Catching Up To The Past: Review of BATMAN AND ROBIN, VOL 5 - THE BIG BURN

BATMAN AND ROBIN, VOLUME 5: THE BIG BURN  (DC Comics) by Peter J. Tomasi, writer;  Patrick Gleason, penciller; and Mick Grey, inker.

 

The summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

The origin of Two-Face begins as Batman finds himself in the crossfire of a vengeful war between Two-Face and Erin McKillen! Both are hell bent on killing each other and anyone else who dares to step between them.

 

Collecting: Batman and Robin 24-28, Annual 2

 

 

My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

     Peter Tomasi is one of the overlooked writers at DC, one who works diligently behind the scenes helping build the mythos and telling some very entertaining stories. His run on Batman And Robin is high quality, and deserves to be read by all Batman fans. 

 

     Tomasi takes a long-standing Batman adversary, Two-Face, and adds more depth and layers to his character, bringing the psychological aspects to the surface. Rather than take the route that Scott Snyder recently did (in All-Star Batman) by focusing on a man sharing his body with a psycho and constantly at war with himself - - - Tomasi looks into the history and background of Harvey Dent (a.k.a. Two-Face) and highlights the key moments that shaped his future persona.

 

     The story revolves around the long-time hatred of Harvey Dent and scheming gangster Erin McKillen for each other, a conflict that goes back further than the beginnings of Two-Face. Erin has a twin who's been pulled into her sister's criminal ways, and serves as a female counter-point to Two-Face. The twins are at odds with each other as often as Two-Face fights with himself. 

 

     Add a youthful friendly relationship between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent that precedes their working together during Harvey's district attorney days and readers may find themselves empathizing with Two-Face. 

 

     There is plenty of crazy action throughout the story, which provides a great showcase for the artistic abilities of Pat Gleason. The art team does a great job with color, often utilizing a monochromatic scheme in dramatic panels and limiting the coloration to just two shades in others.

 

     I rated this 3 stars out of a possible 5.