my favorite Two-Face story ever, plus a great interview with Greg Rucka

[thehefner]

In the first Two-Face Tuesday post since Fresno three weeks ago, I've posted what I consider to be the definitive Harvey Dent story, my gold standard for everything related to this character up at about_faces.

I strongly resisted the urge to just post the whole damn thing here too. Besides being my favorite Two-Face comic, it's just plain one of my favorite comics period, Batman or otherwise. If you haven't read it, I urge you to check it out.

As a side note, I'm really pleased with the edit I did for the scanning. I cut out an entire subplot (which is honestly the weakest part of the whole story), and the result is even leaner and tighter than the actual issue.



In other (more general) comic news, Comics Alliance has a fascinating interview with Greg Rucka. Normally I hate interviews because they're all full of pabalum and bullshit, especially in an industry where everyone is so afraid to speak their minds or discuss comics critically in any way but to boost sales. Rucka's is a breath of fresh air on a number of front, from how he talks about Wonder Woman...

Diana – there are people who hate her. I mean, they just hate the concept of a Wonder Woman. They really do. You've seen – I don't even want to call it "fan-based art" – but I'm sure everybody's seen the various images out there. That speaks to something going on. Somebody is real scared of her. He's really afraid of her. And I don't know why. I don't understand where that comes from. So there's that. And people want to simplify her, so they go, she's Superman with tits. Well, no. She's not. It's a completely different background...

... to the ever-present problem of dwindling readership in comics and what should be done about it:

I'd put comics back in the spinner racks and 7-Elevens and grocery stores and Walmart. That's what's killing us. I was talking to Dan DiDio today -- the best-selling Marvel or DC book today is going to sell a quarter of a million. That's nothing, guys. That's nothing. If a TV show has a quarter of a million people watching it, it would not make it through the second episode. It might not even make it through it's first broadcast. I'm serious. I'm not joking.

Look at manga -- it has millions of readers. Europeans comics, in the millions. What the hell is going on in this country with our comics that we can't break out?

I'd sorta fallen out of love with Rucka's with stuff like OMAC PROJECT, but this interview--coupled with his recent work--has reminded me just how much of a loss it is that he's leaving DC for the foreseeable future. And not just because I want my Renee Montoya and Two-Face reunion/rematch, damn it!

Comments

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

And I don't buy that she's never had sex, that's a really ridiculous thing that fans have somehow stapled onto her. I have the suspicion most people who think Wonder Woman has never had sex hasn't had sex they haven't payed cash up front for.

To be fair, it's been the official party line of DC editorial for quite a while now, to the point that entire in-canon stories have been devoted to it, but I discount those on the grounds that none of Wonder Woman's "creators," outside of William Moulton Marston, are anything more than legally licensed fanfic writers for her, so the only thing that makes their interpretation more valid than mine is that they've been paid for their opinions.

[kingrockwell]

to the point that entire in-canon stories have been devoted to it

Uh, which ones? pretty much every creator who's worked with her i've seen discuss the issue has stated that she isn't, btw

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

By his own admission, the entire reason that Phil Jiminez created Trevor Barnes was to be "the perfect man" to be Diana's sexual first, and pretty much every single creator I can think of who's discussed it has said that she IS a virgin.

[kingrockwell]

Ugh, Trevor. There was nothing perfect about him. Besides, Diana was involved with Rama for a short time before him.

Jimenez is an okay guy, but he's always had funny ideas about things. I know Simone has said and Rucka prolly would say the virgin thing is ridiculous.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Gail and Greg are shining diamonds of good in a sea of crapulent Fail, when it comes to Diana's portrayal, and I say this as someone who really DIDN'T like Gail's portrayal of Diana's love life, not in the least because there simply was no way to rescue Tom Tresser from the Scrappy heap, and the fact that Gail even tried to do so pretty much ruined her run.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

In fact, here's an article on it, albeit badly out of date by now, that points out what bullshit it is that Diana *has* to stay a virgin.