I hope you don't mind a special request, but can you actually post the panel where Harvey whacks Dick over the head, just as a means of closure for me? I know he's only in a couple of scans here, but a little DCAU!Robin goes a long way.
Ooh, at last! Ty Templeton's first Two-Face story!
Templeton truly knocked it out of the park with nearly every rogue. Stellar Two-Face. A Joker that was on par with the finest that the actual DCAU had to offer. Qutie possibly the greatest Riddler writer ever known (with only Chuck Dixon providing something resembling competition). The only Harley writer that could stack up to the sheer zaniness and fun of Paul Dini. One of the few writers to actually come up with an engaging plot for Ra's. The one Ventriloquist story he wrote is regarded (by those who have read it) as quite possibly the greatest Arnold story ever told. Brilliant Penguin - both during his "dashing rogue" era AND "legitimate businessman" era. Brought Black Mask and the False-Face Society into the DCU and managed to almost make them interesting
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The Penguin issues were excellent. Excellent excellent excellent. God, what Batman did at the end was seriously dickish and unfair, and weirdly, he only ends up showing how Ozzie is still resolved to (re?)win the Mayoral election while also giving the Penguin a completely legitimate reason to want vengeance against Batman.
True enough about his hits and misses alike. Now that I think about it, were there any great Ivy stories from the DCAU comics? Maybe the Puckett/Parobeck one, I recall that one being okay, but I can't remember anything about it. Chuck Dixon's one-off was also fun, I vaguely recall. Harley and Ivy was also fun, but how much of that was due to Pam being Harley's straight-woman (so to speak
( ... )
Speaking of Ivy, try The Batman Adventures #12, the one focused on Batgirl had a pretty good Ivy from what I recall.
As for Bruce's loss of faith, I take it that he was angry with Harvey for trying to kill him and Grace during Two-Timer but later came back around to his senses since Harvey was manipulated by Joker by then. Afterall, if Bruce/Batman can't be there for him then who will be?
It's amazing, right? Templeton takes the best of the episodes and runs with it to create three stellar stories that outshine every animated appearance save for the two-part origin.
Funny you should mention Red Dragon, as I've just checked the book out from the library to revisit it for the first time in many years! Jeph Loeb ripped off a scene from Manhunter in his Wolverine/Gambit mini (which I want to talk about in the review for TLH which I'm slowly-but-finally working on), and I wanted to see if it was in the book! It's not, so he just ripped off the movie
( ... )
THE (IRON) GIANT COMMENT, PART ONE ('cuz I wrote too damn much):Don't care much for the other books/films either. I suppose they have their charms, but ther're not exactly on my top 10 list. I haven't seen Manhunter yet. It first came to my attention a year or two back, and I have since been intrigued. Even more so after reading the Thomas Harris' novel, seeing as Lecter was completely different from the other movie rendition. Still, life and time and stories I care about regardless of genre don't always mix. Business and pleasure, I suppose
( ... )
THE (IRON) GIANT COMMENT, PART TWO: I'd love to hash it out in an essay or sumthin', but that's not gonna happen anytime soon. Currently I'm working on a pretty big text about Batman: Year One (themed around questions of choice, tying in the Eye of the Beholder in a totally relevant manner to what happens to Bruce and Jim in YO) for my semester, plus some other small projects for the school magazine (which is way less dorkier than it sounds, trust me). Plus, currently, I have a lot to read through right now. I'm rereading the Master and Margharita by Bulghakov as well as reading Crime and Punishment and the diary of Anne Frank plus what appears to be a masterful giant-manga named Vagabond, so kinda busy.
I am getting a subtle hint that you would perhaps like me to write about Harvey vs. Chigurh, mmmmyes?Wwwwwwhat gave you that idea? *hurr-hurr* Do as you please. I do agree with the thing about Carla Jean. Really, it was obvious that she wasn't changing his mind at all (though I think she hit some sore points, all the more relevant to
( ... )
As far as I know, he also never wrote Jervis (at least not by himself - I think he did dialogue for one of Dini's scripts) or Croc.
Templeton did write Croc, I think in the issue right after this Two-Face story. It was a story where he fell for Summer Gleason, the reporter. It was kind of forgettable and bland, and the ending tried too hard to ape the pathos of the finales to Baby Doll, Mad as a Hatter and Birds of a Feather without quite reaching them. Even Joker's Asylum's Croc story did the heartbroken Waylon end better.
Batman Adventures: Lost Years had some of the worst Two-Face ever done, sadly. From deciding to have Tim Drake, a child, killed without even some flip of the coin, to his completely pointless and forced role in Dick's jungle adventure, he was enough to make Schismed Face Harvey look good.
Aw, I really loved the Croc story. I thought the ending was heartbreaking. If the story could be accused of being derivative of anything, I'd say it's more reminiscent of the similarly-depressing Clayface issue by Puckett and Parobeck, but those last panels give it a sad life of its own that sets is apart from that issue or any of the episodes you mention. Henchgirl even features it on her recommended Croc stories at the CATverse character primers page! As you can see, she also included the Joker's Asylum issue, which is also excellent, but it loses some points in my own view for being about inhuman Lizard-Croc with regenerative powers, but eh, what can you do?
Wait, he didn't flip the coin on Tim? I thought he did. I recall that in the actual episode, at least. But yeah, both those issues and the corresponding episode were awful, simply awful takes on Harvey. And DCAU Tim is worse than Dick, if that can be believed. "Puke-Face," indeed.
Well, in Tim's defense, he had a darn better excuse for disliking Harvey than Dick ever did, since Harv had his dad killed off.
The main issue with DCAU Tim is they really never did that much with him, and not even the tie in comics gave him much to do. I liked 'Never Fear', his Scarecrow episode, and that Dixon-penned comic where he raced to save Batman from poisoning (Dixon always writes the best Tim, no matter the continuity, apparently), but other than that, it's kinda sad his best role is being victimized and then taken over by Joker.
While I haven't read the aforementioned story, the description reminds me of one from the The Batman comic that was posted on s_d a while back. Remember it? It was the one where a lovesick Croc stages a series of break-ins to get flowers and candy and stuff so he can woo the girl of his dreams, who happens to be a TV news reporter. I dunno, it might in fact be a direct rip-off of the one you're talking about - I haven't read that one, so I couldn't say - but I remember thinking it was rather a nice story, even giving some vague hope that the Croc/reporter relationship might actually go forward to some degree.
Also unrealted to the post but relevant, have you heard about the Lego Minifures? They're blind packaged and randomly selcted. One particluar figure is called Dr. Good and Mr. Evil and it might be the best Two-Face inspired Lego I've seen. -Nobody
That is interesting, especially considering that Lego already has the license to make Batman figures. Why wouldn't they just release an individual Two-Face figure? Does their deal with DC not cover such things?
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Templeton truly knocked it out of the park with nearly every rogue. Stellar Two-Face. A Joker that was on par with the finest that the actual DCAU had to offer. Qutie possibly the greatest Riddler writer ever known (with only Chuck Dixon providing something resembling competition). The only Harley writer that could stack up to the sheer zaniness and fun of Paul Dini. One of the few writers to actually come up with an engaging plot for Ra's. The one Ventriloquist story he wrote is regarded (by those who have read it) as quite possibly the greatest Arnold story ever told. Brilliant Penguin - both during his "dashing rogue" era AND "legitimate businessman" era. Brought Black Mask and the False-Face Society into the DCU and managed to almost make them interesting ( ... )
Reply
True enough about his hits and misses alike. Now that I think about it, were there any great Ivy stories from the DCAU comics? Maybe the Puckett/Parobeck one, I recall that one being okay, but I can't remember anything about it. Chuck Dixon's one-off was also fun, I vaguely recall. Harley and Ivy was also fun, but how much of that was due to Pam being Harley's straight-woman (so to speak ( ... )
Reply
As for Bruce's loss of faith, I take it that he was angry with Harvey for trying to kill him and Grace during Two-Timer but later came back around to his senses since Harvey was manipulated by Joker by then. Afterall, if Bruce/Batman can't be there for him then who will be?
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Funny you should mention Red Dragon, as I've just checked the book out from the library to revisit it for the first time in many years! Jeph Loeb ripped off a scene from Manhunter in his Wolverine/Gambit mini (which I want to talk about in the review for TLH which I'm slowly-but-finally working on), and I wanted to see if it was in the book! It's not, so he just ripped off the movie ( ... )
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I'd love to hash it out in an essay or sumthin', but that's not gonna happen anytime soon. Currently I'm working on a pretty big text about Batman: Year One (themed around questions of choice, tying in the Eye of the Beholder in a totally relevant manner to what happens to Bruce and Jim in YO) for my semester, plus some other small projects for the school magazine (which is way less dorkier than it sounds, trust me). Plus, currently, I have a lot to read through right now. I'm rereading the Master and Margharita by Bulghakov as well as reading Crime and Punishment and the diary of Anne Frank plus what appears to be a masterful giant-manga named Vagabond, so kinda busy.
I am getting a subtle hint that you would perhaps like me to write about Harvey vs. Chigurh, mmmmyes?Wwwwwwhat gave you that idea? *hurr-hurr* Do as you please. I do agree with the thing about Carla Jean. Really, it was obvious that she wasn't changing his mind at all (though I think she hit some sore points, all the more relevant to ( ... )
Reply
Templeton did write Croc, I think in the issue right after this Two-Face story. It was a story where he fell for Summer Gleason, the reporter. It was kind of forgettable and bland, and the ending tried too hard to ape the pathos of the finales to Baby Doll, Mad as a Hatter and Birds of a Feather without quite reaching them. Even Joker's Asylum's Croc story did the heartbroken Waylon end better.
Batman Adventures: Lost Years had some of the worst Two-Face ever done, sadly. From deciding to have Tim Drake, a child, killed without even some flip of the coin, to his completely pointless and forced role in Dick's jungle adventure, he was enough to make Schismed Face Harvey look good.
Reply
Wait, he didn't flip the coin on Tim? I thought he did. I recall that in the actual episode, at least. But yeah, both those issues and the corresponding episode were awful, simply awful takes on Harvey. And DCAU Tim is worse than Dick, if that can be believed. "Puke-Face," indeed.
Reply
The main issue with DCAU Tim is they really never did that much with him, and not even the tie in comics gave him much to do. I liked 'Never Fear', his Scarecrow episode, and that Dixon-penned comic where he raced to save Batman from poisoning (Dixon always writes the best Tim, no matter the continuity, apparently), but other than that, it's kinda sad his best role is being victimized and then taken over by Joker.
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Um...John, relevant to your interests....
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Also unrealted to the post but relevant, have you heard about the Lego Minifures? They're blind packaged and randomly selcted. One particluar figure is called Dr. Good and Mr. Evil and it might be the best Two-Face inspired Lego I've seen.
-Nobody
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