Detective Comics #1114: Bad Seeds Week 9 Part 4 Review
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Clayton Henry
Colorist: Pedro Estouco
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Cover Artist: Mikel Janín
Variant Cover Artists: Dan Mora, Marguerite Sauvage, David
Nakayama & Björn Barends
Editors: Jessica Berbey, Ben Meares & Rob Levin
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99 US | Variant $5.99 US (Card Stock) | Variant
$7.99 US (Foil)
Release Date: October 21, 2026
Verity Pennyworth may poke fun at her new employer. Batman
endures the occasional jest to get along with his late friend's niece. Still,
their relationship is nowhere near as difficult as Victor and Nora Fries.
Batman finds the couple in the Kingdom of Cold after another domestic dispute. Batman
doesn't know whether Mr Freeze will work with him. Still, the couple’s latest
fight throws Batman’s plan to combat the superbloom into jeopardy.
Can Batman save Mr Freeze's life? And can they prevent
Poison Ivy's prehistoric plants from spreading across the world? Let's leap
into Detective Comics #1114 and see what happens!
Story
While Verity battled intruders in Pennyworth Manor, Victor
and Nora fought in the Kingdom of Cold. Then, Poison Ivy’s plants erupted from
the snow. In the process, they damaged Victor’s helmet. Batman found Nora
cradling Victor. Now, she points a freeze gun at Batman, while he tries to save
her husband.
After summarizing the couple's marital difficulties for
Verity, Batman reminds himself of the crucial events that led to their
contentious relationship in Detective Comics #1114. Just as he wants to protect
Gotham, Batman wants to help the couple help themselves. Still, he is asking Mr
Freeze to do something for him. The clock is ticking until plants extinguish
all Human and animal life on Earth. Batman must bow to Mr Freeze’s authority
and support the villain’s leadership if he wishes to save the world.
After Batman's brief look back in time, Tom Taylor's story
remains in the present. While it primarily focuses on Batman, Mr Freeze and
Nora demonstrate how their mission affects them. And before they can save the
world, they must run the gauntlet of Poison Ivy's superbloom. Some people may
accuse all vigilantes of being no better than villains. Yet as each tries to
accomplish their mission, Batman reveals how different he is from the villains
he occasionally allies with in Detective Comics #1114.
Art
Despite their earlier fight, Nora clutches Victor’s hand as
she points her freeze gun at Batman. He meets her gaze, his gloved hands covering
the fissure in Mr Freeze’s helmet. As Victor's life-supporting cold air vents
through the glass like clouds, Batman allows Nora to choose how to respond.
When he rises, Mr Freeze moves around to assess his Kingdom and the subjects he
lost to Poison Ivy’s plants. Then, he brutally secures the equipment they will
need to save the world.
As Clayton Henry begins Detective Comics #1114 with a
nine-panel look back, Pedro Estouco adorns it with blues and browns. The blues
and whites of Victor's Kingdom of Cold reinforce his hopes for a life with
Nora. Yet the couple's red goggles and the red framing of Mr Freeze as he acts
highlight the anger that often drives their actions. But then, red abounds on
the surface. Amid the green vines and plants, red flowers evoke Poison Ivy's
overwhelming love for the Green. As red fills the sky amid the fighting, one
character realizes that anger may be inextricably bound with love.
As Clayton Henry and Pedro Estouco fill pages with scenes and
line the bottom of epic visions with inset panels, Wes Abbott fills white
balloons with black uppercase dialogue. Batman's white uppercase thoughts in
charcoal gray boxes guide readers through the story. The spherical balloons deform,
and dialogue swells as the stakes rise. Sound effects accompany Mr Freeze
breaking ice, freeze guns, and the angry plants taking back the world from a
species determined to control them. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story
with us.
Final Thoughts
Despite Dr Victor Fries' love for his wife, the way he
expressed it turned her against him. So, while he allies with villains to save
the Earth, Batman shows why he has sacrificed the kind of future Dr Victor
Fries wanted with Nora in Detective Comics #1114.
Rating 9.7/10
To look inside see Detective Comics #1114: Bad Seeds Week 9 Part 4 Preview.
For more of the Bad Seeds Event, see:
Poison Ivy #48: Bad Seeds Week 6 Part 1 Review
Batman #14 Bad Seeds Week 7 Part 1 Review
Batgirl #23: Bad Seeds Week 7 Part 2: Preview
Batman: Bad Seeds -Gotham Central #2: Bad Seeds Week 8 Part 1 Preview
Bad Seeds: Streets of Gotham #1: Bad Seeds Week 8 Part 2 Review
Batwoman #8: Bad Seeds Week 9 Part 1 Review
Catwoman #92: Bad Seeds Week 9 Part 2 Preview
Nightwing #143: Bad Seeds Week 9 Part 3 Preview
