Batman Annual #1 2012 (The New 52)

A Night of the Owls tie-in! A tragic tale of love, loss & obsession as Mr. Freeze escapes Arkham Asylum and obsessively searches for his comatose wife, still frozen in cryogenic stasis. With the assistance of Nightwing & Robin, Batman will confront Mr. Freeze with the truth about his wife.

I was never a fan of annuals, mainly because not a lot of effort is put into them, crappy back up stories & they’re always too pricey. But I was pleasantly surprised with this issue. Scott Snyder (Swamp Thing) delivers a tragic tale about the history of Mr. Freeze and his descent into crime & obsession. Maybe I’m just nitpicking, but I never really understood why Mr. Freeze was locked away at Arkham. Joker, Scarecrow & Two-Face are obviously insane, I get that, but Freeze is not crazy. Maybe they figure his obsession makes him mentally deranged, but if that’s the case they’d lock up Batman too. Also, I won’t spoil it, but Freeze’s connection to the Talons was a nice touch.

The illustrations are by Jason Fabok, who’s work I’m unfamiliar with, looks great, but strikingly resembles Gary Frank’s (Supreme Power, Superman : Secret Origin) art. It’s almost identical, it’s by no means original, but it sure looks nice, especially the cover. At 4.99$, it’s a tad expensive, but well worth your hard-earned cash. From DC Comics.