Batman’s heart is all achy breaky thanks to the Cat lady and he acting maaaad. At the trial of Mister Freeze, one juror decides to tear apart the prosecution’s case, built in large part by Batman: Bruce Wayne! Think he’s suffered enough? Think again! Batman’s about to pain some more as another dickhole targets his nearest and dearest. Cold Days, indeed!
Alriiiight, Tom King coming back STRONG after that last mediocre wedding book! Eight volumes in and the quality is still there - so much to enjoy!
King reunites with his Batman/Elmer Fudd artist, Lee Weeks, for the Mister Freeze storyline which is really about Bruce working through his feels/pulling himself together rather than it is about Freeze. It’s a really clever post-wedding story where Bruce takes “Batman” to task for letting his emotions control him to the point where he became a sloppy crime-fighter who’s been making too many mistakes.
It’s also a stellar analysis of Batman’s psychology, origins and his place within Gotham’s collective mindset. I liked the little snippets of dialogue between Bruce and the various jurors over the battle scenes between Batman and Freeze. I really loved Weeks’ beautiful art, complemented perfectly by Elizabeth Breitweiser’s incandescent and stunning colours. That visual of Batman in the dark alley looking up at Catwoman was a brilliant use of negative space.
The Freeze story is the best one here and is damn near flawless. Everyone on the creative team is positively soaring, producing superb comics. Oh and best of all: Batman’s back in his classic pre-New 52 suit - hells to the YEAH!
Matt Wagner draws an issue and I don’t care for his art. It looks especially crude sandwiched between Weeks’ realistic, cinematic noir style and Tony S. Daniel’s super-slick production. Otherwise it’s another fine issue that explores Bruce and Dick’s relationship. I love that King juxtaposes Bruce helping Dick as a kid in the wake of his parents’ deaths with Dick in the present helping Bruce post-wedding.
The KGBeast storyline is maybe the only time the character has actually seemed remotely credible and not like some laughably cartoony threat. It’s not the strongest storyline and the big thing that happens in it is a bit eye-rolling. Yes, it involves a character “dying” which is a joke when it happens in superhero comics so there was no chance of any kind of emotional impact on me, or any other seasoned comics readers, I suspect.
Anyhoo, it’s still a readable story and King writes the classic team of Bruce and Dick wonderfully - that back and forth referencing Batman ‘66 and “chum” was superb! Tony S. Daniel draws some fantastically eye-popping pages too - so damn polished!
If you’ve been following King’s Batman this long you won’t need any prompting to pick this one up - it’s astonishing that he’s been able to keep to the bi-weekly schedule and still write comics of this quality. But I’d also recommend it to new or lapsed Batman fans as, regardless of the “Volume 8” and the few vague references to prior storylines, Cold Days is perfectly accessible as a standalone, entertaining Batman book.
I really enjoyed it - well done (mostly) everyone! Cold Days is hot stuff!
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