Night of the Owls

To save time, I'm going to make one long post on the Night of the Owls crossover this month. First off, Scott Snyder is nothing but brilliant with his Court of Owls story. This is a really cool tale, an all-time classic in the making. I love the Gothem he's created, my only regret is that he's working with such an established property, taking away the chance for him to truly build his own.

But that's what is great about of the Court of Owls. It allows him to establish a new part of Gotham, previously untouched significantly by other writers (Gotham certainly didn't have a blank history, but it was largely unexplored). He can build something from the ground up, allowing it to precede Bruce in Gotham. Something that's hidden ages before his birth is much harder to discover than something of his own time that he can see infiltrating his world as an adult.

The Night of the Owls was a perfect event for a crossover because it provided a legitimate reason for all the different Gotham vigilantes to get involved. One, when Batman (even if Alfred delivers the message) calls and asks for help, you answer. Second, zombie assassins are taking over the city, you better stop them. It's also perfect for the crossover because it adds a time-felt breadth to the event. It feels like a lot to read, as if a lot is happening, and this is because it is. If there are dozens of assassination attempts all over Gotham, the event should read as such!

In those cases, the event was a total success. There was some great individual pieces of work, and the pieces tied together well with no major hiccups or inconsistencies. Hell, even Judd Winick wrote some stuff that was pretty good (kidding, Winick has written many good things).

Quick overview: the good titles were Batman, Batman and Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and surprisingly, Batman: The Dark Knight. The average ones were Birds of Prey and Batwing, and the poor ones were All-Star Western (tough to pick up for a one-shot) and Detective Comics (nothing new here).

If I were to give the whole event a rating, I think I'd give it a 8.7/10(B+). It accomplished its goals, there were some great moments (Tim Drake and Jason Todd had one particular amazing one in RHATO, Nightwing swordfighting, Batman doing the Iron Man thing, among others) and no huge flaws.