Batman #11 Review

Tags

Batman, DC Comics, Greg Capullo, Scott Snyder, The Court of Owls, The New 52, The Night Of Owls

Batman #11

Review by Paul Bowler

After a year that has seen the Batman almost broken by The Court of Owls and their nefarious schemes, Batman #11 brings Scott Snyder’s and Greg Capullo’s sensational Night of Owls to a nerve jangling climax as Batman finally confronts Lincoln March in the ruined halls of The Willowwood Home For Children. Having donned a specially designed suit of armour, this self proclaimed Owlman has revealed himself to be Thomas Wayne Jr – the brother Bruce believed had died after being born prematurely in the aftermath of a car crash. Having betrayed The Court of Owls Lincoln March has set his sights on Gotham itself as the ultimate revenge against the “brother” who abandoned him.

Still reeling from Lincoln’s claims, Batman struggles to defend himself as the Owlman slashes away his cape. As their intense struggle sends them crashing through a brick wall Batman launches a line that snags Lincoln’s armour, dragging him over the edge with him, and sending them both tumbling out into the night – but Owlman uses his suits hidden thrusters to break their fall and propel them up into the darkening sky over Gotham. With Batman flailing helplessly in his wake Lincoln March relives his childhood memories as he drags the Dark Knight across the Gotham skyline: smashing Batman into the Crowne Tower, the building that he saw the reflection of Wayne Industries on as he lay paralysed in Willowwood as a child; haunted by the mother whose visits were replaces by the nightmarish presence of the owls. Then Batman is hurtling into the bell tower that marked the brutal demise of Bruce’s parents, finally swooping up over the airport and into the path of a jumbo jet – a cruel reminder of the day Thomas Wayne was taken under the wing of The Court of Owls as Bruce set off to scour the globe in his quest to acquire the training he needed to become the Batman.

As Batman clings onto the edge of the jets engines Lincoln goads his sibling to let go, boasting how he will take Gotham as his own and destroy everything that Bruce Wayne stands for. While his foe basks in his apparent victory, Batman detonates the small explosive he’d planted on the Owlman’s back during their fight. The Owlman disappears in a ball of flame as Batman loses his grip and tumbles into freefall. Using a high velocity Bat-Rope to break his fall, Batman crashes into a skyscraper under construction It is this centrepiece of Bruce Wayne’s Gotham Initiative where Batman and Lincoln March have their final showdown,. Having rigged the building with explosives, Lincoln intends to hold Batman captive as the building is destroyed, using his regenerative powers to survive and emerge from the rubble of Bruce Wayne’s lifelong dream. As the building explodes, Lincoln tells Batman how the Court betrayed him when Bruce returned to Gotham as the Batman, instead of claiming his birthright as they originally planned, they gave Thomas Wayne a new identity –  Lincoln March – honing his hatred so that he could one day destroy his brothers legacy. Batman smashes his thumbs into Lincoln’s eyepieces and breaks free, throwing himself down an elevator shaft, leaving Owlman to his fate as the Tower collapses.

As he recovers at Wayne Manor, Bruce gets a visit from Dick Grayson. Together they try to make some sense of recent events, confronting the dark secrets they‘ve uncovered, and making a solemn pledge to be ready for the fateful day when The Court of Owls will return…

My Brothers Keeper provides a fantastic conclusion to The Court of Owls storyline; Scott Snyder has masterfully crafted a magnificent nemesis for Bruce Wayne in the form of Lincoln March. For eleven issues this character has hidden in the wings, using the mystery and intrigue surrounding The Court of Owls as smokescreen, watching and waiting for his moment to strike. Greg Capullo’s awe inspiring art has made Gotham seem more threatening than ever before, almost a character in its own right, and together Capullo and Snyder’s grand opus has shaken the Dark Knights legacy to the core – providing one of the most definitive takes on the character we’ve seen in recent years.

Issue #11 of Batman had an awful lot to live up to, but it manages to deliver in almost every aspect as Snyder dutifully allows the plot that has been bubbling under the Gotham’s surface for the past year to achieve some semblance of clarity for Bamtan, only to leave us with as many questions as it has answers by the stories end. It is all the more remarkable, considering this issue is essentially one long fight sequence between Batman and Owlman, that so much is revealed. In fact Lincoln March’s verbal diatribe against Bruce and his former masters carries most of the plot, right up to, and including, the moment of serendipity where Batman points out that Lincoln should take his own advice – before detonating the explosive on his armour and blowing him out of the sky!

This stylishly choreographed ballet of violence and retribution is brilliantly realized by Capullo’s art, at times you feel like you are watching a blockbuster movie rather than reading a comic book as Batman is sent careering into the buildings that have been the source of Lincoln March’s terrible childhood. Indeed, one of the best moments comes after Batman loses his grip on the jet engine and plummets towards Gotham’s jagged skyline. As he falls Batman remembers how the young Dick Grayson always enjoyed this view of Gotham from the plane, and for one, brief, moment you almost sense that Bruce Wayne is ready to face his own mortality with open arms… and then the city, his city, seems to reach out to him at the last possible moment, snatching his lifeline form the brink of doom to swallow him up in her unforgiving embrace once more.

It almost reiterates the symbiotic relationship Batman shares with Gotham City. In spite of the madness and death they bring to one another, they are intrinsically engrained within each others collective history, and as such perfectly embodies the way Bruce feels about Dick Grayson. Indeed, this moment seems to provide the catalyst for this issues final scene where Dick visits Bruce some time later as he recovers at Wayne Manor. The Court of Owls has taken a heavy toll on their relationship, casting doubts and aspersions where there had only been unflinching loyalty, forcing them to face the unpleasant truths that have been exposed by recent events.

Bruce tells Dick that he always knew his mother had lost a child when she was involved in a car accident, that child had only lived for one day, and he is unflinching in his certainty that his parents would have told him if Thomas had survived. In his search for the truth Bruce has uncovered records from Willowwood that detail the admittance of a John Doe baby only a week after Thomas Wayne Jr died – a child whose mother visited him often. We may never know the identity of the woman who visited the young Lincoln March as he lay in a vegetative state in Willowwood, although Bruce’s mother did indeed visit lots of hospitals with her charity work, nevertheless, Bruce remains convinced that Lincoln March was brainwashed by The Court of Owls into believing he was Thomas Wayne Jr. However, Bruce is forced to concede that he is unable to entirely refute the claims made by Lincoln March, but as no body was found in the wreckage of the Tower, and with no DNA profile available, it leaves the mysterious fate of Thomas Wayne Jr unresolved for now.

With The Court of Owls retreating back into the shadows, the Talon’s cryogenically frozen in Blackgate and the people of Gotham safe once more, the final act of The Night of Owls succeeds in usurping the Courts role in supplanting Dick Grayson’s destiny as a Talon. Bruce now realizes just how vital Dick Grayson is to the sanctity of Gotham, where The Court of Owls wanted Grayson for its own selfish ends; Bruce Wayne saw the honourable selflessness that burned within this young orphan – a kindred spirit destined to give hope in the shadows of Bruce’s dark legacy.

The Fall of the House of Wayne by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Rafel Albuquerque is a perfect complement to The Night of Owls thrilling conclusion. Detailing the aftermath of the “accident”, it sets in motion the chain events that would forge Lincoln March’s hatred for the Wayne family into the razor sharp talons of his own inimitable destiny. As well as providing a fitting coda to the man storyline, The Fall of the House of Wayne showcases Bruce’s relationship with Alfred, with the horrors of the past slowly peeling away the last layers of a haunting event; the scene shifts to the present day as Bruce and Alfred visit the grave of Alfred’s father – Jarvis Pennyworth.

Batman #11 rounds up a fantastic year for The Dark Knight. With the exciting news that the Joker is set to return this Halloween for the start of Snyder’s and Capullo’s next story arc: Death of the Family, I’m sure the critical acclaim that Snyder’s Batman has achieved so far will be nothing next to what is still to come. Snyder and Capullo have made Batman one of the finest titles to come out of DC’s New 52 relaunch, yet as we eagerly await the Joker‘s revenge, I’m sure we – like Batman – will be watching and waiting for the return of  The Court of Owls…

Batman Issue #10 Review

Tags

Batman, DC Comics, Scott Snyder, The Court of Owls, The New 52, The Night Of Owls

Batman Issue #10

Review by Paul Bowler

In many ways Scott Snyder’s and Greg Capullo’s work on the Batman comics has become one of the most celebrated runs in the titles illustrious history. Together they have taken the mantel of the Bat and crafted a more grounded slant on the legacy of the dark knight, one that is almost comparable with Christopher Nolan’s movie trilogy, successfully drawing on the brooding menace of Gotham City itself to spawn the greatest threat that Batman has ever faced.

The New 52 saw a complete reinvention of the DC universe, and after a brief tenure on Detective Comics, Snyder was the natural successor to helm DC’s premier Bat-Title. Batman has been an essential read from the outset, with Snyder and Capullo slowly drawing us deeper and deeper into the mind of Bruce Wane as he struggles to fend off The Court of Owls. The Court of Owls has pushed Batman almost beyond the limits of his physical and emotional endurance: manipulating him from the shadows of the past, nearly driving him insane in their underground lair, exposing Dick Grayson’s lineage – and filings – to The Court of Owls, and finally culminating with Bruce and Alfred fending off an all out assault on Wayne Manor and the Batcave by a terrifying horde of Talon’s.

Now after almost a year in the making, Batman #10 sees The Night of Owls entering its final act, encompassing the entire Bat-Family in one outstanding crossover event that will thrust them headlong into the threat posed by the Talon’s as they race to protect the leading figures in Gotham City who have been targeted by The Court of Owls.

Batman #10: Assault on the Court is the penultimate issue in this immense story arc, providing as many questions as it does answers, as well as a cliff-hanger to end all cliff-hangers. After repelling the Talon’s attack on the Batcave in his armoured suit – with a little help from Alfred and a handy stomp or two from his T-Rex exhibit – Batman leaves the Talon’s on “ice” to confront one of the Court’s members in her luxury apartment. He intimidates her into phoning her husband, soaring off into the night (Arkham City style) while Alfred traces the call, which leads Batman back to the same property he became obsessed with as a child – Harbour House. The Dark Knight bursts into the building in a furious rage, ready to end the charade once and for all. Instead he finds every member of the Court of Owls dead, all seated as if they were about to eat dinner, having seemingly committed an act of mass suicide to escape justice by taking their secrets with them to the grave.

Some time later, while preparing for a meeting, Bruce Wayne ponders the discovery that the Court members he found had actually been poisoned, their assets siphoned away, coming to the conclusion that they were betrayed by one of their own. Alfred does his best to dismiss his master’s vague suppositions, but as Bruce passes a painting of his late parents he spots a clue, a pin worn by his mother. It is this epiphany that leads Batman to investigate the Morgue where he discovers one of the Court Members bodies is missing. In its place is a note, an invitation for Batman to finally confront his hidden adversary.

And so the final moments of Snyder’s grand design begins to play out within the crumbling walls of the abandoned Willowood Home For Children on the outskirts of Gotham. Once a home for young people with neurological disorders, Willowwood was closed down years ago when a sinkhole opened up inside the property; condemning the building along with the terrible abuse that was later revealed to have been inflicted by the staff on their vulnerable patients. Batman stalks the ruined building before becoming trapped in a net as his tormentor finally emerges from the shadows: Lincoln March, the Mayoral candidate who was attacked along with Bruce by a Talon in the Wayne Tower, he begins to don a new suit of Talon armour – one created to match Batman’s own – while making the astonishing claim that he is in fact Bruce’s brother – Thomas Wayne Jr! The issue ends with Thomas/Lincoln, now fully clad in armour (effectively revealing himself as a new incarnation of the classic DC villain Owlman) leaping from the shadows as Batman frees himself, ready to fight his brother to the death!

Batman #10 is a phenomenal issue, one that exemplifies Scott Snyder’s superb writing and Greg Capullo’s incredible artwork. The Court of Owls has been a tremendous story, Night of Owls has been an equally successful crossover event, with each title getting a fair share of the action and playing a significant part in the overall story without leaving the reader feeling short changed. Scott Snyder ties up so many plot threads this issue that you almost have to read the book two or three times to soak up every nuance and clue that has been right under your nose the whole time. For me the real star of this issue was Capulo’s fantastic artwork. Every page oozes with menace and dread, particularly the Willowwood Home For Children which feels almost supernatural in nature – the setting capturing an almost palpable sense of horror as the buildings shocking history is gradually revealed as Batman walks its derelict halls.

To say that the revelation that Bruce Wayne had a brother, Thomas, a character introduced and discarded in the seventies, offers up a wealth of possibilities for this new “Owlman”. He stands as the opposing symbol of everything Batman stands for, a tarnished mirror image of The Dark Knight, one who is not only Batman’s natural predator – but one who also seeks to invade the very foundations of everything that Bruce Wayne stands for.

The Fall of the House of Wayne (Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, & Rafel Albuquerque) continues to gather pace across what almost feels like a parallel timeframe, delving into a previously unheard chapter from the Wayne’s families past, nicely complementing the main story. With the multiverse now restored to the DCU, it is possible that the Owlman introduced this could have even derived from Earth 3 – a locale many readers would more commonly associate with the character.

However, it is the game-changing reveal of Thomas Wayne Jr that makes Batman #10 so remarkable and enticing. I must admit I initially found it a little hard to except this issues remarkable conclusion. There is still something about it that just doesn’t sit right with me. Perhaps its because I was left completely blindsided by the facts that have been in plain sight the whole time, Snyder has weaved an incredible story, one that felt like it had boiled up from beneath the very bowels of Gotham City itself, and I was left feeling a little cheated after the ominous secrets of The Court of Owls were then superseded by this twist in the story.

The Court of Owls has crawled into our consciousness just as it did Bruce Wayne’s, playing with everything we thought we knew, and then throwing it back in our faces. Snyder still has one more issue to wrap things up, but the legacy of this story will resonate for years to come – whatever the eventual outcome may hold. I am secretly hoping that Lincoln March has somehow been duped by The Court Of Owls into believing he is Thomas Wayne Jr, it will ensure The Court of Owls remains an elusive adversary from Gotham’s past, always watching and waiting for its chance to strike back, because the reality of Thomas and Martha Wayne abandoning their “hurt” child in an institution like Willowwood is really the most unthinkable act imaginable. The questions that still remain will no doubt be cleared up by Snyder next issue, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my doubts about reintroducing Thomas Wayne Jr into the New 52 continuity of Batman will prove to be unfounded.