REVIEW: BATMAN #16

(w) Scott Snyder
(p) Greg Capullo
(i) Jonathan Glapion

Batman #16 is probably the weakest issue of "Death of the Family" so far. Tie-in issues aside, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Joker narrative has been one of the most intense and terrifying Batman stories in years, bringing the 'New 52' a Joker that has lost the little humanity he may have still possessed and now intends to make the world as meaningless as he perceives it to be. Unfortunately, Batman #16 is pigeonholed as the fill-in issue, complete with guest stars and a cyclical plot point that doesn't amount to anything by issue's end.

A big part of Batman #16 is showing how the Joker's plans are starting to fall apart the closer Batman gets to the heart of the matter -- with every advantage Batman gains, Joker's scheme loses traction. And this month, part of the plan includes some of Batman's most notorious enemies: the Penguin, the Riddler, and Two-Face. Why are these villains included in the plans of a whack-job whose return has been characterized by destroying personal relationships and alliances? Well, because they're important to Batman, and what's important to Bats is important to Joker. Including these rogues in his grand spectacle -- even if only for one act -- is telling of Joker's true emotional disparity when it comes to Batman. Since his return, Joker has insisted that he's necessary to keep Batman strong and to challenge the Dark Knight where others cannot. Batman #16 makes it more clear that it's Joker who needs Batman in a demented hyper-dependency kind of way. Perhaps in the year he was gone, Joker came to realize he was nothing when not standing against Batman. But, that's just the conjecture of one blogger. 

Other than Joker's twisted sensibility, not much goes on this issue. Batman journeys through Arkham Asylum, but the entire sequence feels rushed, like Batman could have spent an entire issue being poked and prodded by Joker's various booby traps and hired men, both regular and super-powered. In fact, Batman's quick trip through the spooky asylum puts Joker's plans in jeopardy as not everything is in place when Batman arrives. Cue extended sequence of monarchy metaphors relating to Batman's place amongst his rogues, and that's basically the entire issue. Near the end, Joker proves that when it comes down to brass tacks, Batman becomes weak as a result of his family, but didn't we already know that? And I'm assuming that's going to be part of next month's big finale, so why did Joker have to point it out to all of his villain friends? It just seemed like unnecessary plot development for an issue that wasn't all that stupendous.

Almost every other review I've read for Batman #16 praises the issue for showing how twisted Joker is, but haven't we been reading about how twisted the Joker is for the past three months? I'm all for taking the time to flesh out a story, but the events of this issue didn't do much more than reinforce already established ideas by throwing more Batman villains at us. I'm all for seeing Greg Capullo draw more Bat-villains. In fact, I'm all for Greg Capullo drawing more of everything because his art is incredible. Joker's stretched-face look has been creepy the entire run of "Death of the Family", but for some reason, he looks even more insane and broken than in previous issues. 

I won't tell you to not read this issue, because it's one of the main issues of "Death of the Family", but if you're wondering whether it stands on it's own as a good issue, that's up for debate. Sure, it's a penultimate issue to a five-issue-long storyline, but that means there should be a whole lot more going into the end of the issue to ramp up readers for the grand finale! Instead, we get a contrived situation that Batman will obviously escape from because it's Batman. Which is a shame because Scott Snyder truly understands that the Joker's terror doesn't come from his physical prowess, but rather from his mental acuity. Even though the man is a psychopathic, murderous criminal, he's probably the most intelligent, psychopathic, murderous criminal Batman has ever faced.

GRADE

7/10

REVIEW: BATMAN #15

(w) Scott Snyder

(a) Greg Capullo

(i) Jonathan Glapion

"Death of the Family" marches along this week in Batman #15 with a sort-of interlude issue for the whole event. This month, nearly all the Bat-books have a connection to "DotF", meaning there's a whole lot more narrative going on all around Scott Snyder's central plot. Of course, this isn't to say that this issue is boring, or any lesser quality than any other issue, it's just not as action-packed and/or thrilling as last issue's edge-of-the-seat chapter. Snyder knows how this story has to play out and what that means for Batman and his extended crime-fighting family. Batman #15 is really what this Joker-centric story is all about: the disintegration of Batman's support system. 

We know the Joker sees Batman as a king of Gotham who can't be his best because he has weights tying him down in the form of his allies. Each new Bat-hero that emerges becomes one more person Bruce has to worry about, just one more body to inevitably find, according to the Joker. He's not wrong. The best part of "Death of the Family" is that the Joker is absolutely right--while Batman might consider himself a loner (along with DC's editorial staff), the evidence of decades of sidekicks, allies, and frenemies says differently. Bruce's penchant for taking in outcasts and turning them into shadowy vigilantes points more to his obsessive need for family rather than his isolationism. Sure, every time a new Robin pops up, Bats gets pretty defensive about taking on a new partner, and he never really approved of Barbara becoming Batgirl, but the end result says that Batman needs a strong, extensive support system to maintain his desired crime-fighting lifestyle. Heck, he created Batman, Inc. just to have more allies/soldiers around the world. Bruce needs his family, and Joker knows it.

This month, Bruce reveals a shocking secret about his history with the Joker than sends Nightwing, Red Robin, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin into a hissy fit. The actual information isn't so important as the fact that Bruce kept a major secret from his allies. Bruce attempts to convince the others that Joker doesn't actually know anyone's identity and that it's all just a twisted mind game. The revelations from the past make Bruce's words somewhat hollow in the eyes of the others, and they start to question Bruce's ability to keep a clear head in the midst of this chaos. It very much feels like a turning point for Batman and his allies, that they might never fully trust each other ever again, that this is how the family falls apart.

GRADE

9/10

BATMAN #13

(W) Scott Snyder
(P) Greg Capullo
(I) Jonathan Glapion

"What?! You've heard this one, too?"

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have brought back the Joker. I have a feeling this plan to keep Batman's archnemesis out of sight and out of mind for a full year was completely deliberate. There have been interviews where Snyder explains how he wanted to do the "Court of Owls" first, but the opening pages of Batman #13 might suggest differently. Not once in the entire "Court of Owls" arc was I as terrified as I was during this issue. Somehow, Snyder has tapped into the most frightening, pathological version of the Joker ever seen, and it's comic book dynamite.

The opening scene revolved around the Joker returning to Gotham City to retrieve his face from the GCPD. If you remember last year, in Detective Comics #1, Joker allowed his face to be cut off by the Dollmaker, a symbolic gesture towards Gotham and it's citizens more than anything, a sign that he was gone but not gone. It's when the lights go out and a mysterious figure stands in the doorframe that Jim Gordon understands what is happening, and he does everything he can to stop the Joker from going on a rampage through the police department, snapping necks as he goes. The entire scene is absolutely chilling. It's hard to write blackout dialogue - the use of darkness makes it hard to discern who is speaking to whom. But the lettering throughout this scene is what makes it so damn scary. The Joker's word balloons are scratchy, jagged, and nearly broken, much like the man himself. It not only makes it easier to read, but it adds that extra layer of creepiness.

The rest of the issue is mostly dedicated to Batman searching for the Clown Prince of Comedy. First, Bruce is forced to field a volley of communications from Nightwing, Red Robin, and Batgirl concerning Joker's return. Batgirl's the only one Bruce is reluctant to contact, but soon gets chewed out by Barbara herself when she discovers her father was attacked at his job. During the investigation, Joker takes over TV broadcasts and forces an innocent civilian to proclaim the Joker's return before he's shot in the temple. Snyder is amazing at writing horrific melodrama, and this might just be some of the best work he's ever done.

I usually don't discuss artwork too much because visual art is so often in the eye of the beholder. There are, of course, times when it's appropriate to discuss the panels and pencilling because they have some important connection to the story in general. In Batman #13, Greg Capullo works overtime to make sure Snyder's gritty scripts are coming across correctly. Without Capullo's intricacies, the scene with Joker in the GCPD wouldn't have been nearly as haunting, and his Joker re-design is simply the most horrifying he's ever looked. Again, without this level of visual quality, Snyder's words wouldn't have nearly as much impact.

One of the best things about Batman #13 is how much Snyder is able to stuff into one issue without coming across as detail-obsessed (William Faulkner, anyone?) The murder of a man on live television and the claim that Mayor Hady would be dead at midnight all connects back to the Joker's first appearance (according to Batman) and must have some importance in the present. Then there's the Harley sequence! Yes, Harley Quinn adorns the original Red Hood outfit - worn by Joker before he was Joker - to confront Batman, hoping to catch him off-guard and get him away from his cave. That's all I want to give away because the final pages are just so damn amazing.

GRADE

9/10

AQUAMAN #11

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Jonathan Glapion, and Andy Lanning

While he gets out all of the cosmic-level threats and crossover bonanzas with Green Lantern, Geoff Johns saves the scandal and intrigue for Aquaman, a series that has been one of the 'New 52's best titles, not only for it's fantastic arcs and high-caliber artwork, but also because this is a character who has never really been treated right, so Johns is doing everything he can to right that wrong. "The Others" started off rather vague, only sparingly giving readers small amounts of information regarding the team Arthur was on before the Justice League. Most of this arc has been about Aquaman's relationship with his arch-nemesis Black Manta and how it differentiates from old DCU canon, even on a metafictional level. So it's nice that in Aquaman #11, Johns gives us a little more character development for some of the...well...other members of the Others.

"The Others" is starting to feel like 'Arthur Curry's Asshole Hour' because he just can't seem to be nice to any of his former teammates. While the King of Atlantis may have shown some compassion to some persons during the run of "The Trench", all of that seems to have been washed away in favor of a far more pig-headed version of Arthur that wont listen to anyone else and makes rash, impulsive decisions that hurt him and those around him. And while I'm confident this is all part of Johns' plan for Aquaman, it's a bit disconcerting to see the character so violently shaken from his generally stoic presence. Then again, having to deal with a vengeful criminal who happens to be a genius super villain can push a man.

If the Justice League is supposed to be the cool kids club, then the Others is definitely the nerd table. Aquaman himself straddles the line between mainstream and alternative, while the four other remaining members all have some quirk that keeps them from enjoying an actual life outside their powers. Prisoner is haunted by the memories of his military squad and their families - he constantly feels the pain of having lost his surrogate brothers, while simultaneously feeling empty because he had no real family of his own. The Operative - whom we discovered is an elderly gentleman last issue - assumes the thankless mantle of the "nameless agent working for every side..." then using those relationships to garner support when need be. As evidenced by his age, the Operative seems to believe his actions are necessary to keep the world spinning, so to speak.

Vostok quickly becomes the most interesting of the team after his quick tale of growing up in a Russian isolation chamber (with literally no human contact at all) in preparation to be the nation's greatest Cosmonaut, a dream that faded when the program was cancelled and Vostok was released, left to wander a world full of creatures and things he have never seen. Vostok admits to the team that he's been on the moon for two years, "waiting for you to contact me." Even on a team of misfits, Vostok is 'out there'. All of the Others are outsiders who don't fit into normal society, and they came together because of this fact.


"The Others" continues to be dynamite. Johns is weaving an intricate melodrama that's less about the sinking of Atlantis and more about Arthur Curry's relationship with his past. While Black Manta represents the worst of Aquaman's history, the Others represent the best of his younger days. Unfortunately, Arthur is only focused on defeating Black Manta, forsaking the help of his allies and opting to rush in by himself. Black Manta's big find at issue's end also promises big things for the next issue.

GRADE:

A

JUSTICE LEAGUE #11

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Jonathan Glapion

The problem with writing for an ensemble is making each character interesting and a part of the story. This is hard enough to accomplish in film, TV, or even books, and it's even harder to do in a comic book such as Justice League. Not only does Geoff Johns feature each member of the League - at least a little bit - in nearly every issue, he's also been doing a fantastic job conveying each character's personality through their behavior while part of a team dynamic. Ever since DC relaunched it's entire line, a big complaint from many critics and fans alike has been Hal Jordan's brash and jerky behavior as opposed to his traditional 'All-American' personality that defined him for so many years. I'd like to argue that Hal Jordan was getting boring, and Johns has finally given Earth's preeminent Green Lantern a reason to be interested in him, even if that means loving to hate his asshole tendencies.

A big part of what makes Justice League so interesting to read, whether you think it's a good book or not, is that it presents each hero in circumstances out of their comfort zone. For Diana, it means working with others and compromising when it makes logical sense. Steve Trevor is hostage to Graves, and Diana wants to go after them alone, while Hal tried to talk her into sticking with the League and tracking down Graves together. Hal and Diana's face-off is great and gives a great deal more meaning to their working relationship. Us readers haven't seen much of the time between Darkseid's attack and this current Graves situation, which leaves a lot of room open for Johns to play around with each members' relationship with the others. "You've been dying for this, haven't you?" asks Hal to Diana, obviously rhetorically. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman apparently have some built-up tension that finally manages to break their respective patiences and they proceed to get into a fist fight that Graves somehow manages to broadcast across the globe. Of course, Hal's only the first one to stop Diana from making a mistake by going off alone, and soon, Superman is on the ground, too. Cyborg finally teleports the entire team north to David Graves' writing cabin, where they hope to find Graves himself as well as poor Steve Trevor. 



At the beginning of the issue, Graves goes to torment Tracy Trevor, Steve's sister, for some unexplained reason. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be any actual motive for Graves' visit other than to tell Tracy that he's going to kill her brother and that she should be grateful that she wont have to witness it. The League follows Graves' only to be berated by Tracy about their irresponsibility with her brother, not only professionally, but also intimately. While I understand that this scene facilitates Wonder Woman's eventual lashing-out at the other Leaguers, it really feels clumsy, like this scene came together at the last moment and inconsistencies - like the villain's reason for his actions? - were simply overlooked.



The problem with writing for an ensemble is making each character interesting and a part of the story. This is hard enough to accomplish in film, TV, or even books, and it's even harder to do in a comic book such as Justice League. Not only does Geoff Johns feature each member of the League - at least a little bit - in nearly every issue, he's also been doing a fantastic job conveying each character's personality through their behavior while part of a team dynamic. Ever since DC relaunched it's entire line, a big complaint from many critics and fans alike has been Hal Jordan's brash and jerky behavior as opposed to his traditional 'All-American' personality that defined him for so many years. I'd like to argue that Hal Jordan was getting boring, and Johns has finally given Earth's preeminent Green Lantern a reason to be interested in him, even if that means loving to hate his asshole tendencies.


A big part of what makes Justice League so interesting to read, whether you think it's a good book or not, is that it presents each hero in circumstances out of their comfort zone. For Diana, it means working with others and compromising when it makes logical sense. Steve Trevor is hostage to Graves, and Diana wants to go after them alone, while Hal tried to talk her into sticking with the League and tracking down Graves together. Hal and Diana's face-off is great and gives a great deal more meaning to their working relationship. Us readers haven't seen much of the time between Darkseid's attack and this current Graves situation, which leaves a lot of room open for Johns to play around with each members' relationship with the others. "You've been dying for this, haven't you?" asks Hal to Diana, obviously rhetorically. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman apparently have some built-up tension that finally manages to break their respective patiences and they proceed to get into a fist fight that Graves somehow manages to broadcast across the globe. Of course, Hal's only the first one to stop Diana from making a mistake by going off alone, and soon, Superman is on the ground, too. Cyborg finally teleports the entire team north to David Graves' writing cabin, where they hope to find Graves himself as well as poor Steve Trevor. 

Not even Graves can describe himself in a simple way...

At the beginning of the issue, Graves goes to torment Tracy Trevor, Steve's sister, for some unexplained reason. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be any actual motive for Graves' visit other than to (again, inexplicably) give Tracy his abridged life story and power set origin, then tell her that he's going to kill her brother and that she should be grateful that she wont have to witness it...What?  The League follows Graves only to be berated by Tracy about their irresponsibility with her brother professionally and also intimately. While I understand that this scene facilitates Wonder Woman's eventual lashing-out at the other Leaguers, it really feels clumsy, like this scene came together at the last moment, so  inconsistencies - like the villain's reason for his actions? - were simply overlooked.


On top of that, Johns takes even more time - later in the issue - to finish giving us Grave's origin story. At the end of it all, Graves just feels like a villain that's too forced for his own good. Darkseid: evil alien warlord whose search for the anti-life equation leads him to become an intergalactic conqueror. See? One sentence to describe one of the most iconic Superman villains of all time. Graves: author whose family died as an indirect result of a Justice League-related battle, so he seeks out haunted gods who will  fuse him with the spirits of his dead family, thus giving him a weird, alien-lizard look...and he can use his powers(?) to make people see their dead family members, and take away their energy, I guess. If that sentence was as painful to read as it was to write, you'll understand how silly of a character Graves really seems.


I like Justice League. You get to see a different side of your favorite heroes and, more often than not, it's exciting and fun to read, which is the real goal of all comic books. "The Villain's Journey" started out strong, with a path that had the potential to produce an awesome new nemesis for the League. Instead, we got Graves, a whiney writer who has deluded himself into believing the Justice League is responsible for his family's eventual death.

SCORE

7.7/10

BATMAN #11

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

This month, Scott Snyder wraps up "City of Owls", the mega-arc that has spanned all eleven current issues of Batman as well as all the other Bat-books during the "Night of the Owls" crossover in May. It's difficult to explain just how significant the Cour of Owls has become in less than a year. While (pretty much) every other book is showcasing character history, new threats, or reimagined ideas, Snyder has built a new entity in the DC universe akin - in narrative scope - to the Green Lantern Corps or the Legion of Superheroes. The Court is now a major player in the going-ons of more than just Batman, and that's a remarkable achievement. DC is so invested in the Court affecting the future, that it's debuting Talon - a new ongoing series based on the Court of Owls - as part of the "Third Wave" of titles slated for a September premier. Along with last month's revelation about Bruce Wayne's younger brother, Snyder has truly made a significant impact on the DC universe.


Batman #11 is split into to distinct acts: Batman vs. Owlman, and Bruce's epilogue-y lament about the Court. While Snyder's inter-character dynamic has been phenomenal thus far, he slips a bit here with Owlman's monologue. The first 15 pages are dedicated to Lincoln March (I'm going to call him that because it sounds cooler than Thomas Wayne Jr.) and his issues with Bruce, his father, and Gotham City at-large. After a few pages, March's angry rant starts sounding whiney and pathetic. The whole speech is supposedly meant to give the readers a sense of how sad March's life has been. Unfortunately, condensing this aspect of the arc to a single issue makes it come across as a little disingenuous. March has spent years and years hating Bruce, so having a few choice words for his older brother wouldn't be that abnormal, but to seemingly have an entire speech memorized - one that has an ascending and descending flow - whilst dragging another person through the sky is a bit far-fetched, even for Batman.

Which brings me to my second big gripe with their battle. March's Owlman suit gives him flight abilities, so he jets around Gotham with Bruce flailing behind him connected to some tether. At one point, March shoots into the sky and dangled Bruce in front of a passenger plane turbine engine. It's a dramatically drawn scene, but the reality of having a conversation only inches away from a furiously spinning plane engine is that it couldn't possibly happen. The sheer noise emitted from the engine would drown out anything else. While this might seem trivial on some level, it's a sloppy mistake that should have been changed. There wasn't any meaningful reason why March decides to use a plane as a torture device, so there's no reason why the scene couldn't have been made to be more realistic. Fortunately, Act II fares a lot better than the Owlman fight.


Bruised and (mostly) broken, Bruce is visited by Dick Grayson. Their awkward conversation stems from their last meeting, in which Bruce bitch-slapped a Court of Owls gold tooth cap out of Dick's mouth. Dick has a vivid memory of this, while Bruce tries to breeze right past this subject and into his feelings about the Court. While I normally don't condone pages filled with speech bubbles, it's nice to see Bruce out of the suit and a little more relaxed than usual. Snyder recognizes that he's been putting old Bats through the ringer for some time now, and that a little downtime is needed. That being said, Batman's downtime is all about debriefing. Bruce understands that Gotham isn't his - or Batman's, for that matter - and that he can't know everything about the city he thought was familiar - "Part of me was doing [the Gotham expansion initiative] to have more lookouts. More bases for Batman rather than the city itself. But I see now that I was wrong." Snyder deftly handles this scene, giving an honest portrayal of a man finally understands his place in his own world.


The Court of Owls is poised to be a major part of the DC universe moving forward. Scott Snyder has done what many writers only dream of doing - making a significant impact on a character and their universe. If all comic books were this good, there would be a whole new mainstream appreciation for this form.

GRADE

 A-

(COMIC) BATMAN #10

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

** HEAVY SPOILERS. READ ISSUE BFORE READING REVIEW**



Now that "Night of the Owls" is over, most of the other Bat-books have gotten back to their regularly-scheduled story arcs, except for Batman, Scott Snyder's golden series that cannot seem to do any wrong. Every month, Snyder and Greg Capullo combine intricate, devastatingly good narrative with sharp, clean art that actually conveys emotion and behavior. Basically, Batman has been a joy to read and look at since issue one. Every month, I sit back after reading Snyder's work and just think about how good it was - I don't write the review immediately, and I don't reread it again for a few hours. I like to go over the events, think about how Capullo's artwork makes Snyder's words even better, and how everything is always leading to something bigger.  Batman #10 keeps Bruce on the trail of the Court of Owls, intent to take them down for good.

In fact, Bruce tracks them down to Harbor House, the building he ventured into decades earlier, hoping to connect the Court of Owls to the murders of his parents. As a boy, he found nothing, but this time, Batman knows the Court is there; he knows that he's got them all cornered.

Until he discovers they're already dead.

Honestly, this first act of the issue is pretty anti-climactic. The Court has been a chilling presence to be reckoned with since it's first images in Batman #1 back in September. Their owl masks and dapper appearances made them villains with an intense duality of enigmatic means and public wealth. Not unlike the best secret societies throughout the history of human culture, the Court's power comes from their secrecy and their secrecy comes from their power. Snyder is forced to take out the entire Court with a mass suicide through poisoned wine in order to advance the story to it's conclusion. Ever the skeptic, Bruce makes sure the members of the Court are legitimate before descending into frustration.

The second - and shortest - act of the issue shows us Bruce's detective skills telling him it doesn't add up; the Court's collective suicide was a facade for something bigger.

I'm just going to come out and say it:

LINCOLN MARCH IS BRUCE'S BROTHER, THOMAS WAYNE JR.!

The final act of Batman #10 brings back Lincoln March after his swift death at the hands of a Talon last month. In a grand, final twist in the entire "Court of Owls" saga, Scott Snyder reveals that Lincoln March is actually the youngest Wayne son, defective at birth and sent to live at a children's hospital to heal. When the Wayne's were suddenly murdered, Junior was lost to the system, leaving him ripe for the picking by the Court as a moldable man - someone they could build and change to suit their needs. It's a pretty devastating reveal (one that will have ramifications for years to come, I'm sure), not to mention Lincoln/Tommy-J. injected himself with the reanimation syrum before the Talon got to him. Yep, he's a zombie now. And he's got the Court's newest Talon armor they had been developing before they decided to reanimate the old Talons. The issue ends with the new Owlman lunging toward Batman with the hate only a long-lost brother can harbor.

It was a pretty bold decision to not only introduce Bruce's brother, but also to revamp him as Owlman, a character that has traditionally been an evil, alternate version of Batman from the parallel Earth-3. I'm not sure how much I like these decisions yet, but they're HUGE nonetheless.

GRADE:

A

(NIGHT OF THE OWLS) BATMAN #9

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

The shit has hit the fan.

Scott Snyder has spent the last year crafting one of the best Batman storylines in years - and it didn't involve a death of a main character! Snyder's Court of Owls is such a great metaphor for the unknown, the uncovered. This month puts Bruce right into the thick of the "Night of the Owls", first by finishing up his fight in the Batcave, then to save Lincoln March, a character Snyder developed fantastically early on in the series and is just now coming back...only to die.

Batman #9 is probably one of the least plot-heavy issues of the series to date, relying mostly on action sequences to push it forward. While this might normally be a problem, "Night of the Owls" continues on through issue eleven in Batman - while only crossing over with the other Bat books this month - so stretching out Bruce's plot isn't as detrimental as it could be. The first half of the issue is spent wrapping up the attack on Wayne Manor, pitting Mecha-Batman against a half-dozen Talons. Alfred is dropping the cave's temperature as fast as he can to counteract the Talons' regenerative abilities and the Bat-Gundam is slowly being torn to pieces. 

Of course, the Talons finally freeze and Bruce makes his escape to go and save Jeremiah Arkham - a plot point added at the eleventh hour - before going after March. Bruce's visit to Arkham Asylum is depicted in the pages of last week's Detective Comics in rather dull detail. Fortunately, March's panels at the end of the issue are superb, and while his time in the Batman universe has been brief, he was such a good foil to Bruce that I still felt upset when he died. His last words are about how great Gotham can be, telling Batman to make sure Bruce Wayne knows that the dream shouldn't die. It's probably one of the best emotional moments in the series so far, and it simply pushes Bruce past the edge.

GRADE:

A+

(NIGHT OF THE OWLS) BATMAN #8

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

Ladies and Gentlemen, "Night of the Owls" has begun!

Scott Snyder kicks things off for us this month with a stunning issue of Batman that sets up the infestation of Gotham City while pitting Bruce against more Talons than Alfred can count. "The Court of Owls" was a great storyline, one where Snyder attempted to convey the kind of enigma-shrouded terror that the Court and their Talon instilled, not only in Batman, but also the audience. While this might sound like a no-brained when it comes to comic books en masse, it's not often that writers want the audience to take the emotional journey with the main character. Too often, being a removed, third-person omniscient narrator allows writers too much leeway to show readers everything all the time instead of parsing it out over time.

While any regular Batman reader would, at this point, know what's going on, the emotional element is how Snyder creates such fantastic stories. The Court of Owls represents Batman's failures, not in defeating his enemies, but in truly understanding what it is that he's fighting. Bruce believed he was Gotham's Son, a man with such an intensely personal relationship with the city that it couldn't be rivaled. The revelation of the Court's existence crushes Bruce's esteem and confidence, turning him into a whining 12 year old girl who was called a "bitch" at school by Becky Johansen. Or - in the Batman version of this pre-teen - Bruce stands in the dark staring at a model version of Gotham City as he gazes past the buildings and into it's soul.

The actual attack by the Talons is truly terrifying. Written media rarely makes my skin crawl (the exceptions being Mark Z. Danielewski's fantastic House of Leaves, and the utter decrepit violence in Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s Kick-Ass) yet the threat of the Talons growing larger with every passing second sent chills down my back. I worried for Alfred, alone in the cave as a lone Talon came after him, and I worried again when the Talons start realizing that Bruce is Batman.

With fantastic art by Greg Capullo, a completely engaging narrative that ropes you in and never lets go, and a great lead-in to the main events in Gotham next month, Batman #8 is the best issue of the series to date, something Scott Snyder better stop doing soon before he can't outdo himself anymore!

GRADE:

A+

(COMIC) BATMAN #7

Written by Scott Snyder
Artwork by Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

It's been a few months since Scott Snyder has given readers much exposition in the pages of Batman. Of course, this wasn't bad at all. In fact, issues five and six were some of the more cerebral issues in recent history. But it's nice to get a little more framework for the coming "Night of the Owls" crossover event. At the end of the last issue, Bruce finally escaped from the Court's labyrinth and his own nightmares. Back at the cave, Alfred found the body of the Talon in the ice of the Gotham River. And because Batman almost literally never gets any sleep, he goes to work immediately with the autopsy.

The Talon is discovered to be a reanimated corpse doing the Court's bidding. Throughout the "Court of Owls" arc, the Talon's strength and voracity have been shockingly powerful, so it's nice to get some explanation as to why. Snyder throws a curveball this month by identifying the man as Dick Grayson's great-grandfather, William Cobb. After a weird emo-meltdown from Nightwing in the cave, Bruce matches a tooth of Dick's to a tooth of William's, confirming Bruce's suspicions that Haley's Circus provided agile young men to the Court to be trained as Talons. Bruce's quick connections feel a little sloppy in execution. One moment, Bruce is explaining the reanimation process (similarly sloppy, but this time because Snyder rushes through it), and the next, Nightwing is lambasting Batman for trying to shake him up.

Next month's Batman and Nightwing both act as prelude issues to May's giant "Night of the Owls" event, and from the looks of the last few pages of issue seven, things are about to get a lot more messy for Batman.

GRADE:

B-

(REVIEW) Batman #6

Written by Scott Snyder
Artwork by Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

Batman is the best title from DC's 'New 52'. By and far, Scott Snyder has created one of the most engaging Batman stories in years. And he didn't even need to kill Bruce Wayne! For quite a while, DC has used a host of gimmicks to tell more compelling tales of the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, these gimmicks have quickly faded away and brought us back to Bruce, Batman, and the Gotham way. That's why the Court of Owls is ingenius. As a threat that has been operating under Bruce's nose for so long - and throughout the past 200 years - the Court is the best kind of 'evil' for a character like Batman; one that represents the unknown and familiarity at the same time.

After multiple visits from the 'Talon', a bunch of group photos through the years, and a short TV screen appearance, the Court of Owls comes out of the shadows. Broken and defeated, Batman is presented to the Court by their steadfast assassin. The Talon inquires how he should kill Batman, to which they reply "Hurt him, more." It's a haunting scene and one that Snyder nails from beginning to end. The ever-loyal Talon's complete obedience is extremely well written and the Court's own traditions are conveyed as the perverted, sadistic rituals they are. It's fantastic.

Greg Capullo has also been pulling his weight. The artwork in this issue is so smooth and flows so well that you sometimes barely notice the subtle changes from reality to Bruce's dementia. The Court's shift from suit-laced to talon-handed is great, truly showing just how far Bruce is gone and how much effort he must exert to fight back.

After hearing that the first arc of Batman would lead into the "Night of the Owls" crossover event, I knew DC was finally getting it. Good crossovers and events happen organically and come from intuitive ideas. Unlike their mega-event craziness over the past ten years, DC has opted for lower-scale crossovers that enhance the mythos of these characters instead of throwing them into unbelievable situations that are supposed to 'change everything.' And with the final pages of Batman #6, we're given a great prelude to this summer's crossover event as the Court decides to unleash their army of (seemingly) hundreds of Talons across Gotham City, all because Bruce escaped their talons clutches.

This was one of the best issues of any Batman-related books I've ever read, and it's one of the best issues I've read ever. Keep up the good work, boys.

GRADE:

A+