DETECTIVE COMICS #66 - "The Crimes of Two-Face!"
[In Two-Face's earliest appearances he was known as Harvey Kent, but that was later changed, apparently to avoid confusion with a well-known denizen of Metropolis. Also, his girlfriend Gilda repeatedly calls him "Kent" as if it's his first name. For the purposes of this discussion I will refer to him consistantly as "Harvey Dent" throughout.]
Good-looking district attorney Harvey "Apollo" Dent was prosecuting a case against ganster "Boss" Moroni for the murder of "Bookie" Benson. Batman was called to the stand to testify. Then Dent produced his conclusive [iece of evidence: Moroni's two-headed silver dollar, found at the scene with Moroni's fingerprints on it. In a rage, Moroni threw a vial of acid at the D.A. Batman was able to deflect the throw, but some of the acid splashed across the left side of Dent's face. A month later, the bandages came off, but the left side of his face was left scarred and hideous. Only one plastic surgeon is skilled enough to repair the damage: Dr. Ekhart, the European specialist. Unfortunately, he was visiting his brother in Germany when the war broke out and Nazis threw him in a concentration camp.
Dent heads over to his girlfriend Gilda's place to tell her the bad news. She is a scultress and has a bust of him in her studio. He snaps after he tells her, and destroys the left side of his likeness's face with a pair of tools. Back at his own place, he mars one side of Moroni's double-headed coin coin. then he sort of talks himself into becoming a criminal. "wouldn't take much to make me one now... a trick of fate perhaps... a flip of a coin... And why not... and with the very coin responsible for my trouble! If the good side wins, I'll wait till Dr. Ekhart is free! The scarred side, and I enter a life of crime... [flips the coin] CRIME WINS! From now on I decide everything on the flip of a coin... on its two faces that symbolize mine... beautiful and ugly... good and bad... hee hee!"
When the scarred side comes up, he robs a bank (for example); the good side and he "snatches a rival gangster's loot... and gives it to a charity home!" Consequently, some see him as a criminal, others as a philanthopist. One day the "bad" side comes up and he conspires to rob a bond company messenger aboard a double-decker bus he takes every day. Batman and Robin happen to witness this crime from a rooftop nearby and leap to the rescue. In the fight that follows, one of Two Face's men accidentally shoots and kills amemebr of his gang who was driving the bus. The bus lurches and Batman is knocked unconscious, but Robin manages to pull the emergency brake before the bus crashes. Later, Two Face flips a coin to determine the fate of the man who killed the driver. The coin lands scarred side up, and Two Face shoots him in cold blood, reasoning that "were I still D.A., I would have seen to it that you went to the chair!"
By now, his pattern of "two" is established. after the robbery on the double-decker bus, the next plan is to rob the patrons of a double feature movie. But Batman finds a map of the theater suck to the dead man's shoe and knows where and when the next crime is going to take place. By the time he and Robin arrive, Two Face has already substituted the regular feature (a Max Fleisher "Superman" cartoon, BTW) for a film of himself delivering instructions to the patrons. Batman swings into the theater and onto the stage. Two Face panics, then rushes out into the street and steals a car, but he heads down a one-way street the wrong way. A cop signals him to stop, but Two Face speeds up instead. Then the cop shoots out one of the car's tires, forcing him to flee on foot.
ASIDE: Bill Finger described it as "ironical" that the man "who planned [his] crime career on the number two, should be tripped up by a one way street!" I was nine years old when I read this story for the first time and I'm pretty sure it was the first time I encountered the term, but it's not "ironical" at all.
This delay allows Batman to catch up to him at his hideout. Batman urges him to give himself up, offering to speak on his behalf and pointing out that the court would take his record as a D.A. into consideration and likely find that he suffered from temporary insanity. He further suggests that he'll likely get a light sentence, and perhaps Dr. Ekhart will have been freed by the time he's free. Then Harvey will be able to get his face fixed an he can start his life over. but Two Face allows the coin to decide. He flips it, and rolls across the floor only to stand upright on its edge in a crack.
DETECTIVE COMICS #68 - "The Man Who Led a Double Life"
Part two picks up right where part one left off: "A flipped silver dollar ironically stands on its edge in a crack between the room's floorboards as two men peer at it!" (Again, that's not irony.) Two Face never flips twice. Now it's up to Fate to decide. "Fate" enters the room in the form of a policeman who shoots first and asks questions later. the bullet hit Two Face in the chest, yet he recovers, pistol-whips both Batmanman and the cop, and leaps out the window. Later he discovers that the bullet hit the silver dollar in his breast pocket on the scarred side, so destiny decides on a life of crime!
A week passes. He flips the coin and it comes up "good," so the crime he commits must be in the daytime, robbing the spectators at a doubles tennis match. this money he gives to charity, but the next time he flips the coin it comes up "evil," so the crime he commits is at night. He kidnaps weatlhy "Match King" Henry Logan. Batman and Robin are summoned to police headquarters, and Commissioner Gordaon reveals that it was not Henry Logan that was kidnapped, but rather his double. Logan dislike attending stuffy dinners and the like, so he sends a secret double in his place (whom Two Face learned about when he was D.A.). When Logan and the double's wife go to pay the ransom, it it really Batman and Robin in disguise.
Two Face gets away on a motorcycle and comments, "How appropriate that Two Face shold make his getaway on a two-wheeled vehicle." Yes! "Appropriate," not "ironic." Batman catches up to him, but Two Face gest away by throwing his silver dollar, which "thuds heavily against Batman's temple." [ASIDE: This was the first time I encountered the word "temple" in this context.]
The next night, Two Face sees a young couple strolling arm-in-arm and gets horny for Gilda. the night after that, he appears at her house... with his face completely normal! she invites him in but he won't let her touch his face, claiming that he "just took the bandages off today." They sit down to a candle-lit dinner, when suddenly the left dise of his face begins to melt! Just then, Batman arrives! Two Face pushes Gilda at Batman and jumps out of the window, landing on Robin. Two face thinks that Gilda betrayed him, but actually Batman was just playing a hunch and had been keeping her house under surviellance. Two Face had been wearing wax make-up applied by a mask-maker. Later that same night, Two Face returns the the Mask-maker's house vowing revenge (for not warning him not to get to close to an open flame) and burns down his house. The mask-maker's son vows revenge.
Still later that night, Bruce Wayne contemplate whether or not he should try using a disguise again to infiltrate Two Face's gang. The next night, "Getaway" George enters "a notorious criminal haunt" and introduces himself to Al, one of Two Face's me. All takes him to Two Face for a job. Two Face seems to consider the possibility that George may be Batman in disguise, but the flip of a coin convinces him otherwise. Their next job is a "good" crime during the day, robbing a double-header between the police and fire departments of $50,000 in paid admissions. Because the Dynamic Duo are honorary members of the police department, Batman is pitching and Robin is catching. In the 14th inning, the score is tied until Batman hits a home run, winning the game.
Two Face grabs the reciepts and holds the mayor hostage. Robin and the rest of the police capture all of Two Face's gang except "Getaway" George, and back at the hideout, Two Face becomes suspicious. He grabs "George's" face and discovers that he is wearing make-up. But it's not the Batman, it's the mask-maker's son! Suddenly, Batman, who had been hiding in the trunk of Two Face's car, bursts in and captures Two Face. (The mask-maker's son had been able to slip away and warn Batman of Two Face's plan.) As Batman carts him off to jail, Two Face says, "Ha! what irony! I based all my crime on the number two and end up finally being double-crossed by one of my own mob!" Yes, THAT's irony! At last you've got it!
DETECTIVE COMICS #80 - "The End of Two Face!"
The sequel to the Two Face two-parter begins with Two Face breaking jail. He quickly assembled a new "crime combine" and begins commit crimes based on the flip of a coin. The "Good" side comes up: they rob the two-story house of a rich banker during the day and donate the money to charity. The "Bad" side come: they rob the occupants of a two-wheeled hansom cab at night and keeps the money.
Batman puts on a disguise and goes out in search of clues to Two Face's whereabouts. In a seedy bar he overhears a rough patron pay his tab in two dollar bills (because that's how his boss pays him), and make a joke about giving "double-trouble" to anyone who asks too many questions. Batman follows the man, who stops in from of Tarnegie Hall and chuckles at the poster advertising a performance of Brahms' Double Concerto. He and Robin attend the concert, and no sooner does it begin than Two Face steps out onto the stage while his men curculate among the wealthy patrons.
Two Face escapes, but Batman discovers a clue in the rope used to tie up the watchman. It is oakum rope, the type used on old wooden schooners, and there is a two-masted schooner moored in Gotham Harbor. A cloaked figure observes them from the wings and follows in a a separate car. they do indeed find Two Face briefing his men on their next crime aboard the ship. Two Face gets the drop on Batman and fires his gun at point blank range. Suddenly, though, the cloaked figure steps between the two and takes the bullet meant for Batman. It is Gilda! She is not dead but she is very seriously wounded. Remorseful, Two Face gives up and accompanies her to the hospital. The surgeons are able to save her life, but she has lost the will to live because she feels Harvey doesn't love her anymore.
He assures her that he does, but as the police escort him to the station, his men drive up, throw smoke bombs, and take him away. Back at their hideout, an old warehouse, Shiv expects Two Face to continue his briefing about their next job, but Two Face refuses, explainig that he is going straight. Shiv knocks him around and threatens to kill Gilda unless he complies, so Two Face complies. the job is to steal a shipment of Double-O chewing gum, which will fetch a "fancy price" on the black market. They head out to pull the job, leaving Two Face tied in the warehouse. His is tied up but can still reach his wallet, which is filled with two dollar bills. He begins shoving them through a knothole in the boards over the windows, which eventually attracts the attention of the police.
Two face tells Batman of his former gang's plans and they head out to stop them. At one point, Batman is stunned by a thrown gun and falls in front of an oncoming locomotive. It would be certain death but, at the risk of his own life, Two Face shoves him out of the way. By this time the police have arrived and round up the gang. Later, thanks largely to Batman's testimony, Harvey Dent is sentenced to just one year in the state pen for his crimes. Also, Dr. Ekhart escaped from the Nazi concentration camp and will soon be able to perform the plastic surgery restoring Harvey's face. Two months later, his face is back to normal, and he and Gilda plan to get married. Back in the Batcave, Batman adds Two Face's double-headed coin to his trophy collection.
100-PAGE SUPER-SPECTACULAR DC-20:
This "100-Page Super-Spectacular" featuring Batman was my 18th comic book overall by my count. It reprints all three chapters of the "Two Face Saga," its beginning, its middle, and its (surprisingly happy) ending. I was nine years old in 1973, and I don't care if someone is reading this for the first time in 1942 or 1973 or 2025, if he or she is nine years old, it doesn't make any difference. The back cover reproduced the original covers, and the only thing I couldn't figure out then (or now, for that matter), is why the conclusion of the initial story didn't appear in Detective Comics #67. Why skip an issue? It doesn't appear to be deadline related, as the blurb in #66 read: "The answer to this amazing riddle of Two-Face will be found in the October issue of Detective Comics," and that's #68, so who knows? Could it be that the second part of the Two Face story was specifically intended to appear two issues later?
Replies
One "benefit" was that Two-Face wasn't tainted by the TV series which led to his multiple Bronze Age appearances.
Was that true of Clayface as well? I don't remember him from the 1966 show, but he might have been a one-off that I missed. (I'm pretty sure I haven't seen all of them.)
Clayface definitely did not appear on the Batman TV show. It is my personal opinion that both Two Face and Clayface would have been deemed too "scary" or "upsetting" for what was essentially a kiddie show. HOWEVER... Harlan Ellison did submit a script "back inna day"...which eventually became Batman '66: The Lost Episode.
Clayface was not in the 1960s live-action Batman series. Nor in the first Batman Filmation series, nor in Superfriends.
He did turn up in the late 1970s Batman series, though, several times. The Matt Hagen (Clayface II) version.
I assume that, had he appeared in the Adam West series, we would not see a lot of his changes or even of his default appearance. They did not have too much of a special effects budget.
Clayface II debuted in the comics in 1961, appeared about once a year up until 1964 (when he appeared twice, both times in World's Finest) and in his last few appearances sometimes met other villains (competing with Joker, then teaming up with Brainiac). And then he was pretty much gone from sight until Steve Englehart brought him back in the flashback that tells us the origin of Clayface III (Preston Payne). I believe his only other non-flashback appearance before Crisis was in a 1980 issue of World's Finest.
Myself, I think he was underused. His power is in equal parts tragic and formidable, with significant uses in both stealth and sheer brute force tactics. He makes a superb underling and a very decent solo villain, while also being very suitable for human redemption plots by way of the toll his power takes on his humanity.
Clayface II was part of the Anti-Justice League in Action Comics #443 (Ja'75).
And he was in the first, unpublished version of Secret Society of Super-Villains #1 but was left out of the book.
It is my personal opinion that both Two Face and Clayface would have been deemed too "scary" or "upsetting" for what was essentially a kiddie show.
That is probably true. Although I could see them doing a Basil Karlo Clayface, where he's just an actor who impersonates people. Imagine Chief O'Hara meeting Chief O'Hara, and doing the Spider-Man meme! But I guess not, and it's just as well.
Although I could see them doing a Basil Karlo Clayface...
That's true. They did do "False Face."
When I first saw this episode, I had never heard the name "Malachi" spoken out loud, so for a while, I thought that this actor's first name was pronounced "Muh-LAH-chee".
Supposedly had the Two-Face episode been made, he would have been played by Clint Eastwood or so the rumor goes.
They did do BATMAN VS TWO-FACE (2017), an animated "Batman'66" film where Two-Face/Harvey Dent was voiced by and resembled...WILLIAM SHATNER! And he clearly had a ball doing the dual roles!
Sadly, it was the last time Adam West played Batman before his passing.
In the Batman'66 comic book, False Face was turned into a version of the Matt Hagen Clayface, much like they connected Killer Croc to King Tut and Solomon Grundy to Marsha, Queen of Diamonds!
The four-part story which introduced the "Mudpack" (all existing Clayfaces) from Detective Comics #604-607 was a memorable story.
Maybe someone needs to do a "Clayface" thread. (Not me, not now.)
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 6 Next