Out of Batman’s entire rogue’s gallery of villains, Two Face appears to be a character that writers enjoy sinking their teeth into for a good story. Paul Jenkins got a good running start with Batman: Jekyll & Hyde (DC, 2008), but he should have left his incisors in for a bit longer.
The mini-series (compiled in this handy dandy graphic novel) explores the very nature of duality in Harvey Dent (who turned into Two Face. And if that’s a spoiler, you’ve been under a rock since Batman Forever) as well as the human side of Batman: Bruce Wayne.
Wayne Enterprises is funding a scientific study on duality. A seemingly sensible scientist finds a way to split the inherent double nature of all sentient beings and isolate one of them, killing off the other.
In the meantime, Harvey is losing a life-long battle with his other half (and not necessarily the better one). Through a series of stark and nostalgic flashbacks (drawn to perfection by the enigmatic Jae Lee), the reader discovers that Harvey had a serious problem with split personality disorder long before a beaker full of acid made the issue more apparent. The maniac meets up with the scientist and hatches a plan. Batman is kidnapped and drugged in an altruistic effort to let the real victor emerge triumphantly from his psyche. Heavy subject matter for a comic, indeed.
While Two Face has been portrayed in past fare as a relentless lunatic with no real personality conflict or a sharply dressed sociopath with a balance between both inhabitants, this book had me off the ground and running. Comparisons to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as well as duality have been obvious for so long (throughout the series of the comic) that it’s about time someone took a crack at exploring it. The shame of it all is that the book peters out at the end with a climax and conclusion that could have been a hell of a lot better.
I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but let’s just say that Jenkins didn’t just take a page from the last story arc in Fight Club, he ripped a handful of them out of the script and tried to hide it. Shame on you, Jenkins! Bad Jenkins! There’s not a Fight Club fanatic in the world who won’t catch it, and perhaps that particular plot twist has been done before (and apparently will be done again, many times over), but David Fincher owns that moment for my generation. Pathetic.
A great plot, great artwork and some soul-searching dialogue fell to pieces in two pages worth of panels. It ruined it. At the risk of exploring my own duality, I had a distinct Frosted Mini Wheats moment: the grown-up in me who read comic books groaned in disgust, while the kid in me couldn’t have cared less and enjoyed the story anyway. Maybe Mr. Jenkins spent all of his creative juices too soon instead of pacing the story along the way he should have. The grown-up won the argument, and if I had it to do over, I would have sat out reading Jekyll & Hyde.
You can find Batman: Jekyll & Hyde at Queen City Comics and Talking Leaves Books' two locations in the city.
All this week Tom Waters will be reviewing Batman graphic novels on the way to Friday's release of Batman's The Dark Knight playing locally at Dipson Market Arcade Film & Arts.