Webcomic: The saga of Harvey and Firecracker, from "Surrealist Obituraries" by Deptford
Recently, I posted this awesome webcomic about Two-Face, which showed more understanding of Harvey Dent than most things we've seen in actual published comics. It wasn't necessarily a definitive take, since there's certainly room to dispute Surrealist Obituaries author Deptford's take on Harvey, but it was a brilliantly insightful and compelling strip nonetheless, perfectly executed by the end.
That said, there was some question about whether or not that kind of Two-Face could be sustained for an entire story. Coincidentally, after writing The Silver Dollar, Deptford found that he wasn't finished writing about Harvey, and decided to put that question to the test by doing an eight-strip Two-Face story with an original character.
My immediate reaction was to be excited for more Deptford Two-Face, but hesitant due to the OC. Man, OCs in fanfic can really go either way, too often falling into the many Mary Sue traps out there. One of the best ways to do that is to subvert those tropes, which bitemetechie/dr_von_fangirl did brilliantly with this short Scarecrow fic, Sack Cloth and Chicken Soup. I know I'm biased and all, but that one's a must-read. So an OC with this story? Yeah, I was concerned.
How did it all turn out? Well, as often happens, I'm of two minds. In fact, for this one, I'd rather hash it out in the comments with you folks than do a full review, since this is Christmas and I do have family stuff to do. I just don't have the time nor brain power to give this the review it deserves right now. But since the story actually ends on Christmas, and people will be asking me about the story anyway, I'd like to post it now anyway, presented here all here in one chunk for your reading pleasure.
For now, I'll just say that there's tons of good stuff here, excellently written and paced throughout. Several times throughout, I laughed out loud, I got chills, and I was even moved. I greatly look forward to your thoughts, and will be gradually posting mine in the comments as I'm able.
Oh, and since Deptford invokes a couple Leonard Cohen songs, here a couple for your listening pleasure, one for Harvey and the other for Two-Face (although when it comes to capturing that side, I tend to opt for Nick Cave's cover instead, because I'm the kind of geek who's actually given this thought before!).
That said, there was some question about whether or not that kind of Two-Face could be sustained for an entire story. Coincidentally, after writing The Silver Dollar, Deptford found that he wasn't finished writing about Harvey, and decided to put that question to the test by doing an eight-strip Two-Face story with an original character.
My immediate reaction was to be excited for more Deptford Two-Face, but hesitant due to the OC. Man, OCs in fanfic can really go either way, too often falling into the many Mary Sue traps out there. One of the best ways to do that is to subvert those tropes, which bitemetechie/dr_von_fangirl did brilliantly with this short Scarecrow fic, Sack Cloth and Chicken Soup. I know I'm biased and all, but that one's a must-read. So an OC with this story? Yeah, I was concerned.
How did it all turn out? Well, as often happens, I'm of two minds. In fact, for this one, I'd rather hash it out in the comments with you folks than do a full review, since this is Christmas and I do have family stuff to do. I just don't have the time nor brain power to give this the review it deserves right now. But since the story actually ends on Christmas, and people will be asking me about the story anyway, I'd like to post it now anyway, presented here all here in one chunk for your reading pleasure.
For now, I'll just say that there's tons of good stuff here, excellently written and paced throughout. Several times throughout, I laughed out loud, I got chills, and I was even moved. I greatly look forward to your thoughts, and will be gradually posting mine in the comments as I'm able.
Oh, and since Deptford invokes a couple Leonard Cohen songs, here a couple for your listening pleasure, one for Harvey and the other for Two-Face (although when it comes to capturing that side, I tend to opt for Nick Cave's cover instead, because I'm the kind of geek who's actually given this thought before!).