So..ummm.... did no one notice that DC killed Dick Grayson this week

[icon_uk]

No joke, in the pages of Justice League 23.4 (or "Secret Society" as it might otherwise be known) where Nightwing is a prisoner of the Crime Syndicate....



Okay, minor fake out admission here, it IS Dick Grayson, but it's not OUR Dick Grayson, it's the one from the Crime Syndicate Earth who, as Talon, was partner to Thomas "Owlman" Wayne.... emphasis on the "was".

The story is told from the viewpoint of the alt-Alfred, known as "The Outsider" as a flashback to how and why they are on "our" Earth.

We open with a rather confusing flashback to Owlman's origin, how his parents were gunned down, apparently by the Police...

Then we cut to a later point, where Owlman is pursing Talon, with Alfred in hot pursuit...



We are left with no clue what any of that means, for now.



Couple of nods to events there, it's not unreasonable to suppose that THIS Thomas Wayne embraced membership of the Court of Owls (r possibly runs them... or replaced them, we don't know as yet) and also used his position, and ownership of Haley's Circus to make sure that Dick's potential future as a Talon came true, or something like that. Also that he lives at Arkham Manor (Which ties in with Superwoman's surprise that it was an Asylum on our Earth). Throwaway reference to Leslie Thompkins, also to the bad.

So Talon is, for some reason pursuing the Joker, because of something connected to the death of his parents...



So we find out that the Joker is still a force of chaos, but against the tyrranical control of the Crime Syndicate. He IS clearly still a homicidal maniac, though as we don't know how vicious Talon was, but we DO know how crutal Owlman is, it might be viewed as justifiable (if overelaborate) homicide.

The gift wrapping is a suitably Joker--ish touch.

Joker moves in to attack Owlman with gimmicked playing cards, only to be shot at point blank range (in the hand) by Alfred.



The Joker manages to douse Alfred with Joker venom, and before it can have it's lethal effect Owlman gives him the antidote, but which explains current Outsider-Alfred's chalk white pallor, a permanent side effect.

And as he returns to the here and now, Outsider-Alfred ponders...



Have to wonder how this one will end up.... a good few questions left about the nature of the Owlman/Talon relationship, and what Alfred has to do with it.

Also, one hopes that the gruesome dismemberment of one Dick Grayson is enough to slake the more vicous thirsts at DC for this event!
 

Comments

[janegray]

Wait... Wasn't Talon a good guy? I thought he was a "defector from decadence" or something. Didn't he use to date Joker's Daughter pre-52?

[icon_uk]

If it's pre-Reboot it doesn't count because it's a different continuity.

And for all we know Talon might have been a relatively decent guy, or at least a humanising effect on Owlman.

[superfangirl1]

They really have changed Earth-3 quite a bit. I remember their Joker (Jokester) wasn't that sadistic and I remember Talon falling in love with his daughter and causing him to switch sides.

[thanekos]

Two for the legs, one for the torso.. the latter of which, I assume has a little more space in the bottom for things dangling.

[icon_uk]

Not that I dwelled upon it, but given the length of the leg boxes I might think that the torso was cut off at the waist and the legs included everything from the waist down, just bisected....

[crimsonmoonmist]

So did Outsider kill Owlman's parents on accident and is serving him to repent or is there something else going on?

[kamino_neko]

Not yet revealed, though that's not a terrible theory.

My theory is Alfred was aligned with the Court of Owls and killed the Waynes on their behest, then took on the role of Thomas and Bruce's guardian, eventually bringing them into the Court (which Thomas took to, but Bruce did not).

[icon_uk]

It's not made clear, in fact it's very UNclear since Alfred wasn't actually there for the shoot-out. I think it might be that he set them up to be killed.

[jlroberson]

I'm thinking it's something like the origin of the Batman parody character in MARSHAL LAW: KINGDOM OF THE BLIND, wherein he put a hit out on his own parents.

[coldfiredragon]

I was amazed that this made it almost five days without being posted! I was very disappointed with the community for not jumping on this Thursday morning.

This issue was such a cluster to read! I had to read the whole thing twice to figure out what the hell actually happened!

[icon_uk]

In my own defence, I normally never buy Justice League and had no clue that this was happening until I chanced upon a page or two on tumblr.

[cainofdreaming]

So, Owlman and Superwoman keep sneaking into a soundproof, airtight lead box. And Ultraman hasn't got a clue?

Not the brightest crayon, is he?

[chrisdv]

They're planning a surprise party for him.

Thoroughly.

[donnblake]

He's too busy flying into space every three minutes to shove the moon back in front of the sun.

[thatnickguy]

Hang on. Doesn't Talon still have his own title? Or has that been cancelled on on the cancelling block?

[coldfiredragon]

It's not the Talon you are thinking of. The Talon they are talking about in this comic is the Earth 3 version of Dick, who's code-name IS Talon.

[coldfiredragon]

The story for the actual 'Talon' book, featuring Calvin Ross (I think that's the name) got set up in the 'Court of Owls' villain one-shot. The Court plans to awaken the first of their Talon and set him loose on Gotham.

[zapbiffpow]

Poor Talon, to have ended up that way. I bet he was one of Earth Three's genuinely decent masks, just thrown into very, very twisted circumstances.

I do like knowing what happened to the Outsider, though. Plus there's some questions ripe for a good story or two, like what happened to Earth Three and who that traitor was that the CSA dragged along with them.

[kuronotenshi]

My guess is that the traitor that comes along was Alex/Lex Luthor from their world, given he's usually the hero/fixer when they do a CSA cross-over event...any time.

Kinda interesting to see what turned Outsider into...that. But yeah.

[masterdick161]

Wait, they didn't kill our Dick? I saw where "Talon" was killed and then at the end where Dick was tied up and Alfred was talking about how he "should have" killed him cause now Owlman will try and recruit him. Hopefully he "plays along" and beats them from the inside out. That would be perfect (just like he did in the Justice League against Crime Syndicate and Omega Man).

[cainofdreaming]

Well, since there's nothing in the news about an angry British person taking the DC offices apart brick by brick, after having tied up the people inside very tightly and placed them in elaborate deathtraps, I would hazard to guess that Dick's still breathing.

[kamino_neko]

It's too late for Alfred to kill Dick, now. Now that Owlman's seen him alive, and decided to bring him into the fold, killing him would just piss off the boss.

[yvonmukluk]

This is only tangentially related but I have to say it:

Well I bet Kyle and Yost feel rather silly, dropping all those hints that X-23's codename would be Talon only for DC to swipe the name. Maybe if they'd used it themselves instead of just dropping hints Laura might actually not be stuck being called X-23 till the heat death of the universe.

[icon_uk]

In fairness, Marvel used the Talon name first back in the 1970's, with the Shiar Imperial Guard member whose outfit Laura wore briefly when, I assume, toying with using the codename.

[sir_razorback]

Ok, am I a bad person for going off on a mental giggle-fit over those packages? Even considering how remarkably callous I am over the fates of characters from alternate realities, my brain said "I hope Christmas is close, otherwise those boxes may start to smell before he can open them".

It's been a bad year for Robins. Damian killed, Nightwing unmasked, AND killed... twice! And the whole Death of the Family thing on top of it. In general if you wear a bat on your chesticles, you're not in for a good time it seems like.

[aeka]

I am confused about what's going on here. Are they saying the Earth-3 Joker (Jokester) killed the Earth-3 Dick Grayson ala Jason Todd but worse? That's a very huge change from the initial inception of this version of the Joker....

As an aside, I will be very happy when someone retcons this second 'Dark Age' of DC Comics history which has been over-the-top in it's use of violence as a way of inducing shock. It's just not working anymore and is flat out gross at this point.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, it looks like the Earth-3 Joker is just as bad as his Earth-1 counterpart in terms of violence. He used to be a whimsical source of chaos to confound the Crime Syndicate, but now... well, he hacks up Dick Grayson for kicks.