Nora Fries is revived for the first time in years much to the shock of Batman. Minor spoilers for Detective Comics #1014 follow.
Detective Comics over the past couple of issues has returned to the quality that Peter J. Tomasi’s run began with. By fully bringing Mister Freeze into the fold, the story has become interesting once again and Doug Mahnke’s art is fantastic like always. Now, by bringing Nora Fries into the fold in a way that hasn’t been done before, the story is set to blaze its own trail. This isn’t a perfect issue, but it works to develop an idea that is decades in the making.
To start, the story idea to resurrect Nora Fries is a really smart idea. It’s been done once before to middling results. However, to tell a different version of the story now is as good a time as any to do it. What this issue does great in he regards to the idea though is to establish the resentment that Nora has toward Victor for freezing her. Yes, she’s going along with him relatively quickly, but it never feels like they are ever on the same side. It feels like she’s simply using him. This is never explicitly stated in the issue, but due to how they interact with each other, as well as how the issue ends, this is what it feels like. Even if it isn’t the case, the back and forth between Nora and Victor is the highlight of the issue.
As for Batman, he doesn’t show up much in this issue, but when does, his part to play regards the women that he’s trying to help. This isn’t an action-heavy issue as it’s more about the relationship between Nora and Victor, as well as Batman’s healing study. This is a good thing because it slows the pace of the issue down enough to make almost land. Whether it be Batman’s struggle to help these women or the passion between Nora and Victor, almost everything comes across well because of that slow pace.
A lot what works in this issue comes down to Doug Mahnke’s art though. It’s a lot cleaner than has been over the past couple issues. While the grittiness present in those issues worked there, it wouldn’t have worked in this issue. This issue is about passion and love, or possible lack thereof, and it needs to be clean in order for that to come across. This is exactly what Mahnke does in this issue thankfully. His scenes with Nora and Victor are much cleaner than other parts of the issue, which feature the grittiness that is normal with his art. It’s not like there’s two completely distinct styles in this issue, but the slight variation on the style manages to heighten everything around it.
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