A Twice Told Tale
Credits:
Chuck Dixon (writer), Lee Weeks & Graham Nolan (pencilers), Joe
Rubinstein (inker), John Costanza (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)
Summary:
Batman deals with the crime wave that’s been fueled by Two-Face’s mass
release of prisoners. Gordon’s refusal to rely on Batman’s help
continues to create a rift in his marriage. Meanwhile, Robin consults
Oracle and deduces that Two-Face is hiding out in the Hall of Records.
He leaves Batman a message and investigates. When Batman arrives,
Robin is already held captive with Harvey Kent, with both strapped
underneath two thousand pounds of paper. Batman commandeers a forklift
and rescues both of them. Confident in his abilities, he easily defeats
Two-Face.
Irrelevant Continuity:
The opening narration of the issue claims once again (erroneously)
that a computer glitch, a typo, is responsible for Two-Face’s release.
Total N00B: Robin
#0 is once again used as the crux of Batman’s insecurities regarding
Two-Face, and I’ll point out again that there’s no footnote referencing it
in the actual issue, nor is that story reprinted in this collection.
Review:
Six issues of build-up to a Two-Face fight probably wasn’t the best
move, given that Two-Face isn’t that intimidating physically and the
scheme he’s hatched this time never really comes together. Two-Face
using computers to cause chaos in the city is a decent idea, but the
execution has been all over the place. In this very issue, we’re told
that computer glitches have caused dozens of cons to be released early
from prison, while at the same time the prisons are being overcrowded.
Which is it, then? If there are enough freed criminals to cause a
crime wave, how could Two-Face also arrange for Blackgate to be
overcrowded? And how long would it really take the authorities to just
forget the computers and manually figure out how many prisoners each
facility can hold, especially if a large portion of them have already
been released early?
Overlooking
the villainous scheme, there’s also a problem with Batman’s big
catharsis this issue. Batman’s allegedly overcome his adolescent
anxieties regarding Two-Face by deciding not to play by his rules, which
apparently means stealing a forklift and just picking his hostages up
out of harm’s way. I understand the idea is that Dick’s learned from
his mistakes in Robin #0, but as I recall the events of Robin
#0, it’s not as if “grab a forklift and just ignore Two-Face” was
really an option for young Dick in that story. It’s taken Dick all of
these years to finally realize that Two-Face is running a crooked game
and that he shouldn’t fall for it? This just doesn’t work. As I’ve
said earlier, the basic ideas behind this storyline aren’t bad at all,
but the execution just feels mangled.
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