Review: Detective Comics #1067

Overview: In Detective Comics #1067, Mr. Freeze provides surprising assistance to Batman as the Orgham family’s war to conquer Gotham heats up!

Editor’s Note: Due to the anthology nature of this collection, we will feature a synopsis and analysis for each story rather than breaking up the synopsis and analysis. Spoilers are sure to be revealed.

Story #1: “Gotham Nocturne Act 1” Part 2 by writer Ram V and artist Ivan Reis

Synopsis: Detective Comics #1067 begins as Batman and the werewolf Gael struggle free of Mr. Freeze’s ice. Bruce reflects that he feels frozen spiritually in a changing city. Mr. Freeze drags the freed Batman through the sewers.

Meanwhile, Prince Arzen speaks in front of the ruins of Arkham Asylum, newly purchased by his family, the Orghams. In his limo afterward, he meets with Gael, who presents him with the Reality Engine (from last month’s Annual issue), and insists that the Orgham agents go masked in the next phase of their plan.

Mr. Freeze wakes Batman after six hours, and Bruce is surrounded by ice sculptures of Nora, who has abandoned Victor (in Peter Tomasi’s run of Detective Comics). Freeze gives Batman one of the Azmer demons that the werewolf tried to possess him with frozen in a jar and asks him if Gotham still needs Batman.

Arzen Orgham calls on Bruce Wayne in his brownstone, trying to make a friend, as Shavod, Gael, and Neang begin their next moves, starting with a huge explosion and a vicious gang fight. Shavod buys the Narrows housing projects from Wayne Development, hypnotizing the board with her horrifying eye-covered mask to get her way and implanting a suicide order in the board members. Jim Gordon texts Bruce the news of the conflagration, and he has to cut his meeting with Arzen Orgham short, as Batman’s duty calls.

Analysis: With the insight gained from the Annual (the “Interlude,” as Ram V titled it, keeping with his musical theme, pun totally intended) that the Orgham family has been trying to control Gotham using the supernatural “Reality Engine” for almost 250 years, this latest issue of Gotham Nocturne in Detective Comics #1067 shows the next moves the Orghams make to eliminate the Batman. The question now arises: do the Orghams know that Bruce is Batman? They already know that the Bat avatar, Barbatos, is a spirit of resistance to their control patterns. They’ve taken brutal, nasty steps to eliminate key parts of Wayne’s power in Gotham City.

However, it’s nice to see continuity respected in the depiction of Mr. Freeze, following up on Peter Tomasi’s best arc of his Detective Comics run, in which Nora Freeze was freed from her eternal frozen prison but decided to leave her husband for a life of more extreme crime than he desired. Mr. Freeze’s danger and wistfulness are highlighted very well in Ram V’s writing and Ivan Reis’s powerful artwork, and solicitations reveal that the ice villain (or anti-hero, perhaps?) will feature even more prominently in issues to come.

Interestingly, Bruce is facing the question if he’s too old and set/frozen in his ways to help a changing Gotham when the alternative Ram V is presenting is the violent, brutal, careless-of-life Orgham family/organization, which goes back even further than the Wayne/Wainwrights. Though still paced fairly slowly, the ability to actually tell the forces arrayed against each other and see at least the broad outlines of their motivations means a huge deal in parsing the text.

Ivan Reis continues as one of the main artists on Ram V’s run, lending the powerful, appealing character work and environmental design seen in his landmark Aquaman run and many other works. It’s great to see a master at work on Batman for his first sustained run, continuing from his work on Tamaki’s run. Danny Miki’s inks add much to Reis’s pencils, as do master colorist Dave Stewart’s carefully chosen hues. As expected from one of DC’s premiere titles, the art team provides some of the best available on the market.

Story #2: “A Tale of Three Halves” Part 3 by writer Simon Spurrier and artist Hayden Sherman

Synopsis: The backup in Detective Comics #1067 sees Harvey and Two-Face continue their struggle with the Azmer demon, trying to make plans without the possessing force realizing. Harvey confesses that Two-Face is the image of his father, and he hates him but is grateful for the violence that has saved his life even before the attack that left him scarred. With this new insight into the two halves of his mind, Harvey can let Dr. Mead, the psychiatrist who “fixed” him most recently, escape and can hide from the Azmer and Gael.

Analysis: Si Spurrier, Hayden Sherman, and Nick Filardi’s work on this backup wraps up this three-part story, putting Harvey Dent in place for the forthcoming issue exploring his role in the war between Batman and the Orghams. Though the necessity of three full backup issues may be questioned, this conclusion does provide some interesting insight into where this version of Two-Face comes from, with the connection to his father (I wonder if Spurrier had access to Tamaki’s One Bad Day work when composing this piece), his bullying as a child and college student, and how Two-Face fights both the demon possessing him and himself. The clear collaboration between Ram V and Spurrier continues to be on full display, and Hayden Sherman’s bold psychedelic pencils, brought to vivid life by Nick Filardi’s neon colors, shine a penetrating light into Harvey’s twisted, tormented mind and soul.

Evan Cagle continues his cover series, highlighting Mr. Freeze above a Batman in the sewers, a very nice light blue flare effect dominating the composition. Jim Lee provides a dark image of Batman being swallowed by a huge bat creature, an infernal gleam in its throat, reminiscent of the tiger cave in the Disney film Aladdin. The same image appears in a shiny foil version for the 1:50 incentive variant. Lee also penciled a Holiday Postcard cardstock variant, a horizontal composition featuring Batman’s hand with the keys to the Batman Begins Tumbler, wrapped in a red ribbon in front of a huge tree. Colleen Doran painted the 1:25 incentive variant, based on Sir John Everett Millais’ “Ophelia,” continuing the theme of paintings based on classic art, featuring Batman floating in a lily-pad filled stream, white flower, and pearl necklace in his hand.

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.