My review of Batman: The Court of Owls (2011) From: DC comics!

 

 

This book surpassed my expectations in a way I was not prepared for. I was getting ready to call this book bad for being so slow. I was going to say it's just not worth paying $8 even for the compact version. But no, this book should be taught to people who want to write comic books; but as always there is MUCH to discuss so let’s get into it.

Written by Scott Snyder, Scott knew what he was doing. Scott was playing the long game; it wasn’t until halfway through the middle issues that the ball began rolling. Comparing this masterpiece to the film adaptation would be like comparing a cheap box wine to a fine Burgundy or a Bordeaux. It’s the same but executed in two astoundingly different ways. The movie tries to humanize Talon and make you sympathize with Talon. But by doing that it completely rewrites his origin, leaving no room for legitimate sentiment. So, the film makers had to make a sentimental McGuffin, aka the Robin and Talon thing. (Spoiler alert) In the book what Scott did was have Talon believe he is truly Thomas Wayne Jr. He left the story open-ended, so you could believe that he is or isn’t Bruce’s brother it’s up to the readers to decide.

Greg Capullo was the artist who illustrated this Masterpiece.  Greg’s art in this story was something special, the way he drew the characters. The wide panels were incredibly detailed; his shadow work was also impressive. His art in this reminds me of Frank Quitety’s art in All-Star Superman and the art from Frank Miller and Klaus Janson in The Dark Knight Returns.  I’m not sure how to describe that style, but it reminds me of their styles.

 

If you're going to read this and you do not like exposition heavy stories, this is not for you. If you like quick action this is not for you. You have to have an acquired taste to love this. You have to like Rick and Morty to like this. You have to like the origin of Sandman from Spider-Man 3 to like this. If you’re looking for a Batman story where he's just kicking and punching this isn’t it. This is a detective story. There's so many layers you have to peel back in order to understand the story. You have to enjoy exposition, world building, and detailed stories in order to appreciate this masterpiece, otherwise you’re going to be fidgeting while looking at your watch every 5 minutes.

 

 

All in all I give this a 8 out of 10 Batcopters