When I wrote to you about this earlier, I mentioned the oddness of JMS being one of the few writers I know to be "occasionally brilliant," but perhaps when he's on, he's less "brilliant" and more just plain solid. That, in itself, is damn uncommon in superhero comics. So often, we find the greatness in single scenes, in character moments, in particularly powerful arcs, but rarely ever are they truly good solid stories.
I think it's the solid stories that truly become the classics, the ones reprinted in compilations and discussed nostalgically for years to come. It's something that I fear superhero comics have lost sight of since the Bronze Age ended with Crisis, since now everything is all about events and creator runs and soap opera rather than just trying to tell good, solid stories. I'd love to see more Alan Brennerts out there, y'know?
Forgive the rambling. You always seem to get my brain going when it comes to classic comics.
I really do miss the bronze age. I was thinking how often comics really have become about heroes just fighting villains ( and gabbing while they do so). NOT, heroes stopping well thought out plots....but just fighting (or fighting themselves over and over...). The soap opera mentality is kind of what kept me away from X-Men in the eighties
( ... )
I don't really mind soap operatics so long as it's rooted in telling good stories about the characters that don't bog down the plot or action in the process. Over at DC, it seems like there's far too LITTLE of that stuff (where it's mainly just beating up villains), and at Marvel, where there's too damn much (heroes spend more time fighting each other). Brennert understood the balance of this better than most, with every one of his stories focusing on superhero angst in ways that furthered the story and gave the characters development by the end.
So Molokai is good? I shouldn't be surprised, but I had a hard time getting into it. It seemed a bit too much like something out of my Mom's book club, y'know? But if it's that good, I will absolutely give it another chance. Are you going to read Honolulu next?
Both these stories also make their adversaries (Two-Face and Scarecrow) SMART (and quite difficult to deal with).Totally! And hey, not that this has to do with smart villains, but I just realized that both of those stories were
( ... )
And Two-Face continues to act as a 'whacky uncle' for teen age superheroes. You know what, there should be a Two-Face collection dedicated to that alone!
I dearly wish I could get my hands on this story. I really, really do.
The coin toss at the diner is luckily something that can be taken pretty much in any direction you want. I read it as if both sides wished to see him in person before deciding what to do. A sort of final reconnaissance, if you will.
Totally with you on Harvey being threatening. In Half a life (it's been a while since I've read it, okay? Please don't smite me) he genuinely creeped me out when he tried being nice and greeting to Renee after he had her kidnapped. That is way scarier than just rambling on and on about the DEATH PENALTAH! It's kinda like how the Joker switches moods, except more definitely creepy IMO. Plus, it increases the tragedy somewhat, knowing how hard it would be for him to seek a normal life again; when everyone expects an angry rage-demon to just burst through when you least expect it, it seems unlikely for him to find someone to help him out of his ailment *Gilda-cough-cough*.
...as the surveillance cameras continue to follow his every move
( ... )
I suppose it's a possibility, but I don't know if Chris Nolan would look at anything including the Teen Titans as proper source material. I don't know the guy's taste, but I somehow doubt it.
There's a lot of Joker's schemes that would make more sense as Two-Face-schemes in that movie, isn't there? It's the disguising-thing here, the two ferries with criminals and ordinary "innocent" civillians ready to blow, a mid-day bank robbery (a mafia-bank, non the less!), intimidating mob-bosses in a suicidal kind of way (threatening them with hand grenades? Why, hello there, Doug Moench's Eye of the Beholder sequel)... anything else?
I'm a little surprised you didn't mention the 'could have been anybody' bit where he recalls his origin. I know it's probably just a case of the current canon/Two-Face lying to himself, but given how often you've emphasized how much you like the addition of a childhood backstory - or, in other words, the fact that it couldn't have "happened to anyone" - I'd have thought you'd have brought it up
( ... )
Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm kind of surprised I didn't touch upon that. I only mentioned fleetingly mentioned about how it was an appearance-based Two-Face story (and perhaps the very best of its kind outside of the original Harvey Kent trilogy), and I could have easily expanded that line of thought to point out how this story was one of the last takes on Two-Face of its kind before Eye of the Beholder came out three years later. And a year before that, in 1989, we'd see the Grace Dent story from Secret Origins Special, which would be the first to posit (but not expand upon) the idea that Harvey had psychological issues before the acid hit
( ... )
Ah, I see. So then-current continuity is on its side, then. Didn't Michael Jackson wear one particular kind of glove? I always picture him as wearing one white kid glove, or something similar. I can't picture Two-Face wearing something like that - it'd be more sinister-looking somehow, like black leather or something. Indeed - a lawyer perpetually arguing a case against himself is an idea with some meat to it. One wonders if, if he's essentially assuming the role of his own prosecutor, one could view Batman as presenting the case for the defense? Well, when and if you do, I'd be interested. There's lots to get through - heck, I still haven't read most of it - so no hurry. I suppose one could argue that his Two-Face side is the drive, evil being by its very nature more aggressive than good, while Harvey is the restraint in that he represents the coin. Without Harvey, Two-Face would have no need to be dual and hence no need for the coin, which is the only thing that truly holds him in check.
Wow, that green lizard-like coloring on Harvey's bad side is just abhorrent. A fleshier pink/red/purple tone might have worked as the pencil's aren't too bad, but the color just looks goofy beyond anything I can appreciate
( ... )
The thing is, though, Batman already knows what it's like to scare everybody. He's used to it. Moreover, he wants it - even in the Bronze Age, intimidation was still a major part of his thing. Furthermore, he is also really good at not being seen if he doesn't want to, whereas Two-Face's whole plan here revolves around Cyborg being a bit clumsy when it comes to breaking into places, given that he's a newby at it. Bats could do that whole thing with no more than a whisper of his cloak, and the plan wouldn't work at all
( ... )
Batman doesn't have the same self-image issues to overcome that Victor does, though, nor does Bruce particularly want any attention at all, especially not adoration from the public. In this story, Harvey forces Cyborg to live in the shadows and to terrorize people by letting their imaginations run wild. Batman THRIVES in that environment.
Now, that's not to say that this story couldn't be done with Bruce, but it would be very different in execution and only barely recognizable with this one. Harvey would probably have to strike at the heart of Batman underneath the cowl, to somehow exploit Bruce's own duality and double lives, and play with the idea that the tragedy in Bruce's life might--under another set of circumstances--have resulted in him being no different than Two-Face.
Of course, it would be damn hard to do this story without Harvey discovering that Bruce and Batman are one and the same. Otherwise, it might be too hard to pull off without it turning into Batman: Jekyll & Hyde all over again, and no one wants that. Well,
( ... )
Comments 48
(The comment has been removed)
I think it's the solid stories that truly become the classics, the ones reprinted in compilations and discussed nostalgically for years to come. It's something that I fear superhero comics have lost sight of since the Bronze Age ended with Crisis, since now everything is all about events and creator runs and
soap opera rather than just trying to tell good, solid stories. I'd love to see
more Alan Brennerts out there, y'know?
Forgive the rambling. You always seem to get my brain going when it comes to
classic comics.
Reply
Reply
So Molokai is good? I shouldn't be surprised, but I had a hard time getting into it. It seemed a bit too much like something out of my Mom's book club, y'know? But if it's that good, I will absolutely give it another chance. Are you going to read Honolulu next?
Both these stories also make their adversaries (Two-Face and Scarecrow) SMART (and quite difficult to deal with).Totally! And hey, not that this has to do with smart villains, but I just realized that both of those stories were ( ... )
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The coin toss at the diner is luckily something that can be taken pretty much in any direction you want. I read it as if both sides wished to see him in person before deciding what to do. A sort of final reconnaissance, if you will.
Totally with you on Harvey being threatening. In Half a life (it's been a while since I've read it, okay? Please don't smite me) he genuinely creeped me out when he tried being nice and greeting to Renee after he had her kidnapped. That is way scarier than just rambling on and on about the DEATH PENALTAH! It's kinda like how the Joker switches moods, except more definitely creepy IMO. Plus, it increases the tragedy somewhat, knowing how hard it would be for him to seek a normal life again; when everyone expects an angry rage-demon to just burst through when you least expect it, it seems unlikely for him to find someone to help him out of his ailment *Gilda-cough-cough*.
...as the surveillance cameras continue to follow his every move ( ... )
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It's a nice change of pace to watch Marion Cotillard and Tom Hardy in a good Christopher Nolan film, isn't it?
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There's a lot of Joker's schemes that would make more sense as Two-Face-schemes in that movie, isn't there? It's the disguising-thing here, the two ferries with criminals and ordinary "innocent" civillians ready to blow, a mid-day bank robbery (a mafia-bank, non the less!), intimidating mob-bosses in a suicidal kind of way (threatening them with hand grenades? Why, hello there, Doug Moench's Eye of the Beholder sequel)... anything else?
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Didn't Michael Jackson wear one particular kind of glove? I always picture him as wearing one white kid glove, or something similar. I can't picture Two-Face wearing something like that - it'd be more sinister-looking somehow, like black leather or something.
Indeed - a lawyer perpetually arguing a case against himself is an idea with some meat to it. One wonders if, if he's essentially assuming the role of his own prosecutor, one could view Batman as presenting the case for the defense?
Well, when and if you do, I'd be interested. There's lots to get through - heck, I still haven't read most of it - so no hurry.
I suppose one could argue that his Two-Face side is the drive, evil being by its very nature more aggressive than good, while Harvey is the restraint in that he represents the coin. Without Harvey, Two-Face would have no need to be dual and hence no need for the coin, which is the only thing that truly holds him in check.
Reply
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Now, that's not to say that this story couldn't be done with Bruce, but it would be very different in execution and only barely recognizable with this one. Harvey would probably have to strike at the heart of Batman underneath the cowl, to somehow exploit Bruce's own duality and double lives, and play with the idea that the tragedy in Bruce's life might--under another set of circumstances--have resulted in him being no different than Two-Face.
Of course, it would be damn hard to do this story without Harvey discovering that Bruce and Batman are one and the same. Otherwise, it might be too hard to pull off without it turning into Batman: Jekyll & Hyde all over again, and no one wants that. Well, ( ... )
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