Batman: Two-Face/Scarecrow Year One [Anglais] [Broché]

B:T-F/SYO details the origins of two of the top 10 (in my opinion) members of Batman's Rogues Gallery. While a newcomer to comics might find this comprehensive, a long-time fan might find themselves let down (for me, it was with the Two-Face story). The book begins with the origins of Jonathan Crane/the Scarecrow, as one of the new brand of criminals to hit Gotham, commonly referred to as "freaks". It gives a well-detailed account - through flashbacks - of his life, and how he came to be the pre-imminent 'master of fear'. Like most psychos, his life is one of trial and tribulation, born out of a troubled/tortured childhood. The bastard son of a young junkie mother and an architect, he was born weak and spindly, unwanted by either of his parents and maternal grandmother; left in the care of his frightful great-grandmother and raised in her all-but dilapidated Georgian mansion (reminiscent of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion). His story would make one almost feel sorry for him as it explains the origin of his fear of birds, a few ways by which he would have chosen his future monicker, his dismissal from the university for his dangerous teaching methods, and his dabbling in the chemical sciences to inflict fear on his victims. A well-compiled story that satisfies on all counts, even if to a more researched fan it comes up wanting in some places.
I personally was not a fan of this take on the origins of Batman's most bifurcated foe: Harvey Dent/Two-Face. What this story does is it tries to capitalize on the success of the graphic novel Batman: The Long Halloween, and weaves a lot of that story into this one and puts its own slant on it. Sadly, it makes a promise it cannot deliver. It does not explain Harvey's troubled past with his abusive/alcoholic father, makes no mention of how his split personality might have developed (besides arising out of his scarring), and most importantly does not explain the origin/significance of his coin. It introduces several characters that were not present in TLH, most of which - while occasionally interesting - didn't do much to help the story. Also, following Dent's transformation into Two-Face, there is a scene that gives an account of the origin of the giant penny in the trophy wing of the Bat-Cave that falls just as flat with the inclusion of Joe Coyne/the Penny Plunderer (see episode #35 of Batman: The Animated Series "Almost Got 'Im" for a far superior version of the 'Penny Trophy' origin story (Batman - The Complete Animated Series)). Because it alludes to TLH, much of that story is not included, so anyone who hasn't read it would not get the few-and-far-between references which even then seem out of place. This comic ought to be taken as its own entity and it's a shame a masterpiece like TLH had to get dragged down with it.
In all frankness, if you can find the two-part Scarecrow story separate from Two-Face, then it is worth the purchase; if not, then still get it.

This collection is another example of a distressing trend in Batman comics; ignoring the tentpole storylines which make up Batman's early years. This volume contains two tales set in the first year of two classic villiains, Two-Face and the Scarecrow, both of which originally appeared as tie-in books to the recent Batman films; with "Scarecrow: Year One" appearing in 2005 and the Two-Face: Year One" appearing in 2008, and both of which alter the established Batman comic time line in a negative way.

The Scarecorw origin story contadicts the continuity of well established classics like "the Long Holloween" by presenting a tale where Batman and Robin face of against the fear-obssessed Jonathan Crane. This contradicts Batman chronolegy as the Scarecrow encounters Batman about two years before Robin/Dick Grayson is intorduced into the saga; so how can his first appearance be after Robin becomes Batman's well established partner?

While this tale is a vast imrovement on the badly written and drawn Batman Annual 19 (from 1995) by Doug Moench and Brett Blevins; which featured another "Year One" Scarecrow origin; Zach Howard's art can't compensate for Bruce Jones' predictable and overlong script; with Crane's dull Gothic style flashbacks doing nothing for the character.

Two-Face:Year One is far better. Mark Sable writes a very taut and entertaining first half to his take on Harvey Dent's transformation into one of Batman's most formidable foes, but in the second half falls into the same trap of continuity gafs and steamrolling over superior storylines to build an inferior chronology. In this case, villians like the Ventrilequist & Scareface and Killer Croc appear about 7 years too early in Batman's career.
This tale is set around Year three, these villains don't appear until sometime after the Jason Todd Robin's appearance. This is either a blunder or disregard for maintaining a cohesive history of DC's biggest character.
Couple this with the fact the 1991's Batman Annual 14, which presented the best Two-Face origin story, is a far better tale. I would much rather have seen that tale reprinted in hardcover with new coloring than read this retread which offers litte new and is designed to cash in on Two-Face's appearance in the Dark Knight movie.

This trend of revising Batman's early years haphazardly without consideration for how it impacts other stories creates confusion for new readers, making Batman comics inaccessible to them, as well as alienating long time readers like me who think that there are many more early years Batman tales to be told, without having to rehash the classics.

When Batman comics were relaunched in 1985 with Batman: Year One, DC did a great job of rebuilding the character's history in the pages of monthly books like Legends of the Dark Knight and specials like the Long Holloween, Dark Victory, Robin Year One and The Man Who Laughs, which re-told the origins of many of the major Batman villians, but there are still blank spots which could be filled, such as the origins of the Penguin, the mad Hatter and lesser villians like Killer Moth, etc. We also have very little modern tales set during the Dick Grayson Years as Robin. DC would spend their effort far better with telling these stories instead.

I don't understand the negative reviews, these two stories were originally published as their own two-part mini-series, Scarecrow Year One in 2005, and Two-Face in 2008.
I will say that the Scarecrow's new origin story is a bit more out there and brutal than the Doug Moench tale from Batman Annual #19 from 1995 (which you can read in the trade paperback Batman: Four of a Kind), but it is a refreshing and highly engagin story with great art that reminds one of Bruce Timm's Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. The story certainly does the Scarecrow more justice than the film Batman Begins, and also gives him a new (and again better than Batman Begins) design that shows the character a bit younger yet remains faithful to the essence of the Scarecrow.

2008's Batman/Two-Face: Year One on the other hand, is the lesser of the two. It's nice to see many of the Bat-villains come together, but I felt at times their presence was uneeded since the book needed to focus mostly on Two-Face. This 2-parter had a nice origin for Harvey that was more akin to the Animated Series Two-Face than the comics one. I recommend Batman: The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and the collection Batman vs. Two-Face for fans of the character, but there's no reason why this wouldn't be a nice addition to your collection :)