REVIEW: "The Big Burn," Part 1: The All-New (52) Origin of Harvey Dent (2014)

[about_faces]

Comments

[about_faces]

Thanks, Crow! It really is a very interesting story with a lot of things going for it despite some of the more disappointing aspects.

Even though Gilda may be dead, this story (especially in the next part) established her as far more of a vital presence than she’s been in decades. Whereas she was alive but neglected and ignored by all other writers, here she dominates Harvey’s thoughts and haunts his whole being. It’s bizarre to think that this is actually not such a bad state for the character to be in, but that’s where we’re at.

And yeah, Erin’s arc is rather anticlimactic. I think Tomasi should have closed the book on her, but I fear that he got too attached to the character and wanted to leave the door open for her return. Frankly, I don’t trust anybody but Tomasi to do anything else with her, and I’d rather see her story end on a high note than to watch her become another watered-down and ignored character in canon.

[psychopathicus]

I have a weird mental image of the Pre-Crisis, Long Halloween and TBB Gildas all hanging out together in the 'Animal Man' Limbo realm, playing cards and talking about their lives. I wonder how they'd get along?

[mothy_van_cleer]

I wouldn't want to hang out with TLH Gilda, would you? She has no interests of her own apart from Harvey, she's exuding a real Girl, Interrupted vibe... not even Barbara Gordon (The 1st) seems to enjoy talking to her.

[psychopathicus]

I suspect we'll be delving into TLH Gilda a fair amount once the TLH analysis finally starts, so I won't go too deep into it here - suffice it to say that, yeah, she doesn't exactly have the most interesting personality in the world; I was just commenting on the fact that the three Gildas are so different that I can't help wonder how they'd relate to each other. Like, original-flavor Gilda would probably be a nice sort of '40's lady with a bit of artsyness to her; TBB Gilda would be a sort of upscale yuppie type (although more pleasant than the stereotype would suggest), while TLH would be... well... quiet, I guess. Quiet, doesn't have much to say, but with a real good poker face, so she's good to play cards with.

[vadvaro7]

It's stunning how much I agree with all the comments here.... I think Harvey / Two-Face and Gilda got off kind of easy in the new darker than dark 52. Outside of the Riddler (and his origin in Zero Year isn't over YET), he may be the only Bat villain not to have murdered a family member or loved one. As Talon and you have pointed out, having a pre disfigure Harvey go into eeeevil mode and do it himself was a real fear. At least Gilda is safe(?) till they reboot the DC Universe again, which I don't think is out of the question and given the new DC future comic, perhaps closer than we all think

[vadvaro7]

Oh, and I think there is a strong case to be made that editorial also decided to remove Harvey Dent from Zero Year, precisely to allow Tomasi freedom to define him in Batman and Robin Two-Face. So that "interference" can work in writers' favor as well. It's a large balancing act.