Two-Face, by Christian Ward and Fabio Veras, is presenting a completely new version of the classic Batman villain, picking up the character’s new status quo and carrying it to new places. Harvey Dent and Two-Face have had something of a contentious relationship, and most of the time the two sides of the villain work together to control the body they share. However, all of that has changed; Two-Face is safely locked away in Dent’s mind and Harvey is completely in charge. Two-Face has used this new Two-Face to show Harvey talking a page from his old book. He’s set up the White Chapel, a place where the criminals of Gotham could gather to work out their problems in a court presided over by the Reaper, with Dent acting as the de facto district attorney. It’s an interesting concept for a Two-Face series, and Two-Face #4 decides to use it to shed some light on one of Batman’s most iconic villains: Zsasz.
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Zsasz isn’t looked at as the same level as someone like the Joker or even Two-Face, but the character has appeared in many pieces of beloved Batman media, and fans easily recognize his scarred skin. Zsasz isn’t one of Gotham’s organized crimes types, acting as more of a serial killer. This has led him to the White Chapel, where he’s accused by Jimmy the Thin, a small time Gotham hood, of the murder of Anthony Reynolds, who was found next to a woman that Zsasz did kill. In Two-Face explaining Zsasz’s place in the crime to prove his innocence, readers are given a new origin for the root of Zsasz’s killing, one that makes him scarier than ever.
Zsasz’s View of His Victims Is Twisted
Victor Zsasz was a wealthy businessman, driven to despair after the death of his parents. After losing everything at the Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge gambling, he decided to kill himself. However, a homeless man stopped him and tried to rob him. Zsasz took his knife and killed the attacker, and told everyone in the ensuing years that watching the man die had saved his life. Since then, he took up killing, marking himself every time he killed someone. However, Two-Face #4 reveals how his beliefs about killing have changed over the years. Instead of just killing to “liberate people from a pointless existence” as Zsasz had claimed many times in the past, it was revealed that he had more of a relationship with the people he kills, one that is completely constructed in his twisted mind.
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Two-Face presents the evidence in the killings, showing off the marks that Zsasz left on the body of the woman he killed. Zsasz left marks near the ears and one around the ring finger. The reason for this is simple; instead of Zsasz believing he was liberating people, he was actually “marrying them” in his own twisted way, so that their souls could all be together forever. Two-Face asks Zsasz about the marks and what they mean, and the villain reveals this new motivation, which brings Two-Face to point out that the body of Anthony Reynolds lacks the marks near the ear and around the ring finger. Zsasz has no problem claiming his marriage of souls to the woman; but he doesn’t claim Reynolds’ at all.
Zsasz Is Completely Insane
Zsasz’s belief in the meaningless life and freeing people from that meaninglessness was twisted, but this new revelation takes it to a new level of insanity. Zsasz has always had a fascination with the souls of others, believing that his killing allows those souls to find freedom. However, adding this new aspect to Zsasz makes it all a little worse. Zsasz used to feel more random with his killing, but Two-Face #4 shows that everything he does is monstrously considered. Zsasz feels a kinship with the people he kills and wants to keep them forever. Every mark on his body is a reminder of the love he found for that person and their soul. It’s a horrifying new dimension to the character.
Two-Face #4 is an all-around interesting issue. Showing the Reaper, who first appeared in “Batman: Tear Two”, was a nice deep cut for Batman fans and fits Dent’s view of the White Chapel. The Reaper was a killer vigilante, so him in judgment of criminals works. Dent’s motive behind the Chapel — that he wants to show the Gotham District Attorney’s office his work within the criminal community to earn back his place — shows that Dent is still, at least partly, the same man he was before Two-Face was able to take control. And while Two-Face isn’t in control, he’s still there in Dent’s mind, doing his best to manipulate and control his actions. The changes to Zsasz are only the beginning of what makes this issue so intriguing, and hopefully this series can keep up its so-far stellar run.
Two-Face #4 is on sale where ever comics are sold.
