Comic Review -- Batman Annual #1: First Snow / Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Jason Fabok

WARNING: FAIRLY BIG SPOILER IN THIS REVIEW!  I usually do spoilers in my reviews, but since this is a pretty big one, I'm taking extra pains to make sure people know.  Please consider yourself warned.

I really like this cover!  It's an iconic depiction of Mr. Freeze, and an appropriate one, given both his involvement in Night of the Owls and this first real exploration of his character since the New 52 began.  The glaring red goggles and the snow owls are also a clever touch.  The whiteness of his ghostly image across the background also points up his obsession with the cold.  Excellent work here.

Slightly after midnight of the Night of the Owls incident, Freeze, recently captured and detained at Arkham, abruptly breaks out again and makes his way to Wayne Enterprises, intent on killing Bruce Wayne and leaving Gotham behind forever.  He makes a stop at the Iceberg Casino, to get his ice guns from his "friend" Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, and arrives at Wayne Enterprises to find Nightwing and Robin waiting for him.  They know about his involvement with the Court, and have no intention of letting him escape punishment for it.

After dispatching them, Freeze goes to the penthouse suite to find Batman waiting for him, with Nora's cryo-tube on display for his benefit.  Freeze tells Batman that he will not be kept from the woman he loves, and Batman responds that Nora is not his wife, and that Freeze's love for her is nothing more than an extension of his obsession with the cold.  Freeze acknowledges this, and they struggle briefly.  Batman subdues him by overloading his suit with the same formula Freeze made for the Court of Owls's Talons.  Freeze is unable to move, and Batman and Nightwing take him back to Arkham.

Bookending the story is a haunting tale involving a young Victor Fries and his mother, when both would go to a snowman building contest.  In the first story, we see how his mother falls into a lake during his youth.  Fries is older in the second story, and his mother is considerably more frail.  In a troubling sign of his impending sociopathy, Fries wheels his mother into the water that nearly killed her years ago, saying it is time for her to finally rest.

The reveal of the issue.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Scott Snyder knows how to tell a good story.  I'm not sure where his contributions end and James Tynion IV's begin, but this particular narrative is powerful in several ways, and for several reasons.  It re-establishes Freeze as one of Batman's rogues gallery in a definitive way since the New 52, with the new twist that there is no Nora Fries, just a Nora that Victor Fries was obsessing about due to her condition.  It makes for a subtle but spectacular reinterpretation of the character, and while I can't say it's a change I would have necessarily agreed with , it nevertheless makes Freeze an even more interesting--and insane--character.

Another touch that I'm really liking with the New 52 Bat-titles is how, when applicable, things look very much like they've come directly out of the undeniably awesome video game, Batman: Arkham City.  From the look Penguin's Iceberg Casino, to Freeze's overall physical presentation (though I will admit there are some notable differences), it's neat to see these things from such a well-received game making their mark on the source materials of the comics.

Freeze's origins are also reintroduced, first through the framing story of Victor's obsession with the cold and his mother's injury in the frozen lake, and then through the occasional flashback as Freeze makes headway on his quest to kill Bruce Wayne, who he blames for taking Nora from him.  Bruce Wayne is seen as the heartless businessman who has kept Fries from his research to save Nora, even as he gives perfectly sound business and scientific reasons for making the decisions he does.  It's well-handled material, that gives a critical insight into Freeze's character between the action of him trying to "take back" Nora and kill Wayne.

My one nitpick that I have with this story is the unbelievably quick time frame in which it takes place.  Freeze is not incarcerated for more than a couple of hours at most before breaking out again?  Really?  I mean, I have no doubt that he was quickly returned to Arkham after the Red Hood and company beat him around, but to be able to plan and execute an escape from a new cell in such a short window of time?  It probably would have been better if this had been a follow-up to Night of the Owls, with this story set a few weeks after everything else took place.  Just my opinion.

Artistically, I have to say I'm very impressed with Jason Fabok's work on this issue.  He employs a clear, realistic style that still manages to flow well in the action scenes and allow for a wide range of expression in the characters.  I do like Freeze's look, though I'm still wondering about the fact that his suit has no sleeves.  Still, I'll accept it for now in the way I accept Snyder's new twist on the character: reluctantly and cautiously, but with hope that it'll make for something cool in the future.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable issue.  I generally don't go for annuals, but I'm glad I picked this one up. Even if you're not into Night of the Owls, you'll want to read this story to see the new take on Mr. Freeze.  The artwork is excellent, and the writing is great.  Highly recommended.

2011 In Review: Significant Comics Events

Anyone who keeps up with any kind of industry or hobby will undoubtedly notice the plethora of "Top (x) Lists of 2011" going around in their field, and it's no different in comics.  There are lists I've seen at Comicvine, Newsarama, and ComicBook.com, and there are sure to be plenty of others I missed.  And, being the original and non-conformist individual I am, I've decided to do one as well.

This list is less about what I've read in comics, since I'm not very good at getting and reading the new stuff as it's arriving in stores and on the shelves.  It's more about which events were significant enough to me throughout this year that they made it on my radar and either made me happy to be a comics geek, caused me to think about how comics were and would be affected, or made me reflect on comic books in general.

So, without further ado, here's my list:

10.  Captain America: The First Avenger--I had been waiting for this movie for a long time, and was filled with adoration for it by the time the credits finished. Not only did it make a good lead-in to next year's The Avengers film, but it brought a sense of fun back into the storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which I felt had been largely absent since we first saw it in Iron Man in 2008. We'll see if it can be replicated in The Avengers, but in the meantime this movie made for an entertaining story all on its own.

From left to right: Johnny Storm, Mary Jane Watson, Peter
Parker, Gwen Stacy, May Parker.  Peter's final thought to
May: 'It's all been worth it, because I was able to save you.'

9.  Ultimate Spider-Man's Death--I'd been waiting for a "Death of Spider-Man" storyline for some time, not because I want to see my favorite comic book character die, but because, at some point, it happens to everybody.  What makes this death noteworthy is that it's not an epic, cosmically charged saga in some grand arena.  Quite the opposite: it's a neighborhood brawl, one injured, determined kid defending his family, house, and turf against six super-powered would-be murderers who all have it in for him.  It makes his death all the more personal and all the more painful as a result.  He's eventually succeeded by Miles Morales, a half-latino, half-black character who I haven't yet been able to follow.  I should've figured they'd want to at least make it seem permanent with this character, which to me explains why they killed off the Ultimate Universe Peter Parker and not the "real," Earth-616 Spider-Man, who continues to fight crime in the pages of several publications.

8.  $2.1 Million Sale of Action Comics #1--Ah, to have that kind of money.  I don't know who bought it, or if it really is the copy from Nicholas Cage's collection, but I do know that the comic featuring the first appearance of Superman shattered the record for the amount paid for a comic book, set by Detective Comics #27 (Batman's first appearance) last year.  Those two heroes can never stop competing with each other, it seems...

"Come on, you bastards!  Let's dance!"

7.  Human Torch's Death, Replacement by Spider-Man--So, Marvel sullied this a few moths later by bringing Johnny Storm back to life for Fantastic Four #600, but at the time it was a big move, effectively leaving a large void in the roster of the legendary super-family team, the Fantastic Four.  Spider-Man was tapped to replace him, which he did for a while, bonding with Johnny's nephew Franklin and doing what he could to bring levity and an edge to the team.  Now things are more or less back to normal--as normal as they get in the Marvel Universe, anyway--but there's no denying the impact felt all around during this time.

6.  DC's Mega-Reboot--I've never been a huge DC Comics fan, but I do like the Batman titles and the occasional Superman story.  That said, when I heard about the impending reboot of the entire DC Universe and the re-launching of 52 of their titles at issue #1, I couldn't help but think that this was a horrible idea.  Knowing as you might how I feel about the use of the reset button on comics continuity (in short: if you do it, it better be damn good), I was pretty sure this would end disastrously for DC.  I haven't seen any of the new titles yet, but the initial reviews seem to be, for the most part, very positive.  Hopefully DC will pull this off, and I'll have a convenient jumping-in point for more aspects of their mythology.  At this point, only time will tell.

5.  Wizard Magazine Fades to Nothing--Wizard Magazine first started just a couple of years after I first started reading and collecting comics, so when it was announced that it would cease print publication this year and go digital as Wizard World Magazine, I was more than a little upset.  As for the existence of the digital magazine... it does exist, but it's not easy to find without a link.  In any case, it seems now it covers pop culture and film in addition to comics.  I might check them out occasionally for information gathering purposes, but I don't see them making my feed reader.  It's nothing like the Wizard Magazine I remember.

4.  Digital Comics Same-Day Delivery Becomes the Norm--I don't yet really read comics digitally--my main method is to check the collected paperbacks out from the library--but it's not hard to imagine the impact this will have on the industry.  Until recently, you basically had to wait a little longer for the digital version of a comic to come out than the print.  The argument was that if you could access the digital version at the same time as the print version, sales of the print comic would be hurt.  DC in particular seems to have decided to see if this is actually true, and it looks like others will be following suit as well.  Movie industry, you might consider taking a page from the comics in this arena...

3.  Batman: Arkham City--Oh. Wow.  What a game!  I'd actually just played its predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum, earlier this year, so by the time October came around, I was primed and eager to continue the saga told in these amazing games.  If you want a video gaming experience that will come as close as possible to letting you actually be Batman, then look no further.  Arkham City expands the playing area and continues much of the story began in Arkham Asylum, featuring plenty of action, fighting, puzzles to solve, and a healthy dose of villains from Batman's infamous rogues gallery.  Add to that a number of developments and Easter Eggs, including a plot twist that you would never expect to see coming, and you'll virtually be screaming for another sequel.

Mike Meyer, St. Louis resident.
Superman fan.  Robbery victim.

2.  Superman Fan Robbed--One of the more memorable events of 2011 was unfortunately one of the most appalling, in which Mike Meyer, a St. Louis resident who is a big fan of Superman, was robbed by a former co-worker of a significant bulk of his collection of Superman memorabilia. The robber, professional jerk Gerry Armbruster, quietly removed the items in question from Meyer's house while an accomplice distracted him by watching Superman films. It's a story that fills you with disgust at just how despicable some people can be. Of course, without events like this we wouldn't get reactions like the next one...

1.  Superman Fans Respond to Robbing With Generosity--This was far and away my favorite moment in comics this year, and made me proud of just how generous people can be. Fans from across the country and across the world sent Meyer replacement gifts for his stolen Superman collection, and did so in droves. And though the jerk who robbed him in the first place was soon caught, it was uplifting and reassuring in the meantime to see so many comics enthusiasts come to the aid of this one Superman fan who really needed it.

And there you have it.  I felt that 2011 was a good year for comics, and look to 2012 with a cautious hope that things will be even bigger and better.  As technology and economics influence our reading habits and the way comics are created, and the companies that make them respond, there's no doubt that many interesting changes are in store for the industry in the near future.  In the meantime, I'll continue reviewing, commenting, and musing on comics.

There will doubtless be much to talk about!