Two-Face #2 – Christian Ward, Writer; Fabio Veras, Artist; Ivan Plascencia, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: This new Gotham legal drama by acclaimed artist-turned-writer Christian Ward has one of the best concepts I’ve heard of in a long time – Harvey Dent working as defense attorney for the White Church, a shadowy underground organization responsible for adjudicating disputes between members of the criminal underworld. Hot off the heels of him getting Victor Zsasz acquitted for the one murder he didn’t commit, Harvey is now representing the King of the Royal Flush Gang in a divorce. There’s just one problem – the terms of the prenup specify the death penalty for infidelity, and the Queen has pictures of him apparently sleeping with the White Rabbit. It looks open and shut, but the King insists he never did it – so Harvey has to delay the proceedings enough for his protege to infiltrate the club and try to find how the images were faked. Surprisingly, the first suspect is not deep-fake AI.
At the same time, there’s another battle going on – inside Harvey Dent’s mind. We found out last issue that while Two-Face is supposedly the one handling the attorney duties for the White Church, it’s actually Harvey in control, pretending to be Two-Face – while the real one is locked up inside his mind. This issue makes clear it’s much larger than just a single prison cell, with Two-Face essentially existing in a large psychic prison filled with memories of other people Harvey encountered, including Sal Maroni. There’s a prelude that indicates there might be some unfinished business between Harvey and Maroni that could play out over the course of the series. The art by Fabio Veras is gorgeous, swapping between gritty Gotham scenes and the surrealist mindscape. The ending of the issue indicates a much larger conspiracy and a masked big bad that could provide some great fodder for an extended run here.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
