Scans_Daily

Whew! Didn't think I'd get this one up this week! Finding internet while on a road trip is damn tricky, especially in the rural South. Lord knows if I'll even get next week's posted at all.

In last week's post about a time when Harvey became a vigilante to thwart Two-Face, I made direct comparison to the episode of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES entitled "Judgment Day," wherein Two-Face gained a third personality who became a vigilante known as "The Judge."

I've already complained on why I hated the Judge for botching what could have been a great concept--Harvey's good side manifesting as a vigilante--but thankfully, Ty Templeton used the Judge as a jumping-off point for an excellent issue of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES:





( That makes me the good guy for now )

The Two-Face of B:TAS is easily one of the finest depictions of the character. It stayed true to his spirit even while the origin was notably altered* in both the physical and psychological causes for Harvey's transformation.

The psychological explanation for Harvey's dark side--dubbed "Big Bad Harv," and after all these years, I still don't know if I find that silly or not--is it's the result from years of Harvey's suppressed rage, stemming from his guilt at attacking a bully.

As far as psychological motivations go, it's rather specious. I mean, really, one moment like that doesn't create Two-Face. But it was written for kids who were likely familiar with the pain of bullies, and hey, ongoing child abuse isn't exactly the stuff of afternoon cartoons.

But then we have the comics based on B:TAS, which weren't afraid to introduce darker themes. As such, leave it to the great Ty Templeton (an underrated master; dig this awesome interview with Ty conducted by our own zegas) to delve past the "bully" theory, and introduce a twist on the regular DCU origin:





( A Dent family reunion behind the cut )

Finally, a request: does anybody have scans of the BATMAN newspaper comic strips that ran from 1989-1991? I'm very interested to read the Two-Face story, naturally, but also the Mad Hatter one. They're damn hard to find! Apparently, they ran in COMICS REVUE, but I can't find what issues.




*I have to wonder if the network censors at FOX had a hand in this, or they were both creative choices on the part of Dini/Timm et al. Check out check out this Bruce Timm drawing of all the things the censors wouldn't allow. See how many you can find!