Review: "Batman: Jekyll & Hyde" (2/2)

[about_faces]

Part 1

And now, the conclusion of (my review of) Paul Jenkins' Batman: Jekyll & Hyde. At this point, artist Jae Lee left the mini-series for unexplained reasons, and artistic duties were taken up by B:J&H cover artist (and artist of Steps, that story from Legends of the Dark Knight) Sean Phillips

Comments

[bitemetechie]

I still maintain that if I had written this story, the brother would have been named Christopher and the twist at the end would be that he was a figment of Harvey's imagination the whole time--the representation of his father's childish, abusive and sadistic side, scaled down to the level a child could understand and indeed, they way that many children of abuse do understand their abusers. "This isn't my dad. Dad loves me and would never hurt me. This is Dad When He Drinks or Dad When I'm Bad."

(Aaactually, since I'm not married to the whole second-kid angle, I might try to do something with the fact that people with severe borderline personality disorder can become positively grotesque during their rages--monsterous, is the word I would use based on personal experience, but you know...whatever.)I would have also carried it over that no, Two-Face isn't Murray, but rather, he's the alternate who took all the abuse when Harvey's mind finally split under the strain of living with an alcoholic father and who also absorbed all of

[about_faces]

Now, see, THAT would be a way to build upon the abuse from EotB and C&P in a way that works with the things that made them work. It's very much akin to what DeMatteis did with Vermin in Spider-Man: The Child Within, which is definitely the right direction to go. I wonder, if DeMatteis had several issues to work with instead of just 48 pages in Crime and Punishment, would he have taken it in that direction himself? Goodness knows that both stories share very similar ideas. Man, why is it that some of the best takes on abuse are in stories which are unknown, forgotten, obscure, and/or retconned out?

[akselavshalom]

If you don't mind me asking, what is your experience with these things? My only experience with this kind of thing is... well, let's just say that I've sympathized with mr. D a little more than what's healthy. Nothing too drastic, but to say that I am completely stable would be a ridiculous lie.

[bitemetechie]

I'm not sure what you're asking about specifically? My experience with abuse, you mean? If so, no offense but, I'm pretty sure you want to hear about my mother's violent psychotic breaks during which she tried to stab me or beat me to death with a hammer about as much as I want to talk about them.

[robopengy]

Woof! You weren't kidding! I kind of saw the whole nature of Two-Face/"Murray" coming from a mile away, but still. But still! I'd me more ok if the split personality was the brother, but calling himself Murray just pushes it over the edge. Just to be clear, even if he never called himself Murray I'd still hate it. It really sucks that people have kept trying to give Harvey/Two-Face his(their?) magnum opus a la The Killing Joke and failing so abysmally. DC writers need to hit up this blog (or at least be a little bit more well versed in the universe they're writing for)

[about_faces]

Yeah, you totally see it coming, and yet the devil's really in the details of how it's supposed to work and how it affects everything else. Y'know, if this were an original character, I'd be more interested. It'd still fall apart within the context of the story, but still, it might be a noble failure. But there's little noble about a failure that bulldozes other great stories in the process, especially ones with themes and ideas as important as Harvey represents.

[akselavshalom]

Damn it, how do I upload pictures?

[about_faces]

LJ comments should have an "insert photo" option on the toolbar. Enter the photo's url there and it'll automatically HMTL it in the "img src" format.

[akselavshalom]

Thanks.

[about_faces]

Nuts, it didn't go through. Meh! Here, I'll try posting it myself as a new comment.

[mothy_van_cleer]

"Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me. I'd fuck me so hard."

I know the comic is trying to be edgy as all get-out at this point, but Harvey donning a "1940's Brooklyn wiseguy" derby and proclaiming "Hoohah!" like Melvin J. Cowznofski is just too silly for words. It's something like you'd see in an issue of Tiny Titans where he becomes the local softball coach and instructs the kids to play a "double-header".

[about_faces]

Yeah, I didn't need that image of Harvey tucking, thanks. *shudder*

It's something like you'd see in an issue of Tiny Titans where he becomes the local softball coach and instructs the kids to play a "double-header".

Aw, now I'm sad that Harvey never appeared in Tity Titans. Not to my knowledge, anyway.

[mothy_van_cleer]

[robopengy]

I think you've just given me my avatar

[about_faces]

Via akselavshalom:

[akselavshalom]

*epic inhale* FINALLY!

[mothy_van_cleer]

I made my own edit:

[about_faces]

WHAT IF... STAN LEE WROTE HARVEY DENT? TWO-FACE-FRONT, TRUE BELIEVER!