Beyond that, the comics offer an interesting combination of classic silliness and more modern seriousness. On the one hand we have Two-Face, still committing numbered crimes and flipping coins; on the other hand we have stories like Starlin's "Victims" which could have come straight out of O'Neil's dark-and-gritty Question series. Overall, the stories are surprisingly well written and mature for the time period (and still good today). Even Evil Has Standards: The Penguin has done terrible things during his criminal career, but he admits that kidnapping "a fellow rogue" while they're in the hospital is going too far, and he seems disgusted both at being accused of doing so and the fact that someone went that far in the first place. After a month, Bruce left for a Justice League mission. Alfred and Jason begged him not to go. Bruce at this point barely slept and being in the field would definitely kill him. Their pleas fell on deaf ears and Bruce went anyway. Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Batman clearly thinks the Penguin is still a threat even when behind bars; while Cobblepot has nothing to do with the kidnapping, he never claims he couldn't have. Batman meets up with Robin and is now sure he knows who kidnapped Harvey. Returning to the scene of the kidnapping, Batman finds masonry dust on one of the kidnapper's footprints. He now knows where Harvey is and heads out, telling Robin that he has to do it alone.

That's another thing I liked about these stories. Batman wasn't written so deeply in darkness that there weren't a few moments of levity, of humanity. Of course, some of those moments were a little cheesy, but that honestly just felt nostalgic, so I can't really complain. Some of the narration also crossed that line from dramatic to cheesy, but again... nostalgia. And, for the most part, the writers delivered perfectly pitched stories and character interactions. Take a Third Option: Two-Face has to choose between letting Batman save him, but letting his coin drop in the progress, or falling to his death. He drops the coin and refuses Batman's help, causing him to fall, but Batman saves him at the last second. Jason moved into the manor after the two youngest robins died. Jason took up the mantle of Batman and was CEO of the company. But the main reason why he moved in was to take care of Alfred. The story of this issue doesn't have an actual title. Instead, the tagline on the cover is used as such. When Two-Face is carried out of the hospital, his left leg is shown to be damaged. Although, in "Two-Face, Part I", when he walked out of the hospital room, his left leg wasn't affected in any way.

This is the second episode depicting a failed attempt to reform one of Batman's enemies. The first is " Birds of a Feather" and is then followed by " Harley's Holiday".

Originally published as Batman #402-403 & #408-411 (December 1986 - September 1987) and Batman #368 (February 1984) Finally, Nightwing's return. Him and Robin interacting will always be sweet. His confrontation of Bruce was interesting, but not strong enough or expected enough to actually have an impact. He gets batman to say that he misses him, then he walks away. And once again we have the figure of Batman overlooking them at the end of this issue. I guess in a way this is the first itteration of Nightwing: Year One, and it's a solid base for what it is. I'm glad it got to be expanded later on, if anything. I'm proud of you," Bruce tells him, unsure whether or not he is saying the right thing. "It's okay." The next two chapters, "The Sound of Silence" and "The Ghost of Masahiko Tahara" are amusing-enough standalones that don't add much to the emotional through-line of the new Dynamic Duo, other than dramatizing their nascent partnership as an increasingly effective association.

Tropes in this episode include:

They fought side-by-side, battle after battle after battle, sleepless nights, and open wounds, both physical and emotional. The next day, Bruce Wayne eats breakfast at Wayne Manor with Alfred Pennyworth and Jason Todd. Alfred investigates companies that sell Batman costumes, and finds that every one in the area has been stolen. Jason asks Bruce what's so wrong about killing criminals. Bruce tells him murder is a line they must not cross. Jason reminds him that he's killed before, and Bruce says this was in self-defense. "If we're no better than the lice who snuff out human life like it's worth nothing at all, then, well -- then it's time I hung up my cowl." Jason responds that he's still glad the crooks are dead, and Bruce says he is also but he's not proud of that. In my excitement for James Gunn's upcoming DCU, I've decided to become more involved in my reading of DC Comics. And what a better place to start than the original jumping on point, Post-Crisis?

Batman and Robin meet up at the hospital. Batman is now sure he knows who kidnapped Harvey. Examining the scene of the crime, he finds masonry dust on one of the kidnappers’ boot prints and deduces where Harvey is. Robin says he should go with him to help, but Batman refuses, saying he needs to do this alone. Did Jason Todd really deserve all that hatred? Based on the stories in this book: no. Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin do a decent job making him an agreeable sort of fellow. I'm guessing it's the Jason Todd from 1983-86 that got on reader's nerves and sent the lad into an early grave. New Job as the Plot Demands: The therapist Harvey sees for his other personality is now a nurse who's part of the operation that seeks to heal his scars and get rid of the Two-Face personality. Faked Kidnapping: A strange example in that that the person being kidnapped and doing the kidnapping are one and the same, but the Two-Face personality kidnaps the Harvey Dent one. The once companions do share an intense moment as well. You could really feel the emotions in that scene.Firstly, Tommy Carma. He believed he was the real Batman and basically was after he found the Batcave and stole the Batmobile! Two-Face's alternate personalities would later come into conflict with one another again in The New Batman Adventures episode " Judgment Day", in which he creates a third persona known as "The Judge", who unknowingly almost kills himself by trying to execute Two-Face. Ultimately, I enjoyed my time with Second Chances. I got what I paid for, which was early Post-Crisis Batman and Robin, but I'm still left wanting. I think any fan of Bronze Age Batman can have fun with this, but the only people who need this volume are completionists and like me they will disappointed by the glaring omissions. Though "White, Gold and Truth" segues perfectly into Batman: A Death in the Family, Second Chances is nonetheless capped with a short Penguin story from 1987's Batman Annual that doesn't belong here, but is worth inclusion for no other reason than it features the artwork of the amazing Norm Breyfogle, who became my favorite Batman artist of the nineties. "Love Bird" is a slight story, but it features a moderately clever twist at the end, and at least it's short.