Batman: Night of the Owls

Comic Info

Batman and Robin (2) #9

Reprints All-Star Western (3) #9, Batman (2) #8-9 and Annual #1, Batman:  The Dark Knight #9, Detective Comics (2) #9, Batgirl (3) #9, Batwing #9, Birds of Prey (3) #9, Nightwing (2) #8-9, Batman and Robin (2) #9, Catwoman (3) #9, and Red Hood and the Outlaws #9 (June 2012-September 2012).  For years, the Court of Owls has been lurking in Gotham City…growing power and secretly influencing events around the city.  Now, the orders have been issued by the Court of Owls, and the Talons are now attacking.  Batman has summoned the entire “Bat” family to help him protect the families of Gotham and the battle might just kill him.

Written by Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins, Tony S. Daniel, Scott Lobdell, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Gail Simone, Duane Swierczynski, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, and Judd Winick and illustrated by a slew of artists, Batman:  Night of the Owls is one of the first big crossovers of DC’s New 52.  Spanning multiple books, the event was met with mostly positive reviews.

I had been reading primarily Batman at the point Night of the Owls took place with a few other series here and there, but there series was going to be a good first demonstration of how DC would handle big events.  It works fairly well, but still has the same problem that other big crossovers (both in DC and Marvel) do cause problems for comics in general.

Nightwing (2) #9

Yes, Night of the Owls does encourage people to try new comics.  I picked up a few of the individual issues of series I had tried and quit, but for loyal readers of the series it kind of presents a jarring stopping point often.  Here, rather than make it a DC wide event, Night of the Owls was contained to Batman family which was a smarter move to make it more manageable, but with cover prices of $2.99+ for each issue, it is asking a lot of readers to pick up all the connecting titles.

Primarily this is a Batman title with Snyder obviously plotting most of the basic infrastructure of the series.  This works, and most of the issues stand as stand-alone within their series (and are also collected in various trade series).  This is good and bad in that it isn’t necessary to read all the issues, but reading them all here doesn’t really tell a cohesive story.

I do commend DC for trying harder than Marvel to tell a story that has big impact without subjecting readers to the horrible cross-title “events” that ruin other readable comics and in my opinion lead to non-readable stories in every title.  Batman:  Night of the Owls doesn’t quite come off as a roaring success, but it does work for the most part and that is a step above many event series.  If you are a fan of the Bat family titles, you should check it out (or check out some of the individual books if the series sparks an interest).

Related Links:

Batman 1:  The Court of Owls

Batman:  The Dark Knight 2:  Cycle of Violence

Batgirl 2:  Knightfall Descends

Nightwing 2:  Night of the Owls

Birds of Prey 2:  Your Kiss Might Kill

All-Star Western 2:  War of Lords and Owls