Stretch your neck muscles everybody, and get ready for a surreal experience. So early in the year, and Batman #5 already looks like the best book of 2012. "Face the Court" is so good that it just should not be allowed. The emotional intensity, the desperation, the sheer madness of it is so enthralling, that each page in its crazy beauty becomes a tendril that traps readers until there is no escape from them... just like what the Court of Owls is doing to Batman.

I don't think I have ever felt this uncomfortable or disturbed (in a good way, if there is such a thing) after reading a comic; I'm not even wondering what's going to happen next; I am just trying to snap out of it and let this issue sink in; that talks volumes of its creators. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's carefulness in crafting each panel of this issue is evident; from Siggy to Damian, and all the psychological thrill in between, this issue was a true masterpiece.