Detective Comics (2016-) #1114

by Tom Taylor, Mikel Janín (Artist), Clayton Henry (Artist)

As dawn—and the imminent destruction that daylight will bring—approaches in Gotham City, Batman finds himself out of options. There is only one hope left to save his city, and it lies with the cold, calculating Mr. Freeze. Now, shoulder to(cold) shoulder with one of his greatest foes, the Caped Crusader must fight his way across Gotham in one last desperate attempt to save the city. This thrilling—and chilling—issue picks up right where Batman #14 left off as Gotham’s darkest night continues!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics

Kindle Edition

Published October 21, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Canadian Historical Fiction - Tom^^Taylor
Comics - Tom^^^^Taylor
English Dramatist 1817-1880 - Tom^^^^^Taylor
NA Contemporary - Tom^^^^^^^^Taylor
Roanoake Virginia - Tom^^^^^^^^^Taylor
b.1922 - Tom^^^^^^^^^^Taylor
b.1948 Business Writer - Tom^^^^^^^^^^^Taylor

Reviews

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I don’t like this…but Gotham’s survival requires me to be a marriage counselor to psychopaths.”

That was genuinely such a beautiful issue, I’ve said it before and will again…I love the use of Batman’s rogues helping out during this event. From Croc to the Freezes, I love how tragedy has a way of bringing people together. Also such a hell yeah to the art team here, it’s quite an appealing style. This issue continues from the plot threads of the batman comic in his quest to stop the plant growth when the sun rises…and batman has found that extreme cold kills the plant life, something Gotham has an abundance of underground with Mr Freeze and his eternal winter machine. The big problem is that he is currently in a very messy dispute with his wife anger she was brought back with a deal made with the devil, Lex, and as much as they may care for each other deep down the two are not seeing eye to eye. But what we found last issue is that Nora doesn’t want Victor to die offhandedly, so when his helmet was busted open during a fight with the plant monsters that interrupted their divorce…she was surprised to find batman willing to jump in to use the tape in his utility belt to help patch Victor up. As Victor is able to stand once more, Nora rips back into him as she returns to her dispute and claims Victor never truly cared about her. Batman points out they Nora is the only person he cares for as he is literally obsessed with her, and batman isn’t sure Victor would consider helping save the world if she wasn’t in it…Victor confirms this is true, and as batman explains the nature of the growth Victor realizes he wants to set off his engine of eternal winter. They can, but the trigger for the blast isn’t with the engine as “one doesn’t hold a grenade as it explodes.” They will need to head to the surface to a lab about a block away. To help with their efforts, Victor haphazardly rips off an ice tank/gun from one of his frozen minions, shattering the man, to give to batman.

But the moment the trio step out into the world…batman hears a child screening and runs into action as even though they only have 20 minutes until sunrise that is just something batman can’t ignore. Batman finds one of the plant monsters with its vines around a little girl with her distressed mother nearby. Batman freezes the base of the creature but is swept up in its vines as the Freezes catch back up. Batman yells at them to help the child, and Nora can’t believe he would put a single life ahead of all others…this clearly hits close to home for Victor as he doesn’t find such a concept difficult to comprehend and begins to help batman alongside Nora to fully freeze the plant creature. The girl falls to the ground as Nora jumps in to save her, with the girl putting the pretty flower, which she picked and caused the plant monster to target her, in the pretty blue woman’s hair to thank her. Victor agrees she is pretty and I can’t help but read his lines on the BTAS voice.

They have 15 minutes until the sun rises and the green knows they are a threat, the lab isn’t far but every step will be a fight…and Nora is ready to lead the way to carve a path into the future for little girls like the one she saved. The trio use cold to their advantage as they head through the city streets, but the temporary bandage over Victor’s helmet is knocked off during transport as he is once again exposed to the outside world. But right as they get to the lab…they find one humongous plant monster waiting for them. Batman orders Victor and Nora inside to activate the machine as he buys them time…it doesn’t take long for batman to be swept up and thrown into the building in front of Victor and Nora…right as Victor was in the process of explaining that he can’t activate the machine without her help. It’s actually quite romantic, but it requires samples of both of their blood as he wouldn’t start an eternal winter without his beloved. Awww, the thing is they have to hurry as the giant plant monster is literally ripping the roof off the building. But sure enough a string of cold shoots through the ground and back to the machine to activate it as the change to the world that killed these plants original begins again with a new ICE AGE across Gotham. It’s quite glorious as the plant monsters freeze and the scientist and dancer unite once more, Victor able to safely take off his helmet, as they dance in the snow. I honestly love them so much.

[Wm · Rating 5 out of 5]

In response to someone elsewhere complaining about the (quite brief) recap of the Friez's (or Freeze's, if you prefer), I wrote:

For me, it isn't about a story retold, but how lovely the retelling, and how pertinent to the moment. Writing serially for a collection is a tricky thing. No recaps make a weaker serial (risks losing monthly sales) but a stronger collection; comprehensive recaps the opposite (I dropped The Walking Dead early – around issue #18 IIRC – for its exhausting recap infodumps).

The poetry of those 10 concise panels (over one-and-a-third pages) IMO make a wonderful introductory bookend to the issue, which should still work as a collected chapter. Omitting it would rely too heavily on decades of lore (that I don't have – I was a Marvel kid), and ruin the effect of watching several layers of Nora's heart melt (I'm always down for a tearjerker moment, and Taylor gave us at least two).

[Jadyn❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly the Tom Taylor brand of sappy that I eat up, and I love when it’s applied to Batman.

[Colin Post · Rating 2.25 out of 5]

I like the idea of Batman teaming up with Freeze to ice out the plants, but trying to squeeze in an origin story for Freeze is maybe not the best use of real estate here. I feel like there were more natural ways to integrate the tension between Victor and Nora than quick recapping decades of story. Henry draws a mean Batman and mean Freeze, though.

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the art on this one. It was interesting seeing Nora and Mr. Freeze interact and work together.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun team up with a sweet ending. I am a sucker for this type of stuff. I am excited to see how this event ends.

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the Nora & Victor love story saves Gotham!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful ending.

[alejandro galvez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dope!

This was an awesome issue! I love Mr. Freeze. All of Batman's rogues gallery need some more spotlight. They make for some great comics. So cool.