The face we show in public versus private is a popular theme in literature. The concept is explored in more literal terms than usual through Batman’s villain, Two-Face. The Jekyll and Hyde of comic books, Two-Face constantly wrestles with the good and evil impulses within himself. Because of that relentless struggle, Two-Face makes decisions by using his scarred two-headed silver coin, which reflects his duality. While earlier stories have focused on the villainous aspect of these traits, later writers have portrayed his obsessions as a result of psychological disorders.

Two-Face was introduced as Harvey Kent (later changed to Harvey Dent) in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942). Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, he was Gotham’s District Attorney who became Two-Face when gangster Boss Maroni hurled acid in his face. The trauma of having the left side of his face horrifically scarred fractured his psyche. He left his fiancée Gilda Grace (who had hoped plastic surgery would fix his ruined visage), then started using his lucky coin, deciding if he would break the law or perform acts of charity.

When Two-Face was introduced in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942), it carried a cover price of 10¢. In 1970, when Robert M. Overstreet published The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #1, a Near Mint copy was priced at $12. Ten years later in the Guide #10, it was up to $84. After another decade in 1990’s Guide #20, the first Two-Face had grown in value by 12 times, landing at $1,000.

In the Guide #30, which was released in 2000, the book was priced at $2,900. By 2010’s the Guide #40 it was closing in on the $10K mark at $8,400. It took another big jump in the Guide’s milestone 50th edition, priced at $28,000. In just four years, a Near Mint copy of Two-Face’s debut in Detective Comics #66 was up to $47,000 in 2024’s the Guide #54.