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
BATMAN #313-314:
NOTE: I haven't been consitent about listing cameos, but Two Face appears, in Arkham Asylum, on the splash page of Green Lantern #117 then on the last page of Batman #312 shortly before this story begins.
Two Face has stolen a binary code from the United States for a $22 million ransom, but if the U.S. doesn't come through, he has also offered it for sale to "a certain foreign government" (identified only as "the glorious People's Democracy") at the same price. One of his men, Specs, is fine with blackmailing the U.S. government, but he draws the line at treason (which blackmailing the U.S. government kind of is). Specs absconds with the binary code and hides it in a giant prop "piggy bank" which is being used to collect money for the Second Annual Children's Telethon. The piggy bank will be opened in 48 hours. In the meantime, Specs intended to tell the authorities where the code could be found, but Two Face got to him first and had his two henchmen, Twain and Deuce, kill him with one shot to the head and one to the heart.
NOTE: The Children's Telethon isn't for anything specific, just ""our city's youngsters." The TV announcer says, "Remember, but for the grace of God, one of these kids could be your own!" Heaven forbid!
When Specs body is found, Batman deduces that the missing binary code and two perfectly-placed bullets indicates... Two Face! Tracking him down was pretty easy: he just went to 222 Second Street, Apartment 2-B. Unfortunately, goverment agent King Faraday had the apartment under surveillance, the lwmen get in each other's way and Two Face escapes. Batman and Faraday agree to an uneasy partnership. By this time, the piggy bank's funds are due to be transported via armored car to the bank, but Two Face and his men have hijacked the truck. Batman and Faraday give chase in the Batmobile, but end up getting in each other's way again.
Batman and Faraday have tracked Two Face to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. He has set up shop in the River Queen Restaurant, an historic landmark. Representatives from the U.S. government as well as the People's Democracy meet there to discuss terms. Two Face tells each of them to bring the money to a particular float in the Mardu Gras parade and a flip of the coin will determine which nation gets the code. Again they get in each other's way and find themselves caught in a...
Deathtrap: The room reconfigures itself, the doors disappear and heat-seeking lasers spring from the wall. Faraday fends them off with a handy mirror while Batman throws a capsule of white phosphorus which bursts into flame and draws the fire of the lasers. It also catches the boat on fire, but waiters come rushing in with fire extinguishers. It is not explained how Two Face was able to convert a landmark restaurant into a deathtrap.
Despite getting in each other's way no fewer than three times so far, Batman and Faraday proceed to the rendezvous where the exchange is supposed to take place. Two Face ends up double-crossing both countries and ends up with $22 million x 2. He makes his escape in an advertising blimp, which Batman is able to hook with his batarang. Batman makes his way inside, but loses him balance and ends up hanging from the edge. Two Face is about to stomp on his hands, but Batman stalls for time by insisting that he let the coin decide. This gives Faraday just enough time to slip in by a service hatch. Two Face flips the coin, Faraday shoots it in mid-air, and Two Face jumps out of the Gondola after it into Lake Pontchartrain far below.
Batman and Faraday still don't particularly like each other.
The End.
I'm going to try to put his non-linear story into some semblance of order. If you've not read this story, consider this entire post a SPOILER.
BATMAN #328 - "Double Jeopardy"
Gilda Stevens' first husband was Harvey Dent. After they were divorced, she married David Stevens. David Stevens was supposedly killed by Anton Karoselle, a man confined to a wheelchair. Then Carl Ternion appears on the scene and confronts Karoselle in his home about the alleged murder. Karoselle denies it, then pulls a shotgun off the wall. A scuffle ensues and a stray shot brings down a chandelier on Karoselle's head, killing him. Ternion is put on trial but the death is ruled accidental. At that point, after he is protected by the laws governing double jeopardy, Ternion records a video-taped message to Batman not only admitting that he committed the murder, but that he killed Karoselle twice. While Batman starts his investigation, Ternion begins seeing Gilda Stevens. He tells her that he once knew David Stevens in some vague, unspecified way. Although he didn't set out to kill Karoselle, he admitted the need to make Stevens' killer pay.
Batman shakes down a thug who refuses to speak. Batman lets him go, then follows him to the Gotham Dam where he meets up with Carl Terion, who shoots him. Batman swings into action, but Terion shoots the rope, then opens the spillway nearly drowning Batman. Later, Terion visits Dr. Eckhart, his plastic surgeon. It soon becomes clear that "Terion" is really Harvey Dent, who has had is face fixed. (How his ex-wife didn't recognize him is not explained.) Eckhart had warned him long ago that fixing his face a second time would not be possible, and now the surgery is beginning to fail. Dent kills Eckhart, and when his body is found Batman immediately realizes he is dealing with Harvey Dent. Meanwhile, "Terion" is back at Gilda's apartment, intent on making her his wife for a second time.
To be continued...
BATMAN #329 - "Twice Dies the Batman!"
Batman's investigation into the identity of Anton Karoselle is going nowhere. Meanwhile, "Carl Terion: continues to court Gilda Stevens... until his plastic suegery begins to "wear off." (I don't think that's the way plastic surgery works IRL.) Studying old newspaper clippings, Batman suddenly has an epiphany that Anton Karoselle must be Boss Moroni! Maroni's death in DC Super-Stars #14 is referenced, but it is said that he died when the shot he fired at Two Face's coin ricocheted into him, whereas in the story itself he dies of a heart attack. In either case he survived, but in this version the bullet crippled him. He hired Dr. Eckhart to change his face and fingerprints, then set out to get his revenge on Harvey Dent by killing his ex-wife's second husband. (Yeah, it doesn't really make sense to me, either.) Anyway, that what Two Face meant by killing Karoselle twice: once as Moroni, once as Karoselle.
Batman seeks help from Gilda. Two Face is keeping her apartment under surveillance. One night, "Boss Moroni" shows up (actually Batman in disguise... the kind he puts on over his mask and cowl). "Moroni" forces Gilda into a car and Two Face follows. Batman leads him directly to Harvey Dent's old office in the court house, where he has Alfred project footage of his disfigurement. (Where he got this footage is not explained, but I assume it is from True Crime Playhouse starring Paul Sloane.) After that, Gilda talks him into giving himself up for treatment. The End.
Trivia: Gilda Dent Stevens maiden name was Gold.
TWO FACE EXTRA!
A facsimile edition of Detective Comics #66 shipped TODAY.
In addition to the main story, you also get ...
I'm going to incorporate my copy into a little display along with my Two Face coin replica.
WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #276:
Disclaimer: I do not have this comic in my collection.
According to my sources, Two Face is supposed to be in it, but I have been unable to verify that assertion. If someone could either confirm or refute, I'd appreciate it.
Both Two-Face and the Joker are seen in Arkham Asylum as Doctor Double X escapes.
Oooh, you should do "Crimes of Doctor Double X" next! ;-)
Be my guest. ;-)
BATMAN #346 - "Half a Hero..."
Two Face uses a special coin to hypnotize his guards and escape from Arkham Asylum. He had applied to be transferred to a halfway house, but the parole board tirned down his request so he built a "Halfway House" of his own. While in Arkham, he had been working with Margo, the Arkham librarian. He had also somehow managed to have certin inmates paroled, and his gang now consists equally of well-cultured "gentlemen" and ill-mannered thugs. Batman trails Two Face and enters his...
Deathtrap: ... the house itself.
DETECTIVE COMICS #513 - "...is Better than None!"
Two Face keeps Batman prisoner for days on end, flipping the coin once each day to determine whether Batman ilves or dies. So far the coin has landed "good" side up with each toss, but it's only a matter of time. Two Face himself has developed a split personality, and sometimes the "sides" aren't aware of what their respective half is up to. One night, Two Face takes both his gangs out to rob Duo Records (a splitting image of the Capitol Records building in L.A.), leaving Batman alone with Margo. She gives him his evening meal. little knowing that he had been biding his time until Two Face and his gang were gone.
It is Robin who thwarts the robbery and captures the gang(s), but Two Face escapes and returns to his Halfway House. He flips the coin again and this time it lands "bad" side up. He approaches Batman's cell just as Batman is manipulating bed slats to jimmy a steam pipe. The pipe explodes, scalding Batman's face. When Two Face sees that Batman's face now matches his, hi impulsively frees him. But ealier, Batman had used the steam to melt his green plastic dinner tray into a half-mask mimicking Two Face's appearance. Robin arrives just in time for the explanation and the wrap-up.
DETECTIVE COMICS #526 - "All My Enemies Against Me!"
Two Face has joined a group of 17 of Batman's villains whose objective is to kill Batman before King Croc gets a chance to do it himself. He is grouped with Clayface, Killer Moth and the Gentleman Ghost, but when they go to rendezvous with Joker late in the story, they are met by Batgirl and Robin who quickly take them out.
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