Batman: The Dark Knight #9

[superfangirl1]

Comments

[simiansyndicate]

O hai Wolverine from issue #132 of Uncanny X-men!

[glprime]

Noice.

[maxisanacorn]

blah blah blah owls boring. Where were the owls during Batman RIP if they are such an engrained Gotham institution trying to bring down Batman.

You'd think they'd do a subtle retcon there, have the owls being approached by the Black Glove. Anything.

In all respects despite their range Hurt and the range of Black Glove villains and the Batman and Robin villains of the Oberton Sexton arc and now the villains of Leviathan and Ourobous are just....far more interesting than the Owls. I love Snyder, he's done some great things for Batman and his open love and usage for Cassandra Cain is entirely refreshing (he seems sympathetic about the Bat femmes probably not much he can do) but this Owls thing isn't very unique in the least.

[lascoden]

I've been enjoying it. They are a little nondescript (guess that's the right word) but I kinda like that. It's basically a story where Batman must fight Gotham City itself. They are pure greed, wrath, and pettiness. They are the living essence of the city.

[icon_uk]

I'm with maxisanacorn on this, what you say is accurate, but if it IS accurate, where the hell have these people been all this time? Why tolerate Batman and his bird-brood for five years, during which time Lord only knows what calamities have befallen their city (them being inactive in No Mans Land is completely improbable). Heck, why not approach young Bruce Wayne and induct him as a member, or even have him as a candidate for Talon, rather than, as I've doubtless whined before, contaminate Dick's origin with this mess?

And if subtlety has been their watchword for the past several hundred years, why this OTT bloodfest now?

[sherkahn]

I think the Owls are a part of Gotham's new history thanks to Flashpoint.

[jlbarnett]

yes, but then their past encounters should at least rate a mention. But this is their first time engaging each other.

To me this whole thing seems little more than an origin of Owlman next time the Justice League meets the Crime Syndicate

[mrstatham]

For all we know, one of the members of the Court could have been present at Hurt's big Arkham party. They don't always wear the masks, after all.

[lascoden]

I was worried there for a second that they were going to make the Talon responsible for the Graysons' deaths.

[glprime]

Likewise. The damn rope was "cut," I don't need to keep hearing how or why, it was. Let's move on.

[icon_uk]

Aside from a desperately misleading cover, despite Tim's prominence on it he's in one bloody panel as a background character, I thought this was a rather dull story, and also throws up more annoying bits on the Talons.

Basically, this issue categorically states that Batman had met a Talon before, the Talon above. Has there been ANY hint that he has recognised the look of the Talons from a previous encounter?

It also suggests that there are many more Talon's than we've seen, easily a couple of dozen, at best Batman and co have stopped only a fraction of that and so Gotham is still pretty much screwed.

[maseiken]

Scarecrow! :D

[md84]

My guess is that the Owls are only getting involved now because they are scared of Batman. From the very beginning he's been a thorn in their side. He took their most promising Talon away from them. He's challenged the classism and despair in Gotham that is their bread and butter. And he's been supporting prominent people in Gotham that would never cooperate with the Court.

The Court needs to get rid of him NOW, or they could lose Gotham forever, if they haven't already lost it.

[mrstatham]

I think this was explicitly stated in-story. The Court didn't care about Bruce until he started pouring real money into trying to fix Gotham - and didn't care about Batman until he began to investigate them.

[damar148]

By the skull, I'm assuming the guy is about to get a run in with Croc.

[icon_uk]

This is Gotham City, you can probably find a skull on every street corner...

[thanekos]

Well, at least when someone wants to beat up a Talon post-Owls, there'll be this guy.

[mrstatham]

*cough cough* Owlman *cough cough*

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I'm surprised it took this long to occur to me, but...

So an all powerful secret society gets their most dangerous weapons...from any traveling circus that happens to swing by the town? What, is training them too much effort?

And just how freakin' many acrobats would the circus go through? You'd think that someone would notice how the children of star acts keep disappearing/dying.

The escape artist from Breakout Kings was a more well thought out idea, yeesh...

[icon_uk]

No, apparently the Court has owned and operated Haly's circus for a couple of centuries now. That way they can attract and recruit appropriate young daredevils and they only recruit/fake their deaths when they need a new Talon, or when someone truly exceptional shows up (as in Dick's case)

I agree though that it just doesn't work, Haly's WOULD have a reputation amongst circus performers all over the world by now, and the Grayson's would never have joined/stayed if there was the slightest chance Dick might be hurt.

[md84]

I do like the idea of a secret society full of themselves being absolutely scared out of their minds and risking everything they spent centuries building because one man's altruism could bring it all down if they didn't. I also like the idea that the Court is more afraid of Bruce Wayne than they are of Batman. The Court relies on Gotham staying a wretched hive for their power, and Bruce the billionaire could do more to change that than Batman.

[mrstatham]

This. I think Snyder's execution could just use a lot of work, since the Court is a very powerful idea and one quite different than the usual insane villains or even a mob group.

[kraesil]

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Reading the comments so far, I think the reboot was a mistake. It creates too much problems.

[mrstatham]

Pretty much. Either they should have gone all the way or they shouldn't have bothered because this is just a complete clusterfuck in many ways.

In Batman's case, the reboot

[md84]

In Batman's case, the reboot seems to be trying to have it's cake and eat it too. You have to either go all they way or don't do it at all.

Batman going through Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damien in the span of five years, while Barbara still went through Killing Joke and a stint as Oracle? That makes absolutely no sense.

Is this even working as a marketing strategy? Are sales really going up among the younger demographic because of the reboot?