Batman: El Ojo del Observador - Crimen y Castigo

Batman One-Shots

by J.M. DeMatteis (Writer), Andy Helfer (Writer), Chris Sprouse (Illustrator)

Harvey Dent, antiguo aliado y uno de los más peligrosos enemigos del Caballero Oscuro, vuelve a aterrorizar Gotham City. En Crimen y castigo asistiremos al enésimo enfrentamiento entre estos dos antagonistas y conoceremos un poco más sobre la niñez del antiguo fiscal del distrito de Gotham.

Este tomo termina de recopilar el Batman Annual #14 iniciado en el tomo anterior y contiene de forma íntegra Batman: Crime and Punishment.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1995

About the author

Also Credited As:
DeMatteis, John Marc
Ellis, Michael
Lombego, Wally

Bio:
J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician/singer and rock music journalist before entering comics in the late 70's.

Credits include Spider-Man, Moonshadow, Brooklyn Dreams, Justice League, Abadazad, Hero Squared, the Life and Times of Savior 28.

Created I, Vampire , Creature Commandos, Moonshadow, Hero Squared (co-creator), Abadazad, Stardust Kid, Savior 28 and more.

Reviews

[Gonzalo Oyanedel]

Un vistazo al pasado de Harvey Dent saca a la luz cierta duda inquietante ¿Cuándo nació en realidad la cara oculta del ex fiscal? Una historia concebida como respaldo promocional para la película "Batman Forever" (1995) que Jean-Marc DeMatteis aprovecha con astucia para exponer la psicología del personaje junto, a un efectivo y dinámico trazo de Scott McDaniel. Para guardar y releer.

[Your_Average_Magical_Girls_Fan]

Very good psychological story about Two Face and his inner demons. Well Done, J.M.De Matteis. I'll forgive you for the boredom syndrome you gave me with Shamballa.

[Melia Glubka]

3.5 really great on some pages but .. not so much on others

[Rob Vitagliano]

I enjoyed this Two Face origin story more than I thought I would. This isn't just about how he got the scars, it delves into the break in his psyche and why it's there in the first place, and it also has an ending that surprised me, especially since the tone of the whole book is much darker than I expected. I read The Riddler entry to this series when I was much younger, and while that was dark as well, it wasn't as menacing as this one was.

The art is hard to describe, there are some panels that I can't quite tell what's going on, but there are some that convey far more than what you can literally see in the illustration. Batman looks terrific in this one, and the lightning storm backdrop adds some tension as well.

[JD Comics]

Two-Face: Crime and Punishment, written by J.M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Scott McDaniel, is a one-shot released in 1995 in prestige format as promotional material for the movie Batman Forever. This story builds upon what was revealed in Batman Annual 14, i.e., Two-Face’s split personality did not come about because of the acid that ruined his face. Instead, his split personality was a result of childhood trauma caused by his abusive father. While this story is not as good as Batman Annual 14, it still serves as a good character study of Two-Face. What I enjoyed the most were Two-Face’s inner monologues, providing us with a deeper understanding of his psyche. This approach is reminiscent of what Darwyn Cooke did in Batman: Ego.

My Batman Collected Editions Instagram page

[Nico D.]

If I had to describe this story in one word it would be “competent.” It’s a Harvey Dent story and it’s satisfactory enough at being one. There’s some interesting things in relation to Harvey and his father, but nothing truly groundbreaking. The art is passable, the writing is fine and the length is short. There was nothing to really dislike about this one, but also nothing that really grabbed me either. Recommended mostly for the most absolute die hard Dent fans (I know you’re out there.)

I will kudos the cover though. Absolutely love the cover art for this and wish Two-Face’s other… er, face, was depicted like this inside the actual book itself.

[Elliot]

I like the art for this story is really nice, and the fleshing out of Harvey Dent's abusive childhood is pretty well handled but I really didn't like the ending.

[Patricia]

Fue la historia que más me gustó hasta ahora de todas las que leí en esa colección.

[Sotofunkdamental]

Historia entretenida de Dos Caras que aborda su infancia y personalidades múltiples.

[Kamil Henri]

3/10

[Tori]

4,5⭐
Hasta ahora mi tomo favorito.
Que buen personaje que es Harvey, y amo los paralelismos ente el y Bruce✨

[Goatllama]

Recommended review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cinnamon]

Poor Harvey

[CloverOkamil]

(8.5/10)

De todos os vilões do Batman, O Duas Caras é o vilão que sempre me interessou. Mesmo antes de ler qualquer quadrinho eu sempre o achei interessante tanto como conceito psicológico quanto em design (q possui uma simplicidade magnifica). Depois de ler algumas histórias -principalmente "Eye of the Beholder"- o meu apreço pelo personagem aumentou. Harvey Dent é o melhor vilão do Batman a nível narrativo-simbólico e psicológico; Um garoto que era agredido pelo pai -onde a moeda do pai decidia se ele iria apanhar e ser um mau garoto ou ser poupado- cresce, vira um advogado justo para no fim ter seu rosto desfigurado e seus traumas manifestados permanentemente em uma dissociação de personalidade talvez irreversível.
ISSO É UM PUTA DE UM CONCEITO
E Crime and Punishment é a história q melhor desenvolve o conceito a nível de roteiro. J. M. DeMatteis tem uma técnica que me fascina, ele usa os balões de narração para apresentar diferentes mentes/emoções de um personagem no mesmo quadro. Essa técnica já tinha sido usado excelentemente em "A Última Caçada de Kraven" e DeMatteis conseguiu adaptar o estilo para uma história do Duas Caras. A história é narrada por três personagens diferentes: Harvey (que aqui é uma representação poética da racionalidade humana e da sensação de aprisionamento) ; Duas Caras (que aqui é uma pulsão destrutiva encarnada, violenta, abusiva, que usa da vingança como uma destruição simbólica de toda a vida) e o próprio Batman (que ao mesmo tempo é um personagem aparte e um equivalente simbólico da justiça de Harvey). DeMatteis possui uma prosa que aproveita as dissonâncias e consonâncias dos narradores para transmitir a estética/subjetividade de alguém fragmentado. Harvey está em um ciclo onde sua contraparte comete um crime, Harvey se pune e se despreza mentalmente, Duas Caras o atormenta e realça sua condição contraditória, Batman o prende para no fim Harvey ser o alfa e o omega de seu crime. Ele é tanto o criminoso, o advogado, o juiz e o carrasco, um inferno simbólico q para mim sintetiza todo o clima amaldiçoado de Gotham e alcança o sublime estético (que para mim é a definição de uma obra nota 10).
A quadrinização da obra é excelente, ela se aproveita do formato para criar layouts simbólicos com uma excelente diagramação, que realça os temas, as rimas visuais e cria um ritmo envolvente.

Apesar do texto e quadrinização excelente, Crime and Punishment n chega a ser uma obra nota 10 por um motivo: O traço

Ele n é ruim, entretanto ele se inspira muito no estilo image que reinou nos anos 90 e possuí o mesmo problema de muitos trabalhos gráficos deste estilo: É uma arte travada e pouco versátil. O estilo image foca tanto no impacto das poses que chega a um ponto q fica engessado, com personagens truncados e repetitivos tanto na anatomia quanto expressividade.
A arte aqui em específico n é tão monoexpressiva quanto a de outros artistas, há alguns quadros e splash pages q possuem carga dramática, mas ela n me passa a impressão de estar combinando com o roteiro simbólico, a pouca exploração de estilos gráficos e toda a estética de ação n se encaixam com a história.

[Nicolas]

A good dissection of what makes Two-Face tick. Hella dark though.

I had the chance to interview author J.M. DeMatteis for the All the Books Show on his long career in the industry: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/of...

[Mike]

Builds on the child abuse backstory established for Harvey Dent/Two Face in the excellent 1990 Batman annual, "Eye of the Beholder." Appropriately, the story is bifurcated between Two-Face and the Batman, examining how each man's childhood trauma drove them to become what they are. Harvey's rage at his father and his feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing spill out in the form of a twisted crime spree. I probably would have given it a full five stars, if not for a particularly implausible scene near the end where Batman wears a rubber Christopher Dent mask over his cowl, and somehow still manages to fool Harvey!. This completely pulled me out of the story. Otherwise, the theme of Batman and Two-Face as similar figures who made different choices is very effective.

[Fugo Feedback]

Leído de la edición que estaba incluido en la colección de Clarín (tomo 3, creo), aunque también lo tengo en inglés gracias a alguna oferta de una librería de saldos que venía en un pack. La historia es bastante entretenida (algo repetitiva a lo sumo) y agrega algún que otro matiz al personaje, pero es nuevamente el horrible dibujo el que la vuelve mediocre. El inentendible entintado y el espantoso coloreado tampoco ayudan, dando por resultado un comic horrible que lastima los ojos. Ahora que me releo y veo la cantidad de adjetivos peyorativos que usé, ni entiendo por qué le pongo tres estrellitas, pero supongo que cuando lo relea lo recapacitaré.

[M]

Harvey Dent gets the spotlight in this Batman special. Delving into the abusive father relationship that seemed to have spawned the schism in Dent's psychosis, we get a look at the real origin of Two'Face's hate. Following a TV special about abuse victims, Two-Face goes on a rampage that would seemingly draw out the elder Dent. As Harvey struggles with his darker personality, Batman must end the villain's rampage through Gotham while trying to help rescue his long-time friend. An intriguing premise that sadly does not pay off in the conclusion.

[Mik Cope]

This was saved by the artwork, which was pretty good: dark and moody with a good use of colour. But the story is pretty poor and the lettering, as my brother pointed out on his Youtube channel is often the case, was only noticable due to its interference; lots of use of cursive handwriting and odd colour combinations made it a strain to read.

[Sophie]

I really enjoyed this. A short, well-written story with a great Batman. The take on Two-Face and the story about his past was good, too, and I have to say I really liked Scott McDaniel's art here (I'm not always a fan).

[Marcos Pensive]

First Batman comic I read, and definitely the most Batman thing I've ever seen. Everything oozes that dark gothic ambiance. With the exception being the beautiful light it shows beneath all of it. It's very sweet and very sad in equal measure.

[Chris]

Worth reading.

[Dony Grayman]

Creo que lo tengo repetido con Batman La Colección.

[Metagorfando]

3.5
Mid Art
Year Three