Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Jorge Jiménez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles & Jorge Jiménez
Cover Artists: Jorge Jiménez; Jim Lee, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair; Julian Totino Tedesco; Leirix; David Aja; Mitch Gerads
Editors: Jessica Berbey & Rob Levin
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99/ $5.99 (Card Stock) / $7.99 (Foil)
Release Date: January 7, 2026
Commissioner Vandal Savage wants to run the police like a general commanding an army. The news media refuses to show Huston Gray’s cellphone footage of Vandal Savage planting a Batarang at a crime scene. And while Anarky insists that someone is repressing street gangs, the Minotaur demonstrates how far he will go to control Gotham’s underworld.
As Batman learns that someone has locked Gotham in a labyrinth of crime, another person is trying to help criminals forge better futures. Dr Hugo Strange may compare Annika Zeller with late 19th and early 20th-century Eugenicists who found their ultimate adherent in Adolf Hitler. But Bruce Wayne wants to know more about the psychiatrist whose experimental techniques he is funding. Let’s don our armored capes, leap into Batman #5, and see!
Story
Dr Zeller places a premium on her time. She has looked forward to pleading her case to Bruce Wayne. Yet when he gives her the opportunity, she keeps him waiting for nearly an hour outside the Wayne Experimental Sciences Building. Given how he surprised her in her office, Annika is uncertain of his intentions. Annika has worked hard to achieve success. The last thing she wants is to become a rich man's perk.
While Annika regards their evening with apprehension, Bruce remains hyperaware of his surroundings. After Dr Strange attacked her on the Gotham Gang, and the Riddler broke into her research department, Bruce knows Annika has a target on her back. So Bruce Wayne keeps alert as he drives the psychiatrist to dinner in Batman #5.
Matt Fraction’s Fast and Furious story hums with energy and conflict. Bruce and Annika aren't a married couple looking to rejuvenate their relationship like Phil and Claire Foster. Still, facing death together allows Bruce and Annika to lower their defenses. Bruce sees how she functions under pressure. And Annika learns there is more to Bruce Wayne than a Gotham socialite swanning through life via inherited wealth.
Annika's experiments have left a trail of destruction in their wake. His board would prefer to secure lucrative military contracts than fund her expensive experiments. After the Minotaur demonstrates his dominance to his business partners, Bruce clarifies his feelings about the controversial psychiatrist and how he views their working relationship.
Art
Dr Zeller designs a better tomorrow using holographic displays. Bruce's Pontiac GTO celebrates the ingenuity of yesterday. Without the sunroof panels, the car's open roof allows Annika's hair to fly free. But motorcycle ninjas tail them as the GTO heads toward Little Tokyo in Batman #5. Jorge Jiménez spices up the high-speed chase with closeups, silhouettes, high-flying attacks, and slow-motion spins. While Bruce keeps his cool, the fright on Annika's face doesn't incapacitate her.
Amid all the die-hard action, Tomeu Morey colors Little Tokyo in pink, blue, and purple. Red overtakes the night sky as birds watch Bruce's award-winning driving. While Bruce tells Annika, "You Can Run," the feathered friends that swoop toward them aren't a Flock of Seagulls. After facing the motorcycle ninjas, a new villain appears in Batman #5. While Bruce faces the woman clad in black, white, and yellow-gold, Annika clasps a pink box wrapped in a yellow-gold ribbon.
Clayton Cowles and Jorge Jiménez fill dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with black uppercase letters. The letters grow bold for intonation and shrink for lowered voices. Large and small white letters in gray fields accompany icons identifying Batman’s tools of the trade. Sound effects help us hear screaming brakes, vehicular impacts, engines revving at maximum overdrive, rapid air currents, and swords that slice through metal like butter in this homage to martial arts movies. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.
Final Thoughts
The Minotaur wants to constrain Gotham into a pattern that he can control. Annika Zeller helps her patients escape their destructive behavior patterns. But as she strives to develop an implantable medical device to help people face their fears, Bruce Wayne protects her from a villain with an opposing view on rebirth in Batman #5.
Rating 9.4/10
To look inside, see my preview of Batman #5.
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