heros: batman, james gordan, robin.

villans: two-face, riddler, catwoman {mentioned,} Scarecrow {mentioned,} joker, penguin, mad hatter {mentioned.}


Beats the heck out of "Batman Forever"   August 1, 2005
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Where I believe the movie does some injustice to the characters of Two-Face and Riddler, this collection redeems the characterization that first brought Two-Face and Riddler notoriety in the Batman universe.

Nigma, the Riddler, is a man obsessed with the thrill of robbing while trying to outwit Batman and Robin. He is not a killer, but a thief seeking a worthy rival in games of the mind. This collection honors and even re-establishes these definitive aspects of the character, as seen in the story "The Prison Puzzle."

Two-Face is a man who feels betrayed by the law that he spent all his energy protecting and upholding. He wonders if the only way to truly defeat crime is to commit crime. Two personalities co-exist not at different times, but simultaneously. He is constantly half-Jeckyll, half-Hyde. Again, the stories in this collection highlight the important features of Two-Face down to his obsession with the flip of a coin.

Considering that these two are probably my favorite villains, especially after "The Long Halloween" and "Hush," this anthology was well worth the price.


A good compilation, but these two really need their own books   November 2, 2007
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Another "best of" book for Batman's villains featured in a movie, this one was released to coincide with Batman Forever. Just like other trades like The Greatest Joker Stories and Scarecrow Tales, we get the first appearance of both of these villains as well as a few more recent tellings. And just like with those other books, the more recent the story is, the better.

Including the first stories these villains appeared in is definitely necessary to see where they came from, but suffer in comparison to the more recent retellings of their origins which have depth and maturity. It's nice to see that nothing much else changed though and the basic premise of these characters remained intact with their backstories (interesting fact, Two-Face's original name was Harvey Kent, probably changed later not to be confused with Clark). But other than that, the cheesiness of those early stories and the one liners always puts me off. Seeing Batman pitching in the Police vs. Fire dept. baseball game in broad daylight just does not work for me.

The book starts getting good with Original Sins, which focuses a lot on The Penguin's back story oddly enough. Lots of good artists and writers contributed to that. The last story, The Eye of the Beholder, is by far the best which was featured in the Batman Annual in 1990. A re-telling of how Harvey became Two-Face. It's no Long Halloween, but it's the next best thing and goes to show that Two-Face is still one of Batman's most interesting and tragic villains ever.

I would have liked to see more recent stuff with Riddler. In fact my biggest let down with this book is that they combined these two villains instead of giving them their own best of. The Scarecrow Tales gives us 8 stories and with this book they only get 3 stories each not including Original Sins. Not a bad collection for historical value, but way too short. These villains needed more pages. Here's a look at what's collected in this book.

The Crimes of Two-Face **

The Man Who Led a Double Life **

The Riddler **

The Riddle-less Robberies of The Riddler **

The Riddler's Prison Puzzle Problem *

Original Sins ****

The Eye of the Beholder *****