Customer Reviews

Batman: Jekyll & Hyde

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Something very strange is going on, something horrible and frightening beyond belief. Something is turning normal people into seemingly conscience-less murderers. And when Two-Face escapes from Arkham Asylum, Batman quickly realizes that he is more than a little involved. A scientist has created a new formula which allows the release of the recipient's dark side, and Two-Face wants to test it on a very special guinea pig - in fact, a guinea bat!

Overall, I found this to be an interesting read. In feel, it is very dark, with a good deal of death and dismemberment. But, I liked the story's probing into the dark side of the mind - what it means but also what it doesn't. I think that this is a very interesting addition to the Batman canon, and I highly recommend it.

It is stories like these where the Dark Knight indeed earns his foreboding appellation, with extreme emphasis on the dark side. For people who prefer lighter tales, this may not be for them. Many brutal murders occur, replete with a glut of gory and gritty details, with the macabre mood consequently compounded by the demented detour into the depths of the disturbed psyches of Batman and Harvey Dent. Two-Face tales do tend to explore the close connection and severe psychological similarities shared by these two former friends turned ardent adversaries, and this one is certainly no exception. The Jekyll and Hyde theme couldn't be more apropos, being greatly exemplified by both men, but in this case centering more on Batman's duality and the sometimes recurring question of whom really is the mask, Batman or Bruce Wayne. Being two peas in the same perverse pod, no one understands this more than Harvey, and with the aid of an experimental psychotropic drug, devilishly decrees "Welcome to my world" as he further plunges Batman into the deep hidden recesses of his own marred mind, opening a portal into personal purgatory that he may never be able to close again. We continue to see the pain and anguish that he has endured due to the tragic deaths of his parents, and how this has prevented him from allowing any semblence of love or happiness from entering into his life. One even starts to wonder if his tenuous grip on sanity could be just one Harvey coin toss away. On a larger scale, we are all living on the edge, because according to this there is a bit of Jekyll and Hyde in every one of us. While some of the Two-Face themes may have been rehashed, it is always intriguing to read a fresh take on this fascinating and complex character, and in the process illustrate once again how he just may be the most sickly psychotic and thus feared foe among all of Batman's rogues.

Ugg. Groan. Haven't we read these stories before? Nothing new here. The art is good but then a few issues later it's not. I hate when comics are a series and the artist gets switched out after a couple issues. The story is the same ol' same ol. Two Face breaks out of prison and comes up with the dumbest way to take over Gotham. Is he putting chemicals in the water? Hrrm. Many people are dying and we're supposed to figure out the mystery with Batman guiding us through the streets of Gotham. Throw in a some heavy allusions to Jekyll & Hyde and you've got a disappointing and boring Two Face retread story. It's the same thing we've seen a dozen times before. I'm annoyed that I even bought it. It's not good.