvey Dent has been used this way at least twice: the first being that wonderful Aparo-drawn issue of The Brave and the Bold from the Bronze Age, and today's story, "Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?" from Detective Comics #755, by Greg Rucka:
That cover image actually has nothing to do with what happens in the story. Hell, Two-Face's appearance is actually something of a spoiler, but the cover gave it away entirely, and I don't imagine it would have been much of a surprise to you guys here. So I'm including the image anyway, mainly because it's just a wonderful illustration by the great Dave Johnson, whose amazing work I can never fully enjoy without remembering the mishap I had trying to get a Harvey Dent sketch from him at New York Comic Con a couple years back I still love his covers for Rucka's run on 'Tec, which was a generally-solid run that seems to be strangely ignored these days.
I think the problem was that it was hindered by being in continuity, which meant that it had to tie into crossovers like Joker's Last Laugh and the tediously overlong Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive epic, which served no other purpose than to temporarily shed light on the problem of Batman being too much of a dick before ignoring his character epiphany entirely Loeb and Lee's Hush came around. To top it off, the vast majority of Rucka's run wasn't collected in trade, so it's seemingly been forgotten and/or ignored. Many stories from Rucka's run should be considered classics, including this one, so why aren't they?
I think it ties to the big problem with ongoing comics continuity, which is that some truly get stories and scenes get swallowed up by the bigger stories, thus not allowing them to stand on their own as they would in a one-shot or graphic novel. This happens to TV series as well. I mean, no one can really enjoy a great episode of The X-Files the same way without thinking about where the series eventually went from there, y'know?
Today's story itself can't stand up as a solid standalone issue, since it directly follows the events of Officer Down and also leads directly to what will become Bruce Wayne: Murderer, but it still features wonderful moments nonetheless, and perhaps one of the all-time greatest Two-Face bits ever.
Shortly into his run, Rucka introduced new character named Sasha Bordeaux, a bodyguard assigned to protect Bruce Wayne, whether he liked it or not. As the prospect of constantly being watched was problematic to Bruce, he dedicated his life to ramping up the Bruce Buffoonery(TM) with the intention of making her so fed up that she'd quit before learning his secret. The run-around between Sasha and Bruce reached a fever pitch in this issue, which began with Bruce screaming for Sasha to help him... with his bow tie.
I imagine it wasn't and isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the coloring of Rucka's Detective Comics. Emphasizing the noir/crime nature of the title, it gave the book a black-and-white moodiness, but with a different muted color scheme per issue. It was a bold creative choice, much bolder than one would expect from one of DC's biggest titles, but I loved it, and was sad when it was inevitably abandoned. I also generally like the pencils and inks by Shaun Martinbrough, which at their best feel like a sharper Jamie Hernandez by way of art deco. The characters in his art look very much in line with the architectural aesthetic employed by Batman: The Animated Series.
This storyline takes place in the wake of Officer Down, the storyline where Jim Gordon was shot by an old enemy (who himself was subsequently secretly killed by Harvey Bullock). Alfred also left Bruce's side in the storyline, thus why we have Bruce's line about how "Alfred used to do it for me." Officer Down was the first big crossover of Rucka's run since landing the title immediately following No Man's Land, and it marked the first huge change in Rucka's Bat-Status-Quo: the retirement of Jim Gordon.
The character went through a lot by this point, kicked off by the probably-editorially-mandated-and-out-of-nowhere murder by his wife, Sarah Essen, by the Joker at the end of NML. On one hand, it made a lot of sense, emotionally and for the character. If comics were a finite thing, it would be a logical and moving exit for the character. On the other hand, Jim Gordon is probably the single most important character to Batman's world (second to or in a dead tie to Alfred), and more vitally, he's the most life-sized, realistically human character in Batman comics.
I could rant at length about what Gordon's absence meant as a loss for Batman comics in general, which would eventually turn into my long-in-the-making tirade "Why I actually think Gotham Central is kinda boring and overrated, please don't pelt me with fruit" but we haven't even gotten to Harvey yet. So on with the story!
I love seeing the inclusion of Shotgun Smith, one of the coolest and least-appreciated of the Batman supporting characters. He's rough like Bullock, but much less of a buffoon (word of the day, apparently): a hard-line, no-bullshit, grizzled old badass of a cop.
According to ComicVine, Smith was a recurring character in Chuck Dixon's Robin, which alone makes me want to catch up with that series. I was assuming that his last major appearance before this story was in Dixon's Gordon's Law mini-series--along with Dixon's previous GCPD mini--introduce a fair bulk of the guest stars in this story. I think it's fair to say that Chuck Dixon really laid the groundwork for what became Gotham Central, and along with the fact that MANY people don't realize that he was the creator and long-time original writer of Birds of Prey, that's just another example of how Dixon's considerable legacy has been ignored and forgotten by time.
Back in Rucka's story, another Dixon regular, Tommy "Mangles" Manchester, bursts into Gordon's retirement party with a giant-ass gun and a loud grudge against the former commissioner. Within seconds, the meat-headed thug finds a couple dozen guns aimed at his heart and head. Crashing a police retirement party? Oh Tommy, you didn't think this through at all. But just when it looks like the trouble's over before it even starts, both Sasha and Bruce notice something amiss behind a curtain, and the latter promptly "accidentally" knocks over a table, then slips away in the confusion.
Fully humiliated, Sasha storms after her troublesome client, proving herself as someone willing to go into even the most forbidden of places:
"... Toots"? Oh dear, Rucka's going for the gangster vibe with Harvey.
Does anyone else see Tim Sale's Two-Face from The Long Halloween and Dark Victory in Shawn Martinborough's Harvey? I think what really does it for me is the hair, which matches the original take by David Mazzucchelli in Year One that Sale used as his basis. Henchgirl also made note of the fact that Martinbrough didn't draw Harvey as being burned clean down the middle, a touch of which I greatly approve.
See, unlike Tommy, Harvey actually plans things out. That's how you separate a thug from a mastermind. On top of that, he has two elderly henchmen not-at-all-distractingly-named after a certain influential pair of comics creators!
Also, eyepatch guy there in the last panel is not, in fact, a sneaky Nick Fury cameo, but rather Captain Hugh Danzizien, another Chuck Dixon creation from Gordon's Law. This issue really does feel like a quiet tribute to Dixon's cop comics set in Gotham, which is only fitting for a farewell to Jim Gordon.
The very next panel is the only reference that Rucka makes to his ongoing Two-Face/Renee Montoya... what would you call it, a story? A subplot? An element? It was just a little something-something that went on between the characters from way back in Rucka's very first Batman comic, and then simmered for years before finally boiling over in Gotham Central: Half a Life. Funny thing is, as the years have gone by, I think far more people have just read GC:HaL rather than any of Rucka's other Batman stuff.
When this very scene was posted in the Good Comics blog as part of A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments, someone in the comments remarked: "if this takes place in the same continuity as Gotham Central 'Half a Life' where Two Face kidnapps Montoya, thats a nice little nod to their relationship." Considering that I think GC: HaL is the absolute nadir of Rucka's Harvey/Renee thing, it's disappointing to think that some fans only know about it from how it ends, and not though NML, and stories like this where Rucka was building upon the "thing" for years beforehand. Although I suppose we won't ever see a reprint of the weird-ass issue where Harvey writes and draws a Gary Stu comic book for therapy, wherein he makes Renee his spunky sidekick.
You know what? I'm shutting up now for the last two pages. Here we go.
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS. Awkward, awkward HUUUUUUUUUUUUGS.
Also, I can't help but notice Renee's "Jesus, and this guy has a crush on me" look. I always wanted to believe that maybe she felt platonic affection, or even just sympathy, for Harvey, but panels like that really do indicate that Harvey's crush is tragically one-sided. Then again, I prefer Rucka's novelization of No Man's Land, where Harvey's crush seemed tender rather than pathetic and creepy, as it was in the comics. COMPLEX FEELINGS ON THIS STORYLINE, I CAN HAS THEM.
But let's look at the real point of this page, and the story itself. How does it make you guys feel? Me, I'm torn. I know that story length is a problem, and that Harvey isn't the focus but rather a special guest star, but damn it, I've always wanted to hear (erm, read) that speech! Getting Sasha's summation isn't enough, and goes against the storytelling principle of "Show, Don't Tell."
Or maybe not. Perhaps this reinforces the principle entirely. Here, we don't know the substance of what Harvey said, only the spirit, and as such, his unheard words can blossom in the imaginations of the readers. Perhaps the words themselves don't matter as much as the spirit and sentiment behind them. Besides, Rucka's version of Harvey isn't exactly the character at his most eloquent. "Toots" and "You look REAL nice." So maybe in this case, it's for the best.
But all the same, damn it, I still wanted to hear what he said!I want to hear a moving speech delivered with all the skill that a former District Attorney can muster. If the character and/or I had a big enough fan base, I'd kinda like to hold a fic contest to see who could write their best take on Harvey's speech. Maybe that'll be something to consider, depending on how things go down the line.
P.S. Hey guys, sorry for the utter lack of any updates, but I imagine you can guess why. Updates will be slow going for the next few weeks, as will new chapters of Dent. Henchgirl's helping me edit the next chapter during the rare moments when we're feeling intelligent enough while Hal is fleetingly sleeping. It'll be a huge-ass chapter, though, enough to tide you over, but we just need to get it edited just right before then. Silly me, thinking I could actually stick to a weekly deadline with a baby! How could this possibly have gone wrong?