Quick Summary

Pros: The story seems incredibly interesting and has the potential to surpass the first story arc entirely. It also changes up Mr. Freeze’s origin again, in a good way. In addition, the art is phenomenal and makes the whole issue look beautiful.

Cons: Nothing big enough to mention here, however every reader will experience the story differently.

Overall: This new arc is something entirely different in a positive way. It is a beautiful looking book filled with enough action and intrigue to hook the reader onto this new storyline. It also presents a very different tone for the series, making it feel a little less personal and a little more dark. Overall, this seems like a good indication that this story will be something special and could even be an improvement from the first arc.

Story

This issue is a rather large change up from the issues that came before it. The dialogue is different, the art is different, and the overall tone is a lot darker. While the first storyline saw Batman joking around with villains before attacking them, this one sees him trying to reason with a clearly deranged psychopath. This, however, is a very welcome change of pace and something that makes me extremely interested in this series once again.

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This issue is presented in a very different way from the issues before it. Rather than Batman and the villains trading quips in dialogue bubbles, it sees everything presented in narration blocks. This gives the story an additional creepy and scary tone to it and makes the whole thing feel a little darker; somewhat like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth. I thought that this worked very well here as it is clearly meant to be a different experience than the one provided in the first storyline. While Two Face’s story was much more personal and meaningful from an individual level, this one seems to be going for something that is more meaningful on a larger scale. However, exactly where Snyder is going with this remains to be seen.

Another good thing about this is it seems to have fixed Mr. Freeze’s origin from the New 52 version. In Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls (Review), Mr. Freeze was shown as having a weird obsession over Nora, rather than being her former husband. This was a huge change up and made him much into a generic insane villain rather than a misguided tragic character. However, it seems like this story is changing things back to their old status quo, which is a good indication that this series will continue to treat the villains in it with respect.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The art by Jock is a huge departure from what was present in the Two Face plotline and is, so far, much better. The people, the settings, and the vast, sweeping landscapes all look absolutely amazing; a true treat to behold. Everything in the collection looked great but the way the characters and landscapes were presented was what really stood out. Moments that showed the desolation of the area they were in, like when Batman first approaches the base, instantly give readers the correct picture of what Batman is dealing with. Plus, it all looked fantastic too.

Together with the writing, this new art presents a much more horrific and creepy vibe than the prior story. The colors are very minimal and consist mostly of contrasting shades of red, black, and white. The strangely drawn characters and the red in their eyes added to the story’s horror, but the best moment happened halfway through. Batman’s eyes changing from white to red as the perspective shifted was wonderful and a great way to enhance the story. Overall, Jock did great with the art in this issue.

Continuity

This is the first issue of a brand new story arc in the All Star Batman series. The first story arc started with Issue 1 and ended with Issue 5. So far there has not been any references to the previous arc throughout this issue’s main story. However, the backup issue is a continuation of “The Cursed Wheel” story starting in Issue 1. Make sure to check out our review of Issue 1 in order to see the continuity connections that “The Cursed Wheel” uses.

Mr. Freeze was originally presented in the New 52 with a different origin. However, it seems that this origin has either been altered or disregarded completely, we will probably find out more in the later issues. This original presentation happened in Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review).

Daryl Guttierez is show in the backup story of this issue. His first appearance in Batman occurred in Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy but he became the way he is now in Batman Vol. 9: Bloom.

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