Review by Ian Keogh
One Bad Day is a series of hardcovers spotlighting the villains of Gotham and involving the idea of a single bad day, inspired by Alan Moore’s starting premise for The Killing Joke.
Mariko Tamaki’s story of Two-Face posits the barely credible, that after Harvey Dent’s long and murderous criminal career the mayor approves a penitent Dent returning to his old post of Gotham’s district attorney. If that’s puzzling in its own regard, it’s also puzzling that it has barely any relevance on what follows. A story of a supposedly reformed villain already raises enough questions without an early item making readers question the remainder from a usually solid plotter.
The introduction of Dent’s father is an innovation, and the crux of the bad day is the threat of someone wanting revenge on Two-Face using his father’s upcoming 88th birthday party. Most regular Batman readers are likely to figure out who that is pretty rapidly.
Javier Fernandez supplies spiky, disturbing art given an unsettling air by Jordie Bellaire’s bright colours. The combination is very effective on the opening sequence of a pre-penitent Two-Face, and Fernandez really relishes the horrific facial scarring as Dent hasn’t covered up the definition of his earlier life. However, at no time does Fernandez convince that Dent senior is a man aged 87.
As ever with Two-Face, duality is present, here rather subtly introduced, but it’s not a great outing overall. As much time is spent with Batman as it is with Two-Face, it’s predictable, and both motivations and credibility are thin on the ground.
All One Bad Day hardbacks are available with a standard cover, while the smaller comic versions feature four rarer alternatives, and despite being self-contained they’re all numbered as #1. The entire run is also available together as a boxed set packaged with a hardcover edition of The Killing Joke.
