Nora Fries has been revived, making Batman struggle even more difficult to find a cure for the frozen. Spoilers for Detective Comics #1015 follow.
The past couple of issues of Detective Comics have done a great job of building a fresh story revolving around Mister Freeze. That’s something that’s difficult to do as it often feels like the character has been drained creatively. This storyline has proved otherwise as Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke have been creating a really interesting story that does something new with the character, as well as keeping it line with what’s been established. That continues in this issue, even as the pacing slows down a bit.
What’s been so great about this story so far has been its ability to feel new. Since “Heart of Ice” was released in the early 90s, most Mister Freeze stories have seemingly been focused solely on one thing, reviving Nora. It’s a great motivation, but after two decades, it’s gotten a bit stale. Now that Nora is revived though, the story doesn’t feel predictable and that’s a good thing for this issue.
Nora basically breaks up with Victor in this issue, which is probably the worst thing could happen to Mister Freeze. He’s been trying to revive her for so long and now that he has, she rejects him. You feel bad for Victor, but you also completely understand why Nora does it. Victor is attempting to control her and control her life but, after being on ice for so long, she wants to choose her own life. And now that she’s gotten a taste of the criminal life with Victor, that’s where she’s gravitating to. The character motivations of these make complete sense throughout the issue, making the human drama between two blue characters with frozen blood great.
As for Batman’s side of the story, this issue makes it clear how desperate he is to save everyone frozen by Mister Freeze. Most stories rarely show Batman in a desperate state as he is generally portrayed as the capable myth that he’s become in pop culture. This issue really dives into his human side and shows how far he is willing to go to save others. It’s not the most explicit exploration of Batman’s humanity, but it’s always great when any story displays Batman’s humanity.
The art in this issue is as good as it always is with Mahnke at the helm, well at least the pages he draws in this issue. Mahnke draws everything but five pages of this issue as those are drawn by Jose Luis. Mahnke’s pages look great as they always do, bringing the right amount of grit to the page, but it still feels very clean. Luis does a decent job of emulating Mahnke’s style, but there are enough differences to create a jarring effect when the switch between the two occurs. The art isn’t bad, but when most of an issue looks one way and then it switches relatively suddenly, it’s a bit distracting.
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