Weak minded
The kick off of DC's annual line can sometimes be underwhelming as most stories consist of nonsensical garbage wrapped around 2-3 different stories or just a very long winded story that nobody cares for. Though I'm happy to see that Detective Comics New 52 Annual was not one to be overlooked and happened to be interesting, yet at the same time silly...not in a good way, but a good read nonetheless.
We kick off with Jeremiah Arkham talking, to what we believe to be, Roman Sionis (Black Mask) but as we read on and Jim Gordon walks in the cell we find that Jeremiah has fallen victim to the mask's power from recent events. Then we see the crazed Jeremiah snap out of it and play off his momentary daze.
The fight between Batman and Mad Bull was very destructive and wonderfully done; having just completely trashed an amusement park. Though Batman stopping a rollercoaster ride with batarangs wasn't very practical. Batman has a few derp looking moments in this scene as well. The way he had thrown the batarangs made him look goofy and when he got hit with the beam his expression was a little funny, but I can't be harsh on the art because its fantastic in every panel and done well. So batman finds that Mad Bull was brainwashed from his Bull mask and whom else to lay the blame....Mad Hatter of course.
We change over to a brief talk with Gordon, Harvey, and Clayface who try to get information on Black Mask's escape by tempting him with pain medication...being a chemically altered oozing pile of clay hurts...who knew? Apparently some masks, which belonged to Black Mask's society of morons, were stolen before Black Mask could gather them to manipulate his trial hearing (Sir, you can't wear that Bull Mask in here...."Oh can't I!! Mwahahaha!") So we step along the detective work and find Black Mask has been given Jedi powers and uses a force gripping action to bend a lackey's will. Also...."Punish the non-believer" is very cliche and I was not pleased with its use here. Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum make a brief appearance but are quickly disposed of...might as well hadn't happened, lol. Black Mask, a group of carnies, and a guy with a silly mustache walk into a museum (No, I'm not leading up to a joke) Black Mask gets deceived and sees his Jedi mind trick didn't work to find his mask's so he impales the mustache guy and Mad Hatter removes his carney disguise and he and Black Mask have this ludicrous battle with psionic waves...What the hell?!? Black Mask's...mask...is hit by a flying kick and explodes with electricity and aliens come down and give Batman the location of the crystal skulls...not really, but I was waiting for more oddities for this story to throw out.
The Verdict
I was happy to see some of Batman's less used Rogue Gallery finally have an appearance in the 52 continuity. Clayface, The Tweedles, Black Mask, and Mad Hatter: all fun to see. I didn't care for the silly Jedi inspired powers Hatter and Mask seemingly possessed and the mask lightning explosion was silly, it's a good read and the overall plot wasn't horrible. I would definitely recommend this issue.
