Two-Face? More Like Three-Face in This Week’s BatChat (Text Edition)

In Detective Comics #1,066, Bruce Wayne meets the Orghams for the first time, Harvey Dent solidifies his place in the Gotham underworld and another classic Bat rogue makes the scene. The lead story is written by Ram V, penciled by Ivan Reis, inked by Danny Miki, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ariana Maher. In the backup, Two-Face continues to demand attention from Harvey. Written by Si Spurrier, drawn by Hayden Sherman, colored by Mick Filardi and lettered by Steve Wands.

Highly toxic flowers have most of the GCPD (and Barbara Gordon) laid up with a rash. While Batman and most of the Scooby Gang try to find a cure, Daphne must take over as Batgirl to stop the villain responsible. The Batman/Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2 is written by Ivan Cohen, drawn by Dario Brizuela, colored by Franco Riesco and lettered by Carrie Strachan.

Batman searches for the sword that can kill Ra’s al Ghul, Robin hunts for the stolen mammoth and we get a glimpse of the tragic backstory of this universe’s Killer Croc in Batman: The Audio Adventures #3, written by Dennis McNicholas, penciled by Anthony Marques, inked by J. Bone, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Ferran Delgado.

Matt Lazorwitz: We’re a little behind thanks to Thanksgiving, but I am thankful that, on the whole, the Bat line is in pretty good shape right now.

Will Nevin: ’Tec in particular. I don’t know what 2023 will hold in terms of what looks to be a soft reboot of the whole DC line, but for right now, things are good.

’Tec

Matt: This issue had me a little nervous. Ram V’s run as written has had the moody, somewhat less realistic art of Rafael Albuquerque that has fit the tone really well, and with the beginning of “Act 1,” now that “Overture” is over, we’ve moved to Ivan Reis, who is the prototype of current DC house style. And I don’t know if it’s Miki’s inks or Stewart’s colors, or if Reis himself tinkered with his style for this story, but this wasn’t a normal looking Reis book. It was moodier, darker and not quite as clean in a good way, a way that fit the story.

Will: I feel like if you’re following up Albuquerque on this book, you know that you have to bring your good shit — and that’s what Reis did here. How are you feeling about things as we move beyond the prelude (as it were)? I think as we get a bit beyond the Barbatos stuff — perhaps just for now — and settle into a more straightforward story, the narrative is catching up to the art.

Matt: Well, for one thing, Ram V used Gordon to give a little recap in the story at the top, which is great for a book that has so many moving pieces. And while there was a little hint of Barbatos, yes, we’re settling into a somewhat more traditional superhero comic here. But not TOO traditional. We still have some hints of the weird, and there is still a lot going on. We have … three plots, aside from the backup here, although the backup is deeply tied to the main story. First we have the Batman and Gordon plot, with him recovering from his wounds and then hunting for Ubu’s killer. This one is probably the most straightforward, yes? Very much a  traditional Batman story, even if it ends with Mr. Freeze fighting a werewolf, which, actually as I type it, isn’t that weird in Gotham.

Will: And for as gonzo as that sounds, it makes sense and feels at home in this story — that’s what the front-end work in mood and tone can do for you. And the Gordon stuff here is so good, as is Harvey vs. Two-Face vs. the other demon inside him.

Matt: Yup, that’s our second plot, and the backup as well — Harvey doing his damnedest to ignore the voice of Two-Face while dealing with the demon Azmer. Harvey is completely at the mercy of the Orghams and their supernatural workings, and Two-Face is not happy about it. And Harvey is being forced to pretend he’s Two-Face. There is something poetic about Harvey having to act, well, two-faced, and Two-Face being furious about it. We also see Jim’s guardian angel, the mysterious young man from Arkham Asylum, confront Dent and his mob. How much do you want to bet a person buried in Arkham for years and somehow still alive is connected to the Orghams?

Will: I’d be comfortable betting your mortgage payment on that one, for sure. Another thought I had: I’m sure there’s some message in having Batman’s face bandaged and Two-Face putting down the physical mask even as Harvey’s trying to keep up the charade. 

Matt: I think masks and identity are going to be a central theme of this whole arc. Having one of your chief antagonists being a werewolf, a creature of two natures, lends credence to that as well.

And our final plot is the Orghams and Bruce Wayne. We see the Orghams knocking down Arkham Asylum to put up … something else in its place. And we see your prince Arzen meet Bruce for the first time, with his mysterious, tri-pupiled adviser warning him off Bruce. I’m still not sure what the Orghams’ motive is in this whole thing. They are solidifying power, and now they seem to have the mobs at heel and are preparing to control critical infrastructure.

We have complained about the way Gotham is always being taken over and destroyed over in Batman. But this feels … better. It’s smarter. It’s a slow, gradual subversion of the city. The Orghams aren’t going to have Two-Face driving around in a cop car enforcing the law, or gangs of werewolves running rampant. This feels like a threat to Gotham that Batman can’t just punch. And that’s a more interesting threat.

Will: It’s a smarter book and has been since Ram V started his run. I appreciate that.

Scoob

Will: A couple of quick things that I didn’t necessarily follow in the story: 1) Why was a rash so debilitating to the GCPD? I think we could have seen more officers writhing on the ground and clawing at their faces, and 2) why did Ivy *have* to go to the *old* jail? I guess it was because the current one was still covered in rash juice? That could have been a bit clearer.

Matt: Yeah, while this was fun, as all issues of this series are, the plot here was really an excuse to sideline Barbara so Daphne could be Batgirl for an issue. Which is a good enough premise, but I feel like a knockout flower would have probably made more sense. I might be looking too deeply into a comic that is written for 6- to 8-year-olds, but there are people who just aren’t allergic to poison ivy/sumac/oak, and so …

Will: And, you know, if we’re going for laughs, seems like the bigger giggle would have been Batman picking up Benadryl and passing it out to everyone. 

Matt: Yeah, but that stuff’s nasty. It’s more Batman (of this world, anyway) to cobble together a super-antihistamine that doesn’t taste like cherry flavored booze left open and out in the sun for a week.

The Daphne stuff here is definitely the highlight, which is why I feel like that was the whole point of sidelining everyone else. The growing pains of her trying to be Batgirl and realizing it’s not that easy is charming as all hell.

Will: Daphne as Batgirl is probably one of those things on your list of “Here’s what we can do with Bat/Scooby,” right up there with a Scooby-Doo and Ace story. And it worked and was a good time, so I feel like we can’t complain. It just coulda been sharper.

Matt: Yeah, they can’t all be complete winners. But it’s still fun; could you imagine trying to do an actually dark issue of this book? That would be some serious tonal whiplash.

Will: Dark Knight Returns meets Scooby Apocalypse. Let’s make it happen, DC.

Audio 

Matt: I believe it was an episode of the podcast where you said you could see a story where Croc is a tragic villain, and it seems like the universe of Audio Adventures is definitely leaning into that as an interpretation.

Will: Someone had to do it, right? Audio Adventures is not afraid to do new things with canon — we saw that in Joker’s origin, for sure — and I like the softer touch here, especially with Waylon not being all that old.

Matt: Yes! That is a great touch. I wonder if we’ll go back to some of those interstitials from season one, about Croc eating people at a nursing home, and get a less sensational version of events. I doubt Mayor Hill would have any problem playing with the truth to get votes.

Will: Croc has a more tragic beginning here (and looks like we still have some mysterious intervention in his past that’s probably nefarious) but he’s still a killer — or at least he’s a killer now. That’s a tough thing to balance, but I think the tone has been right so far.

Matt: Audio Adventures is at its best when it is balancing those things. I mean, you have a comic where a menacing Penguin knocks Robin out cold while Batman is fighting a child gang called the Burma Shave Boys. That’s action mixed with weird comedy in a way that this book, and the podcast, does right.

And the art here is top notch! The page of Batman descending into the sewers and the introduction of the Burma Shave Boys? That’s some really solid art. There is a touch of Darwyn Cooke here, helped along by inks by Cooke’s frequent inker J. Bone, but Marques has a great sense of this version of Batman and the way to craft a world that suits the tone (Nota bene: Anthony Marques is a longtime personal friend of mine). 

Will: I’m one step removed from a DC artist. Sweet.

Bat-miscellany

• For our episode dropping on Thanksgiving, BatChat thinks of the families with another episode of three all-ages Batman stories.
• Poison Ivy sends a giant, ravenous tomato after Batman and company. I will take anything I can view as an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes reference.
• What happened to the sandwich, though?

Matthew Lazorwitz

Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.

Will Nevin

Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.