John Hefner speaks at Theatre J (along with some other people)!

I've been invited to participate in a panel discussion at Theatre J (at 16th and Q in DC) this Sunday, immediately following the matinee performance of THE FOUR OF US by Itamar Moses. The panel itself is called "WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW: The Pros and Pitfalls of Putting Real Life Out There."

I'm not really sure what the play's about or how it entails to the discussion, nor am I really certain what I'll be talking about, but this should be a fascinating opportunity nonetheless! I believe I owe a big shout-out to the great Stephen Spotswood for making this happen!

If only I had confirmation about DC Fringe, I could give some advance shout-out for THE ROAD TO NOWHERE. But either way, this is pretty damn cool. Now I just need to figure out what to wear. I feel like I should be sporting a tweed coat with those suede elbow dealies.

Two-Face Tuesday! A DCAU father-son(s) reunion in "Lucky Day"

The Two-Face of B:TAS is easily one of the finest depictions of the character. It stayed true to the spirit of the character even while the origin was notably altered* in both the physical and psychological causes for Harvey's transformation.

The psychological explanation for Harvey's dark side--dubbed "Big Bad Harv," and after all these years, I still don't know if I find that silly or not--is it's the result from years of Harvey's suppressed rage, stemming from his guilt at attacking a bully.

As far as psychological motivations go, it's rather specious. I mean, really, one moment like that doesn't create Two-Face. But it was written for kids who were likely familiar with the pain of bullies, and hey, ongoing child abuse isn't exactly the stuff of afternoon cartoons.

But then we have the comics based on B:TAS, which weren't afraid to introduce darker themes. As such, leave it to the great Ty Templeton (an underrated master; dig this awesome interview with Ty conducted by our own zegas) to delve a bit deeper past the "bully" theory, and introduce a twist on the regular DCU origin:





( A Dent family reunion behind the cut )

Finally, a request: does anybody have scans of the BATMAN newspaper comic strips that ran from 1989-1991? I'm very interested to read the Two-Face story, naturally, but also the Mad Hatter one. They're damn hard to find! Apparently, they ran in COMICS REVUE, but I can't find what issues.



*I have to wonder if the network censors at FOX had a hand in this, or they were both creative choices on the part of Dini/Timm et al. Check out check out this Bruce Timm drawing of all the things the censors wouldn't allow. See how many you can find!

Henchgirl sent me this via text

"Riddle me this! What's Harvey Dent's favorite day of the year?"


( The answer behind the cut )

This does nothing to help my worries in yesterday's post about the only two things I seem to post about anymore. But seriously, I am the luckiest damn geekboy ever.