I thought this might be the week where DC didn’t launch any new ALL IN titles, just continue with the ones already launched, but then I saw this one, so let’s dig right in!
Two-Face #1 (“Face vs. Face”) by Christian Ward, Fábio Veras, Ivan Plascencia, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. $3.99, 20 pgs.
I know I could easily find this out, but I don’t know if this is a mini-series or an ongoing or even (gasp!) a one-shot! I’m 99% sure it’s not a one-shot, because it does leave some things open that I imagine Ward wants to explore, and I can’t imagine it would be an ongoing, as ol’ Harv just can’t be that popular, can he? So it’s probably a mini-series, but I don’t know and, frankly, I don’t care all that much. I’m only taking a look at the first issues of these things, and then I’ll worry about trade paperbacks later!
I know not really anyone reading this needs to know Two-Face’s origin, but I do appreciate that Ward does it in one (or, if we’re generous, one-and-a-half) pages, because it’s nice and efficient. There’s also a page of him fighting Batman and whinging about how everyone’s favorite Dark Knight is always wrecking things, but I don’t think of that as an origin as much as getting us caught up on the dichotomy that exists in Harvey’s mind, as writers recently have really leaned into that split, more, seemingly, than they have in the past. The current status quo, as we learn at the end of the book, is that Harvey is completely in charge, Two-Face is locked away (in a really cool mind prison), and Harvey is “faking” being insane for the people. Of course, Harvey himself isn’t really that in touch with reality, as one of his statements in this issue makes very clear, but for now, the really crazy one – Two-Face – isn’t in control ever. Which might pose a problem.
Harvey, it seems, is part of a group running the “White Church” – a court for criminals. There’s a judge, who of course wears a long wig like those kooky Brits do (not for any good reason but that I imagine artists think it looks cool). Said judge (“Judge Reaper”) has a skull for a face (whether it’s a mask or, you know, his actual face is unknown, at least by me) and what appears to be a bionic arm, while the third member of the court triumvirate is a tough-looking bailiff whom I hope is named “Benny.” Harvey appears to be the only lawyer, but he dispenses justice in this issue, so who the heck knows exactly what the set-up is – I mean, it’s a court where criminals go to hash things out, so proper legal protocol is probably not high on the list of things they want to adhere to. On the docket is a murder case – a dude in with the Falcones has accused Mr. Zsasz of a “prohibited” kill of another member of the Falcone organization. Zsasz, of course, pleads innocence, and Harvey eventually proves it (no credit if you figure out who did it!), but in the course of doing so, Zsasz “escapes” (I mean, was he really in custody, given that this is a bunch of criminals?) after menacing a young-ish criminal who then claims that she can help Harvey out. Zsasz is obviously not done with her, and Two-Face claims that she knows Harvey is not Two-Face, and we obviously can’t trust her, but we don’t know her game yet. There’s a lot going on here, people! And that’s not even mentioning that poor Benny the Bailiff gets injured in this issue!
Every so often, comics throws a wildly stupid idea at us that makes sense in context, and the White Church is one of those. It’s a ridiculously stupid thing, but if you squint a little, you can say, “Eh, it’s Gotham” and let it go. It allows Harvey to be a lawyer, which he desperately wants to be and which DC desperately wants him to be, so there’s that. The idea of him being “cured” is a relatively new one, I guess (Ram V used it a bit in his Detective run, but I don’t know how long it’s been the status quo), but it’s not a bad one, especially because it’s so clear that he’s not. I’ve never really loved Zsasz, but whatever, and because Harvey is such an icon these days, it’s good to have another character for him to bounce off of, and the girl (whose name is Lake, because of course it is) seems like a good foil. It’s a perfectly good set-up issue.
Veras’s art reminds me quite a bit of Tonči Zonjić’s, which is not a bad thing. Spare, angular line work, not a ton of details but a good use of chunk blacks, and a bit of stiffness in the figure work. The book is a gritty crime-ish drama, and the art works well with that vibe, as it feels stripped down to the essentials. In the “present,” Plascencia uses drabber, flatter colors to keep the tone consistent, and it’s fun to check out the first few pages, with Harvey’s “origin,” because Plascencia uses much more lurid coloring, which adds a bit of depth to Veras’s work. It’s an interesting contrast.
This is a decent enough crime comic. There’s no indication of what the book is actually going to be, you know, about, but it does set up the character and his current situation pretty well, so that’s cool. The question is: is your own personality divided enough to go ALL IN with Two-Face?!?!?
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆
One totally Airwolf panel:
Another week, another single issue. Come on, DC, two a week would be fine, even! I hope everyone has a nice day!
From reading an interview with Ward, I believe the series is intended as an ongoing but they’ve only been guaranteed 6 issues, with more dependent on sales/buzz.
The way I heard it described is that Harvey is the prosecutor and Two-Face is the defense, so he plays double duty on both sides of the courtroom.
Two-Face as the Perry Mason of the Gotham underworld sounds like a great high concept if that’s what they’re going for.
Also, I love Zsasz. Shadow of the Bat #3 was one of my first Bat-comics. But I miss the Grant/Breyfogle version of the character.
I just don’t know how they’re going to do an ongoing. Maybe it will work, but I just don’t see it.
The Harvey/Two-Face thing makes sense, I guess … but in this issue, there’s no real way to figure that out. Two-Face is “dead,” so the speech bubbles all look like “Harvey,” (when we see Two-Face at the end, his lettering is different, and that would have tipped us off, but since he’s imprisoned, all the lettering looks like Harvey’s), so there’s no way to tell that one or the other is talking. But that’s not the worst idea.
I just can’t get past the idea that in Gotham, of all places, they would care about order within the criminal ranks. GOTHAM!!!!
Zsasz feels like a great one-off villain, like a lot of those Grant/Breyfogle ones. He was pretty keen in his first appearance, I agree, but I just don’t think he brings a lot to the table these days.
Yeah, I don’t know if Zsasz’s gimmick has enough juice in it to make him a longtime recurring villain. But if I was writing Batman, he’d probably show up! (And also Anarky, Harold, Cornelius Stirk, Scarface, Kadaver…)