THIS TWO-FACE IS A VILLAIN(ESS)

Fans of DC's BATMAN comic books will know that Two-Face is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring arch-villains. According to creator Bob Kane, the character--first appearing in 1942--was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera". Harvey Kent (later Harvey Dent so he probably wouldn't get confused with a certain super-hero's alter ego, Clark Kent) was disfigured when a mob boss threw acid on his face, after which he went bonkers and became a dual-personality, displaying both his good and evil sides in the Batman stories.

Then there's this story from Lev Gleason's BOY COMICS #9 (April 1943). Possibly inspired by DC' Two-Face it's the bizarre tale of another two-face menace. Instead of being disfigured, He-She was--to use a term from the time--a freak.

Drawn by Charles Biro, in "Crimebuster Meets He-She", the villain(ess) arrives at a boarding house to rent a room. He-She immediately ingratiates his/herself with Maggie the landlady and a short time later, they're married (without her knowing the unusual physicality of her new "husband"). He-She dupes Maggie out of tens of thousands of dollars before their identity is revealed. In a fit of rage, He-She stomps Maggie to death, and dispatches her behind the walls of the basement along with her annoying cat. In a scene inspired by Poe's "The Black Cat", the two of them are discovered as a result of the cat's yowling from behind the wall.

The youthful super-hero Crimebuster and his pet monkey, Squeeks, have been working the case, and they eventually take down the two-faced He-She. This is a crime story and like nearly all crime comics during this era, crime does not pay, and He-She gets her comeuppance in the seat of an electric chair.

While this character may have more of an impact with today's use of terms and social behaviors, it still must have seemed pretty weird during the time it was published.