How Two-Faced can you get? (Batman vs Two-Face)

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	Batman vs Two-Face
Date:	14/04/09 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable selection of stories, covers the character's entire lifespan

Disadvantages: Little that isn't already available in other collections, bland and unoriginal choice of stories

Good old DC. You can always rely on them to cash in on the latest Batman film. And sure enough, carefully time to tie in with the release of the Dark Knight, which looks at the rise and fall of Two-Face, DC decided to publish Batman Vs. Two-Face.

Thankfully, it's not purely a cynical tie-in, designed purely to part new fans from their cash. It will be of at least some interest to both new fans wanting to find out more following the film and slightly more established Batman fans. What's unlikely, though, is that die-hard followers of the Bat will find anything new.

The book presents a number of stories from Batman's long-running battle with Two-Face. It ranges far and wide in date, starting with his first appearance in 1941 and moving on to cover more recent tales, including some from just a couple of years ago. This gives the reader a chance to see how the character has evolved over the years and how different writers have depicted him in very different ways. From cold-blooded villain to torn, tormented soul struggling with his own nature, to slightly camp and comical villain, the stories in this anthology capture all aspects of Two-Face's personality over the years.

The book is split into "Classic Chronicles" (the older tales) and "Modern Masterpieces", stories from the last 20-30 years (it has a fairly liberal interpretation of the word "modern"!). Whether this is a good or a bad thing will depend on which version of Two-Face you like. Some people will prefer the early simple tales which centred on Two-Face's obsession with committing crimes based around the number 2. Others (myself included) will go for the later, darker, more psychological stories. As such, the amount of enjoyment you get from each of the episodes can be quite variable. Certainly, from my perspective, some of the earlier stories from the 40s and 50s are a little silly. It wasn't until Batman and his enemies were reinvented in the 70s and 80s that Two-Face became a worthy villain. On the other hand, if you prefer lighter stories, the ones at the start of the book will probably be to your taste.

The selection of stories is also a little strange and slightly uninspired in many ways. Certainly, many of the early ones have been reprinted several times in different anthologies and collections and anyone who owns collected editions of early Batman tales is likely to already have these. It also reprints the more obvious targets - the first appearance of Two-Face and so on, which again are available in a variety of collections. From an established fan point of view, it would have been better to read some of the more obscure Two-Face stories which rarely get printed, rather than these usual suspects. But then that probably wouldn't have held quite so much appeal to the mass market, which is clearly what DC is aiming for.

The book really hits its straps for me when it comes to the later tales. Although I was an avid reader of Batman comics in the 80s and 90s, towards the end of the 90s, I began to drift away a little. As such, it was good to catch up with some of the Dark Knight's more recent battles with Two-Face that I had missed out on first time round.

Even here, though, there are issues. Surprisingly, a couple of the tales are only partially reprinted, which is slightly misleading and may disappoint some readers who don't get quite what they are expecting. For example, Face the Face was originally an eight part comic. If you glance at the index, you might think this story is contained within this collection. In fact only one part of this tale is reprinted here. Whilst it does work fine as a stand-alone story, it obviously loses some of its significance since the reader has no idea what happens before or after. Apart from a small block of text ("Part 6 of 8") at the start, there's nothing to indicate that this is not the full comic.

Obviously with a collection like this, it's a little difficult to review individually the writing and artwork as so many different people have contributed. Again, your opinion will depend on which version of Two-Face you like best. I feel that the earlier stories, with their day-glow colours, naive drawings and cheesy dialogue have dated badly. They are rather simple stories with no depth and very little memorable about them and this is reflected in the artwork. The look of Two-Face may have been something new and shocking in the 1940s, but the artwork looks very tame by today's standards. The later Two-Face stories, with their grittier artwork and more complex plots are far more interesting and have far more depth for the modern reader. Younger readers will probably enjoy the earlier stories, with their emphasis on action and puns, whilst adults will get more from the later, darker tales.

It would also have been nice to have some sort of introductory essay, examining the character of Two-Face and putting him into context. This is something DC has done with previous collections. They've always been really interesting to read - particularly when written by a regular Batman author and giving their personal insights into the character. As it is, there is nothing. The stories are simply reprinted and there is no explanation as to why they are important or how the tales in this volume were selected.

Overall, despite it being a blatant cash-in for the Dark Knight, Batman vs. Two-Face is enjoyable enough. My main caveat is that there will be nothing new for avid Batman fans. For newcomers who want to read a bit more about the character, or for "semi-fans" who have read some tales, but not all, this is an interesting enough selection to justify the price. Have a look at the contents list before you buy, though, to see how many of the stories you have already read or own.

Basic Information
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Batman vs. Two-Face
Titan Books, 2008
ISBN: 978-1845769567
£12.99

© Copyright SWSt 2009

Summary: Worth reading once, but maybe not twice