Batman #410-411

Batman #410-411

Originally released in 1987

Written by Max Allan Collins

Art by David Cockrum

I've generally been alternating between Marvel and DC, but in this case, I'm changing it up a bit. It's a double dose of DC, with a Two Face two-parter featuring Jason Todd's second debut as the second Robin! (It's February 2nd, 2024 - I wanted to find a two-part story featuring Two Face, and this fit the bill)

Jason Todd's post-Crisis incarnation had been introduced a few issues earlier.  From what I've read, before Crisis On Infinite Earths, he was very similar to Dick Grayson (to the point where his parents were also acrobats named the Flying Todds), but after Crisis On Infinite Earths rebooted DC's continuity, he was reinvented as a street thug and fifth grade dropout. While still excitable and eager to prove himself, he has more of a violent side to him that already seems like it's planting the seeds for his eventual fate. (Bruce's initial comparisons to the first Robin, Dick Grayson, likely don't help with his anger)

Two Face's plot is a recurring one for him - he's trying to commit a series of robberies based around the number two.  We get a brief backstory for his past as Harvey Dent and his time working with Batman, but he's a completely unrepentant criminal here, with his coin never landing on the good side once. (His goons, who are pairs of criminal twins in this story, make it clear that they think that he's crazy, but they keep working for him regardless)

One of his schemes relies on the idea that Batman never comes out during the day, though this does lead to a nice moment for Bruce Wayne where we see him paying large sums of money to support a free medical clinic. It's brief, but it shows Bruce's heart, and it's a rare opportunity (for this story, at least) to show him as Bruce Wayne, millionaire philanthropist, rather than Batman.

Batman took Jason under his wing because he didn't want the boy seeking revenge and going down a darker path, and after Jason learns that Two Face killed his father, there's a moment near the end of the story where it seems like he's going to run down that path at full speed.  When stopping Two Face from robbing a sold-out baseball game between the top two teams in the league, Jason nearly strangles Two Face to death. Bruce manages to talk Jason out of seeking revenge, admitting that those feelings are tough to handle even for an adult, but it's unclear how long Jason will keep that rage bottled up.

Beyond that, it's what you would expect from a Batman story - a villain commits crimes based around their idiosyncrasy, Batman and Robin figure out what they're up to, and stop them. Still, given how dramatic things tend to get nowadays (it feels like DC's announcing that two characters are battling for the soul of Gotham every other month), it's nice to go back to a classic small-stakes storyline now and then.