The killing dollar
about-faces, a guy with considerable knowledge in comic books, says that Harvey has had not one but two Killing Joke-worthy tales. I think he may have had at least four.
Four tales with at least one or two important aspects of TKJ, scattered among several talented authors and artists. The first two are pretty obviously worthy candidates. One explains the madness that would later manifest itself, building up for years until, during highly stressful circumstances, it led to the breakdown of Harvey Dent and the beginning of his career as Two-Face, including how he could’ve risen to power in the criminal underworld; something that was even used for a sort-of, semi-good sequel by Doug Moench. That story is Andrew Helfer’s/Chris Sprouse’s The Eye of the Beholder.
The other uses another of the chore “events” of TKJ (testing a person to see if that person could’ve become oneself) in a way that makes sense only to/with Two-Face, including a brilliant biblical reference that apart from the Batman/Joker dynamic couldn’t have fit anyone else. That is J. Michael Straczsynski’s/Patton’s/Tanghal’s Face to Face to Face to Face.
The ones not mentioned by mr. Hefner are Greg Rucka’s novelization of Batman: No Man’s land (or rather, his entire Harvey-Renee saga) and Frank Miller’s/Klaus Janson’s The Dark Knight Returns.
That first one may be a bit of a stretch. The reason that I mention it is that, well, it plays with something that was Joker’s main reason for going to the steps he did according to the version of himself he thinks he remembers in TKJ: Love. He turns to crime in a hopeless situation to finance a new life for him, his wife and soon to be born child. Rucka’s Harvey is a man (or two?) completely alone. None of his old friends and allies support him. They don’t offer him much attention or hope due to his actions (which, to be fair, is a pretty damn appropriate response), save for the occasional hunt-down and beat-down. Renee is something different: for one thing, both sides of Two-Face grows fond of her; very fond of her. That in itself is rather extraordinary. But love is one of the things Harvey needs if he is gonna have any hope for redemption, which is an aspect both TEOTB, FTFTFTF and TKJ share. A fundamental one, at that. But this story doesn’t have too much in common with TKJ, so maybe I should’ve mentioned the original Two-Face trilogy instead, golden age silliness be damned.
That leads me to the fatalism of TKJ. All hope is long gone, as the Joker exclaims at the end. In the first chapter of The Dark Knight returns, an older Harvey returns to his old ways and forces a long-retired Bruce Wayne back to the Batman-mantle. There, Harvey (and Batman) try to ignore and repress their other sides, sides they can’t quite reconcile with: themselves. Their struggles leads in utter futility, and deep in their hearts, I think they both know what has to be done if their to end the dance: kill themselves. Bruce uses a lot of time thinking about a “good death”, and almost dies twice in the first chapter. Two-Face, due to recklessness and trusting a former associate of Joker with his tools (if you’ve read it, you might remember a few panels where J asks, “What kind of bombs?”), his final heist goes south. Now, earlier on, Harvey was supposedly cured from his ailments. His face repaired, moving on from crime and so forth. But he couldn’t do anything but succumb to his inner demons. Maybe that’s why he, as Batman explains, cares so little for self-preservation: “I think he wants to die.” But does that make Harvey go as far as to do it himself? No. *And the dance continues.*
One could argue that Batman’s (not Bruce’s, but Batman’s) own demon is the Joker. That goes so far that Batman attempts to kill the Joker, but just can’t quite bring himself to do it, even though Joker continues to ruin his life with his mere existence. Batman/Joker is, in other words, like Harvey in that sense. One side sabotaging the other until the other has no choice, and even then can’t make itself take the necessary step; unless the other does what needs to be done for the other side. (And, like I said, Joker’s partly to blame for Harvey’s scheme falling to pieces.)
Someone once said that TKJ is more suitable for a Two-Face story. I can’t help but think that Alan had that in mind when he wrote it. At least that he remembered TDKR.
Four tales with at least one or two important aspects of TKJ, scattered among several talented authors and artists. The first two are pretty obviously worthy candidates. One explains the madness that would later manifest itself, building up for years until, during highly stressful circumstances, it led to the breakdown of Harvey Dent and the beginning of his career as Two-Face, including how he could’ve risen to power in the criminal underworld; something that was even used for a sort-of, semi-good sequel by Doug Moench. That story is Andrew Helfer’s/Chris Sprouse’s The Eye of the Beholder.
The other uses another of the chore “events” of TKJ (testing a person to see if that person could’ve become oneself) in a way that makes sense only to/with Two-Face, including a brilliant biblical reference that apart from the Batman/Joker dynamic couldn’t have fit anyone else. That is J. Michael Straczsynski’s/Patton’s/Tanghal’s Face to Face to Face to Face.
The ones not mentioned by mr. Hefner are Greg Rucka’s novelization of Batman: No Man’s land (or rather, his entire Harvey-Renee saga) and Frank Miller’s/Klaus Janson’s The Dark Knight Returns.
That first one may be a bit of a stretch. The reason that I mention it is that, well, it plays with something that was Joker’s main reason for going to the steps he did according to the version of himself he thinks he remembers in TKJ: Love. He turns to crime in a hopeless situation to finance a new life for him, his wife and soon to be born child. Rucka’s Harvey is a man (or two?) completely alone. None of his old friends and allies support him. They don’t offer him much attention or hope due to his actions (which, to be fair, is a pretty damn appropriate response), save for the occasional hunt-down and beat-down. Renee is something different: for one thing, both sides of Two-Face grows fond of her; very fond of her. That in itself is rather extraordinary. But love is one of the things Harvey needs if he is gonna have any hope for redemption, which is an aspect both TEOTB, FTFTFTF and TKJ share. A fundamental one, at that. But this story doesn’t have too much in common with TKJ, so maybe I should’ve mentioned the original Two-Face trilogy instead, golden age silliness be damned.
That leads me to the fatalism of TKJ. All hope is long gone, as the Joker exclaims at the end. In the first chapter of The Dark Knight returns, an older Harvey returns to his old ways and forces a long-retired Bruce Wayne back to the Batman-mantle. There, Harvey (and Batman) try to ignore and repress their other sides, sides they can’t quite reconcile with: themselves. Their struggles leads in utter futility, and deep in their hearts, I think they both know what has to be done if their to end the dance: kill themselves. Bruce uses a lot of time thinking about a “good death”, and almost dies twice in the first chapter. Two-Face, due to recklessness and trusting a former associate of Joker with his tools (if you’ve read it, you might remember a few panels where J asks, “What kind of bombs?”), his final heist goes south. Now, earlier on, Harvey was supposedly cured from his ailments. His face repaired, moving on from crime and so forth. But he couldn’t do anything but succumb to his inner demons. Maybe that’s why he, as Batman explains, cares so little for self-preservation: “I think he wants to die.” But does that make Harvey go as far as to do it himself? No. *And the dance continues.*
One could argue that Batman’s (not Bruce’s, but Batman’s) own demon is the Joker. That goes so far that Batman attempts to kill the Joker, but just can’t quite bring himself to do it, even though Joker continues to ruin his life with his mere existence. Batman/Joker is, in other words, like Harvey in that sense. One side sabotaging the other until the other has no choice, and even then can’t make itself take the necessary step; unless the other does what needs to be done for the other side. (And, like I said, Joker’s partly to blame for Harvey’s scheme falling to pieces.)
Someone once said that TKJ is more suitable for a Two-Face story. I can’t help but think that Alan had that in mind when he wrote it. At least that he remembered TDKR.