Two-Face # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

Several of Batman's villains have had their own comic book series over the years, some even movies and TV shows. From what I know, the former District Attorney turned crime boss, Harvey Dent has never had his own comic, not counting that Batman and Robin # 23 from several years back where all the books were renamed to the villains the heroes are tied to that one month. I guess Harvey was of two minds regarding that, but here we are with the first issue of his new series. Let's check it out.

"Face VS Face" opens from the perspective of Harvey's darker personality. He remembers the court case and when Salvatore Maroni took a flask of acid and spilled it onto Harvey's face. This led to the birth of Two-Face. From then one there were two minds in one body, trying to co-exist. Harvey always went for fairness and trying to control the chaos rather than enjoy it. Two-Face says it wasn't always Harvey's fault though. Batman was always there to spoil their fun since day one.

Currently, we Two-Face introducing the jury to a courtroom full of criminals called The White Church. Judge Reaper presides and tells Harvey to state his case. Harvey says they're here because of a man named Jimmy the Thin, a sergeant in the Falcone crime organization who has accused the defendant of a prohibited kill. He says the victim was Anthony Reynolds, an honorable right-hand man and lieutenant of the Falcone crime family, as well as being a friend of Jimmy.

Harvey explains that they are not animals or monsters. They're businessmen and they have their own laws to respect. Judge Reaper only cares that the defendant killed Anthony, who was an off-limits person. He asks the defendant how he pleads. We see that the defendant is Mr. Zsasz, and he pleads non-guilty. 

Two-Face shows some photos of several of Zsasz's victims, saying that while he is a murderer, it is this particular murder that is in question, and he has doubts. He asks Zsasz to tell the unfamiliar people if he marks the tallies on his body for each one of his victims, which he confirms. Harvey asks if he has ever killed anyone without a tally being added. He says 'never' since he feels connected to each kill he commits. Harvey asks if he can identify the latest tally mark. He says his latest mark belongs to a kindergarten teacher named Jennifer Greenfell.

Harvey asks Jimmy if they can believe Zsasz, or if he should get 'The Coin' and be done with it. Jimmy agrees and the criminals start yelling to do it. Two-Face brings in the dead bodies of both Jennifer and Anthony. The judge wants to know the meaning of this. Two-Face says that Zsasz has a tally on his body, but there is more to it. They show that Jennifer also has a tally cut into herself. Zasasz subtlety cuts himself, and then uses the same blade to cut one of the men holding him across the face.

Zsasz says he would never dream of using his blade in someone as ugly as Anthony. He grabs a nearby woman, saying he would use his blade on her. The judge warns that Zsasz better not shed blood in the court. Two-Face says he was about to prove Zsasz' innocence. He tells Zsasz that if he kills that woman, he won't leave this room, or he can let him do his job and walk out with an apology from Jimmy. Jimmy says he'll never apologize to that psycho since he killed his best friend.

Two-Face shows that Anthony's body has no tally on him, and he is also missing his ring. Two-Face asks Jimmy where the ring is. Zsasz lets the woman go and says Jimmy is a naughty boy. Two-Face says Jimmy couldn't help himself in stealing the ring after he killed him to take his place in the ranks. He carved him up so he could frame Zsasz thinking that no one would ever question it.

Jimmy pulls a knife and takes a swipe at Harvey. Harvey grabs him and tells him to be careful not to make 'him' angry. Jimmy asks who he's talking about, and Harvey says he's referring to his darker self. Two-Face violently head-butts Jimmy. As all the criminals go into a frenzy, Killer Croc is also there, having fun throwing everyone around. The larger guy that was cut by Zsasz earlier tells Croc to stop. Two-Face grabs Jimmy and takes out his coin. The coin will decide if he's innocent or guilty.

The coin lands on the scarred side, and Two-Face decides that he is guilty. Two-Face kills the man. He then asks the woman where Zsaz went, and she says he's gone.

Later on in the judge's chambers, the judge tells Harvey that this is the third case with someone trying disrupt the hierarchy of Gotham's top gangs. Harvey says this is nothing new, as something is always waiting to erupt in the city's underworld. He explains that's the reason they agreed to the White Church, to put out small fires before they build so they can continue to function. He says there is no business without Gotham. Not all of them are lunatics that want world domination. He does agree that there is a shadow hand moving the pieces on the board. They'll have to look into the shadows.

As Harvey heads home, the woman that Zsasz tried to kill earlier was waiting for him outside. She wants to thank him for saving her life. Harvey says he's not a hero, murder isn't allowed in the White Church. The woman introduces herself as Lake Cantwell and she wants to help him. Lake says she wants to change and be as feared and respected as he is. Harvey says change is hard and sometimes it comes from an imaginative mind rather than achievement. Lake mentions that Harvey has an interesting coin. He decides that she could be of help to him.

Harvey explains that the underworld is a delicate ecosystem in which Gotham rests upon. This is why the gangs abide by the laws of the White Church. Harvey is needed there, but he can't be at two places at once. Sometimes he needs eyes and ears elsewhere, and this would be where Lake can come in. 

As Lake returns to her apartment, as we see that she has a tally mark below the ear, caused from when Zsasz grabbed her earlier. Zsasz is also stalking her, standing outside of her apartment. His deluded mind hears the tally he made for Jennifer tell him that the woman is beautiful. Zsasz agrees and wants to ask Lake to join them.

Harvey is home, happy to have another successful case. The dark side within him says he'll eventually be caught, and Lake has figured out that he is only pretending to be him. The dark side asks Harvey to let him out so he can kill her and return to being Two-Face again. Harvey tells his dark side that he's staying in. Harvey has control now and he's back to getting criminals off the streets. He's convinced that once the state attorneys see what he's done, they'll welcome him back. The dark side says Harvey is insane and they'll never take him back since they have done so much already. The dark side tells him that they're not a district attorney anymore, they're Two-Face. Harvey says that Two-Face is no more.

Two-Face has been locked away, imprisoned from within Harvey's mind. He swears he will get out and soon get full control over Harvey Dent's body, and not just half.

Dark Patterns # 1 Preview

Batman is on the case, trying to track down a serial killer. He says serial killers usually know their first victim, which leads him to a a lawyer named Oakley that was tortured and killed at his desk two nights ago. Oakley's office refused to make his private files available to the police, so Batman will get them himself. As Batman sneaks inside and looks for files, several police officers come in. Batman is soon overwhelmed by a lot of security guards, as he wonders who would hire this much security to protect a lawyer that is already dead.

Batman fights his way past security but gets shot on his side. Batman leaps out of the building while the private security continue to shoot at him. Moments later, Batman is in an alley, holding the files he found and nursing his side, injured from the gunshot.

My Thoughts-

So this is interesting. Harvey has managed to repress the Two-Face side of himself and is now some sort of district attorney but for mob bosses. I guess this means he stopped being a crime boss himself, especially since he intends to return to being a legit district attorney. I do agree with Two-Face, it will take a lot for people to forget Harveys' previous crimes and take him back in. Speaking of which, we also get to hear things from the perspective of the Two-Face personality, who does see itself a completely separate entity.

We get to see more Mr. Zsasz this time around. I'm not completely up to date on him, but from what I see he's mostly used in cameos and such. His main gimmick is killing people and marking himself with a tally with every death, and that's pretty much it. I think the main reason there aren't many stories that center mostly around him is because it would just be a more grounded story of Batman chasing down a serial killer, rather than crazier and more outlandish battles like going after Clayface or Mr. Freeze.

This comic adds a new layer to Zsasz, assuming it hasn't been introduced somewhere in his multiple appearances since 1992. Not only does he tally himself upon every murder, he also tallies the unfortunate victim, and considers this a marriage or sorts, united by the blade used. He apparently loves all his tallies and the victims he's attached to them in his demented mind. The guy is so insane that he thinks the tally marks TALK TO HIM. We see here where the tally he created for Jennifer, the kindergarten teacher he last killed thinks Lake is so beautiful that Zsasz simply must ask her to his twisted collection of victims. This is some messed up stuff.

Lake Cantwell stood out, almost comically, from the start, wearing a bright red outfit in a crowd of people otherwise wearing faded colors. Zsasz took an interest in her almost immediately, even before he tried to grab her. She wants to work with Two-Face, being unaware that Zsasz is still stalking her. We'll see how and where she will fit into all of this and how her story affects Two-Face. While Harvey is in full control, he's still pretending to be Two-Face in front of the other criminals. The Two-Face side of him says Lake can see right through his ruse. It remains to be seen if that's true.

Pretty interesting set up. I'm curious where this story is going to go. We'll see how long Harvey can keep things under control before Two-Face breaks out. The only things left to say is I'm assuming Harvey was allowed to kill Jimmy because he was found guilty and that was him serving a death sentence. Otherwise this whole rule of 'murder not being allowed' in the the crooker courtroom wouldn't make sense. I also liked seeing Killer Croc cameo among the criminals and wish they used some more. Maybe Black Mask or the Penguin, since I'm assuming both would like to make sure their criminal enterprises continue to keep operating without criminals going against the plan.

The comic featured the same preview for Dark Patterns that was featured in Batman # 155. This mini-series takes place early in Batman's career and will show him try to solve 4 mysterious cases. This will be more raw and basic Batman, before all his super advanced tech and gadgets. It does sound like it will be fun.