Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Greg CapulloBruce Wayne is back in the cowl, hunting a new and deadly killer in Gotham City — a killer with a vendetta against Bruce Wayne! But who is this mysterious killer in an owl skull mask? And is he the key to unlocking one of Gotham’s oldest and most terrifying secrets? Be there for their first brutal encounter!
We here at Multiversity are big fans of Scott Snyder (in fact, look for a video interview with the man himself from New York Comic Con soon!), and few books have been getting the universal praise around these parts that Batman has. In fact, I think most of the comics internet is abuzz about what Snyder and Greg Capullo are doing on this title.
Does issue two live up to the hype? Find out after the jump.
One of the criticisms lobbed at DC when they relaunched all their books was that so much of the art resembled the Image comics of the early 1990’s. The presence of Image co-founders Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld (and longtime Spawn artist Greg Capullo) in the monthly solicitations only furthered this attitude (as did the, frankly, very 90’s Image-like design on some of the costumes). The tag of being Image-ish was taken as an insult, and became shorthand for knocking what Dan DiDio and co. were doing.
However the insult only works if you are referring to the Image of the late ‘90s/early ‘00s, post-buzz and pre-Kirkman; DC would love to be like Image in 1992. Image came in, shook up the industry, gave Marvel a significant hit in business, excited the fan base, and launched a number of wildly successful books. In fact, I think that is exactly what they are attempting to do. They are banking on more Spawns than Bloodstrikes, but the approach is basically the same.
Batman #2 reminds me a lot of a comic from 1992, and mostly in a good way. It is a fresh take on a character that seems familiar (like so many of Image’s “new” characters did) that makes me very excited to pick up #3 in a month’s time. Greg Capullo’s artwork, while fitting for the title, elicits a very early ‘90s feel, as does FCO’s coloring; everything is muted and washed out (deliberately), and so a lot of the pages look almost faded. Because most of the scenes take place either at sunset in a glass observation deck or in the Batcave, light is either intensely strong or barely present at all. It should be revealing that the most conventionally and evenly lit room in this issue is a morgue.
Capullo’s pencils continue to add a dark and dynamic feel to the book, even if his non-costumed characters can veer into cartoony territory (especially his Jim Gordon, who looks plucked from an episode of Sailor Moon in certain panels). Capullo’s art clearly differentiates this Bat book from many of the others, which feature such overly muscled and stern looking people; instead, the characters here all look familiar and simple and let the writing to the heavy character lifting.
The book opens on Gotham, fast becoming Scott Snyder’s favorite character in the Batman universe, and Bruce acting as tour guide to the original Wayne Tower. One of the hallmarks of Snyder’s run on the Bat books is that Gotham’s history matters, and to truly be the protector Gotham needs, a hero needs to know its history. Last issue, we were introduced to Lincoln March, a mayoral candidate in Gotham who has taken an interest in Bruce Wayne (and who happens to know his Gotham history). He is back here, and is being positioned in the same way as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight; the white knight to Bruce’s dark knight. Both feature similar stories of their parents dying at a young age, but while Bruce’s were brutally murdered, Lincoln’s were killed by a drunk driver. Bruce escaped abroad to train and grow into the man he would become, and Lincoln stayed put; he let Gotham help him along his path and is grateful for it. While both men look similar, March has perfectly styled hair and a white suit, where Bruce’s hair is a little sloppy in front and he wears black. The parallels are almost overkill, and they beg the question: is March being set up as the big villain behind the Court of Owls?
Continued belowI would put the odds at even money right now, but rarely are characters this pure and motivational brought into stories without a big turn coming a little down the road. As Lincoln warns Bruce just seconds before being attacked about there being something “ancient, powerful, and evil” in Gotham, it feels like the classic set up to eventually Lincoln pulling off a mask and revealing himself as the ringleader all along. While that wouldn’t be a terrible story, I hope that isn’t where we are going with this. I have faith that Snyder has bigger plans for March than just being the villain of this first arc.
Since coming back in The Return of Bruce Wayne, we have seen a slightly different Bruce, but here we see that a lot of what we knew about him continues to be true. Dick Grayson’s DNA was found under the fingernails of a dead body at the end of Batman #1, and he comes to the Batcave to explain himself to Bruce. We would hope that the word of one of his oldest allies and closest friends would be enough for this new, more trusting Bruce. Of course, we would be wrong; before Dick even shows up, Bruce has checked out his whereabouts from the week before and spotted the incident in question on surveillance cameras. It isn’t so much that Bruce doesn’t trust Dick; Bruce just trusts Dick as much as Bruce can trust anyone which, frankly, isn’t much.
Snyder adds a new dimension to Bruce’s psyche in this book so far: overconfident Gotham historian. Sure, Bruce has always been an information resource bar none, but here Bruce takes on the position that the Court of Owls cannot be real, not in HIS city, because he knows HIS city too well. This, again, pits him against Lincoln March in a way; March allows himself to be surprised and inspired by Gotham, Bruce has lost the ability to see Gotham as anything other than a problem to fix. His “Gotham Initiative” is to fix the city, and make it what his father thought it could be and bring it back to its past glory; March’s run for mayor seems to be about making the city the city of the future. This, again, sets March up as a foe (even if he is not behind the Court of Owls), as each is trying to bring Gotham in an opposite direction, even if their end goal may be the same: a safer, better Gotham.
This 11-issue arc is being set up by Snyder as his (self-proclaimed) version of “The Long Halloween” or “Hush,” two iconic Batman stories. With its first two parts released, there has been nary a poorly chosen word or wasted pencil stroke from the Batman team, and I am hopeful that “The Court of Owls” one day is a story mentioned alongside the best Batman runs of all time.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Buy
