Review: An in-depth look at the Dent twins' saga in “Batman: Earth One” vol 1 & 2

[about_faces]

Comments

[psychopathicus]

I actually do remember commenting on the preview of this when you posted it way back when, and while I didn't predict this specific outcome for Jessica Dent, I believe I did make a tentative prediction that she might turn out to be Two-Face, or be somehow roped into the yin-yang split that defines the character - and lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. Jessica is a bit better than Rachel Dawes, though, because at least she did survive and will evidently make an impact on the series beyond 'I'm the motivation for all the guys in this story

[about_faces]

Jessica is a bit better than Rachel Dawes, though, because at least she did survive and will evidently make an impact on the series beyond 'I'm the motivation for all the guys in this story'.

Well, she'll still presumably in the position of Batman trying to save her while also thwart her plans, but at least that's perfectly in keeping with the Batman/Two-Face relationship, just with romance thrown in. I can't think of any instances with a male hero trying to save the soul of a female villain, so that alone should make it an interesting combination of several cliche tropes.

By contrast, I'm not sure what the female Lex brings to the table beyond a novelty factor. It doesn't help that her motivation is entirely shallow and ill-conceived, as she has no reason to hate Superman without some serious mental gymnastics. Then again, we are talking about a villain whose classic motivation was "You made my hair fall out! VENGEANCE!" But I think we're a little beyond that, aren't we? I should really read the Superman: Earth One books in full

[psychopathicus]

I would have thought that the Batman/Catwoman relationship would fall at least partially into the category of 'trying to save a villainess' soul' - even in most of her older appearances, it was emphasized that she basically had a good heart beneath the criminality, and was one of his first villains to reform for a while

[about_faces]

Well, Catwoman's sane. I was thinking more along the lines of trying to reach and redeem a mentally ill villainness the way Batman does with Harvey. I guess he's maybe sorta tried it with Ivy once or twice? Maybe? But even then, he wasn't romantically interested in her.

I have to wonder what story Lex's artificial life-form was from, because I don't think that was in the original Silver Age comics. I imagine that was a retcon added to make the baldness excuse less silly.

[psychopathicus]

She is at this point, yes, but remember that originally her Catwoman persona was revealed to be another personality of sorts that took her over after she had been hit on the head in a plane crash and got amnesia. Mind you, this was retconned out not too long afterwards, but at the time Batman was honestly committed to helping her get her life back in order - it's stretching the concept a bit, perhaps, but I'd say it counts.

I think it was genuine Silver Age stuff - I remember that the artwork and writing seemed like the Silver Age, and if anything, it seems to me that modern writers have over-emphasized the ha-ha-baldness bit to make the modern version of Lex look better - like 'look, he originally fought Superman because he made him bald, fercryinoutloud - our version kicks that ones ass!' I'm going to have to look it up and see.

[psychopathicus]

OK, got it. That was from Adventure Comics #271, back in 1960, so yes, genuine Silver Age. (Also, regarding Catwoman being crazy - are we counting spin-offs here? Because if so, the Batman Returns version of her probably counts.)