“In Cold Blood”
Artists: Doug Mahnke, Tyler Kirkham, Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne and Mark Irwin
Color Artist: David Baron
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Review by Steve J. Ray
Detective Comics #1016 Turns up the heat on Mrs Freeze, as her husband teams up with Batman. Yes, dear reader, you read that correctly; this issue gives us the brand-new Dynamic Duo of Batman and Mr Freeze. Hell may well indeed have finally frozen over.
I must say that I’ve loved virtually everything I’ve ever read by Peter J. Tomasi; his New 52 run on Batman & Robin and his Rebirth Superman runs in particular. 23 issues into his Detective Comics (yes, it’s been that many already) has already put his tenure on this legendary title right up there amongst his very best, in my estimation. What’s even more impressive is that this is two years worth of output, and we’ve had it all in less than 12 months. Seeing Freeze and Batman teaming up is awesome enough, but bringing Nora back in such a brand new and super cool way (pardon the pun) has made this “Year Of The Villain” tie-in that much more exciting.
Another Supreme Team
Doug Mahnke has also produced some stellar work over the years, and these issues are no exception. His work is very intricate, so while I’m not overjoyed that he didn’t draw 100% of this issue, I can understand why. The good news is that Tyler Kirkham’s art is very good indeed, and fits in fairly well, aesthetically, with Mr Mahnke’s. The excellent inks by Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin and Mr Kirkham himself also help. The action is superb and everything flows brilliantly, despite us having two different pencillers in the one issue.
David Baron and Rob Leigh put the ice-ing (sorry again) on this proverbial cake. Baron has become one of my favorite color artists, thanks mainly to this run, and his exceptional work on The Batman Who Laughs. Rob Leigh’s prolificity is matched only by his impeccable craftsmanship. Together they’ve proven to be the most consistent World’s Finest team on this book since Mr Tomasi took over as writer. Huge kudos to both these extremely talented professionals.
Conclusion
I’m a pretty hard person to surprise, but the ending to this issue really put a smile on my chubby little face. Victor Fries’ ultimate fate at the end of Detective Comics #1016 was heartbreaking, yet supremely poetic. This has been my favorite Mr Freeze comics story in a long, long time, and this finale was both incredibly entertaining and thought provoking.
The other thing thing that this storyline has proven irrefutably that the female of the species is, indeed, deadlier than the male.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment