Review by Ian Keogh

One Bad Day is a series of hardcovers spotlighting the villains of Gotham and involving the idea of a single bad day, inspired by Alan Moore’s starting premise for The Killing Joke.

Two-Face is frequently considered the most tragic of Batman’s villains, but tinkering with his past to suggest he was always a divided personality has lessened the sadness. It leaves Mr. Freeze with no competition for the most tragic past, and that’s exploited by Gerry Duggan beginning with scientist Victor Fries just beginning to suspect his wife’s cough may be more than a cold.

This is set relatively early in Batman’s career as he’s accompanied by a young Robin, and Duggan counterpoints Mr. Freeze with the discussion of whether or not any of Gotham’s costumed criminals can be reformed. Batman is willing to consider Fries as a possibility. A danger of retreading old ground is that readers are too familiar with the scenario, but Duggan ensures this never happens. The opening scene hangs a tragic pall, after which events are summarised, and a scene in which Mr. Freeze is tracked down is cleverly achieved via the alias of Matches Malone rather than a costumed Batman. Such thoughtful touches occur throughout, another being the aside of Alfred advising Robin read Moby Dick as he’ll find it useful as a character study.

All artists on One Bad Day projects have been selected as top of the range talent, yet Matteo Scalera exceeds expectations, covering all emotional bases and delivering soaring action scenes. He’s coupled with Dave Stewart as colourist, and while the image of Mr. Freeze with two piercing red eyes beneath a helmet has been seen before, Scalera and Stewart’s version is particularly chilling. Be it action scene or civilian conversation, there’s not a page here that isn’t a thing of wonder, provided you’re okay with Scalera’s bulky Batman.

Duggan takes what’s previously been revealed about Mr. Freeze’s origin and fills in around it, creating a credible new picture. It reveals unacceptable behaviour without destroying the essential tragedy, offers the possibility of redemption and builds toward an ending in keeping with the Christmas period during which events take place. The first 1990s animated Batman episodes featuring Mr. Freeze have long been the benchmark for his best appearance, but the humanity of this outing comes close.

All One Bad Day hardbacks are available with a standard cover, while the smaller comic versions feature four rarer alternatives, and despite being self-contained they’re all numbered as #1. The entire run is also available together as a boxed set packaged with a hardcover edition of The Killing Joke.