Anyone going to read "Batman: Earth One?" Plus, the Tattooed Man targets Harvey!
Next Wednesday will finally see the release of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's long-awaited graphic novel, Batman: Earth One, which will be an all-new origin of Batman for its own standalone continuity.
If any of you will be picking it up, could you please do my obsessive ass a favor and let me know if Harvey Dent is in it at all? Based on this four-page preview, it sure looks like he will be, since who the hell else could be saying, "There's two sides to everything, Bruce?" I'm curious to know how the graphic novel will be as a whole, but I'm not expecting too much. While I love a LOT of Johns' work, Batman has always been one of his weaker characters to write, and I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the whole "Earth One" line after reading about the incredibly wrong-headed clusterfuck that was Superman: Earth One.
So yeah, if you could let me know if Harvey's in there and what he's like, that would be awesome. Bonus points if you can provide a scan or two. Man, I hate not living near a comic shop anymore.
If Harvey's in it, this will be the first time that Johns will have actually written the character (to the best of my knowledge), but it won't be the only time that he's referenced Harvey or Two-Face in any capacity. In one issue of his great Flash run with Wally West, he once rated the status of Batman villains to Flash's own rogues, putting Professor Zoon as the Flash's Joker, and Two-Face as his Captain Cold. Considering how much Johns loves Lenny Snart, I've always seen that as a compliment.
The most notable Harvey mention under Johns was in Green Lantern #9, which took place during Harvey's long absence between Hush and Face the Face, back when he was rehabilitated and seemingly nobody was interested in using him, or they weren't allowed due to mysterious reasons. However, he was still around in some capacity, and almost found himself the target of the new Tattooed Man, a hitman who grafted the sins of his victims onto his own flesh.
Batman and Hal Jordan took down the Tattooed Man before he could go after Harvey, which is a shame because I would have loved seeing someone try handling the dilemma of "cleaning" Harvey's soul (even through death). As Hal himself could have told the Tattooed Man, trying to scrub Harvey's soul and separate it from his dark side is way harder than it looks.