What's this, MORE comic book reviews?
Yes, I've now been catching up on the main Batman series, because it's been a while since I've reviewed Batman as well, so here we go!
Beware of spoilers... although most of this stuff is old already.
Batman #6
In the last issue, Batman slowly goes insane trying to escape from the Court of Owls' maze when he is critically injured by the Talon. As Batman lies dying, the Talon calls the Court of Owl members to decide his fate, and the youngest member (a small child) wants to see him beaten more. But Batman suddenly summons the strength of ten Batmen, and defeats the Talon and blows a hole in the floor of the maze to escape, but finds himself trapped underneath a frozen river. Meanwhile, the Court of Owls decides to send MORE Talons after Batman.
Batman #7
After a vision of an owl eating a bat, Batman awakes in a shock, wondering where he is. He was rescued from the frozen river by an unnamed girl with a makeshift defibrillator in a van. Batman warns the girl to stay away and runs away into the sewers where he eventually winds up at an entrance to the Batcave and is found by Alfred. Alfred brings Batman back to the Batcave but he's met by the Talon yet again. But in a SWERVE, it's really the corpse of the Talon. After examining the body, Batman tells Nightwing that the Talon was an assassin trained by the Court of Owls and genetically enhanced to reactivate after death. Batman also reveals that the Talon is Nightwing's great grandfather and that Nightwing was originally picked by the Court to be a new Talon until his parents were killed, which changed the gameplan. Meanwhile, the Court of Owls awakens all of their Talons, also corpses, and train them to attack Wayne Manor.
Batman #8
As a still-injured Bruce chats with Alfred about Gotham City, the two hear thumps on the roof, meaning someone is intruding. Alfred races to the Batcave while Bruce will fend everyone off himself. Alfred aides Bruce through a headset about the number of Talons while Bruce fights them off on the roof of Wayne Manor. Bruce slides down the chimney to the Batcave, where he assists Alfred in stopping a lone Talon that has made his way inside. Batman takes his wrist gauntlet and retreats with Alfred to a panic room, where the two discover that the Court of Owls has amassed a list of over forty targets, mostly Gotham's politicians and public leaders such as Commissioner Gordon, that are all to die. The Talons are close to breaking into the panic room, so Batman exits wearing a giant metal Hulksmasher-looking Batsuit and tells the bros to come at him. In a mini-comic included after the main story, Alfred sends out a call to all Batman allies warning them of the impending assassinations, which is supposed to set up the "Night of the Owls" tie-in that incorporated all of the Batman related titles between April and May 2012.
Batman #9
Mecha-Batman is getting his ass kicked by the Talons as he relays a tale about his ancestors building Wayne Manor. The grounds were overrun by bats and the Waynes used a certain breed of owl to get rid of them. Batman is losing the fight badly, even with the interference of a freaking robotic dinosaur Batman has in the cave (dinosaurs, giant pennies... what DOESN'T this man own?), and Alfred pleads for him to return to the panic room. However Batman finishes his story of the Waynes first; the bats would always return with a vengeance. And as if on command, a flock of bats (is that what you call them?) swoops in and attacks the intruding Talons. And so Batman rushes off to rescue some of the names on the Court's list (which is a clever ploy to get you to read The Dark Knight, which I reviewed at first and dropped because it sucked so bad), and winds up getting to Lincoln March (the politician from Wayne Tower way back in Issue 2) just a little too late. But March has enough strength left to give Batman a list of the Court's leaders and their personal information...
A mini-story following the main story begins a three part tale of Jarvis Pennyworth, Alfred's father, who details the fall of Bruce's parents as they try to change Gotham for the better, which upsets the Court. Jarvis forewarns Alfred of his impending death and begs him not to come to Gotham. Not much here, but it was interesting...
Batman #10
An old woman returns to her penthouse to find it ransacked when Batman makes an appearance asking where her husband is. The woman says he is out of the country, but phones him when Batman leaves. And duh, Batman and Alfred are tracing the call! It leads him to a former orphanage, now run-down, where he finds the entire Court dead of apparent mass suicide. Batman ponders why they would kill themselves until he realizes he overlooked one detail, and ends up at the orphanage face to face with the Owl, another Talon, who unmasks to reveal a reanimated Lincoln March. But in a swerve, Lincoln reveals himself to be... well I won't spoil it!
Part 2 of Jarvis' letter to Alfred after the main story details the swerve we just read about, and what led up to it. Good stuff! Although the swerve is kind of lame in a way.
Batman #11
So the evil Lincoln March engages in war with Batman, and they wind up fighting in the air thanks to March's Owl suit having Iron Man type jetpacks. March tells Bruce his life story, which Batman refuses to believe since it doesn't make sense. So the two eventually wind up fighting next to an airplane in mid flight, and Owl plans on dropping Batman into the airplane's thruster. However Batman places a bomb on Owl's back and is able to escape, falling into the infrastructure of what will be the new Wayne Tower planned for Gotham's redevelopment. However OWL LIVES and attacks Batman yet again, planning on trapping him and blow him up along with the building. But at the last minute Batman is able to escape as the building collapses similar to how the World Trade Center fell. Batman later tells Nightwing that March's body was never found and that he will rebuild the tower. The Court of Owls is severely crippled, but the organization is worldwide and will be back, but Batman will have the upper hand.
Jarvis' letter also concludes in a more satisfying manner than the main plot, actually.
Batman #12
This is kind of a one-off focusing on Harper Row, the mysterious girl who rescued Batman from the frozen river at the beginning of Issue 7. Harper and her brother Cullen live in the slums but dream of a better life, specifically in technology as Harper excels in wired and wireless technologies. Cullen is picked on and Harper often has to come to his rescue, often changing her image to match his (for example, Cullen gets shaved by bullies so Harper shaves off her hair as well) to make him feel better. Harper comes under the attention of Bruce Wayne when she is invited to a Wayne function involving renovations to their slumhouse, which leads to Batman saving her and Cullen from an attacking gang. Becoming obsessed with Batman leads her to finding Batman's electronic network and giving him some unwanted upgrades. He later tracks her down after a fight with a D-level villain and tells her to stay away, for her own safety of course. Interesting enough for a one-off.
Overall Thoughts: When I first started reviewing comics, I quickly proclaimed this series as my favorite, and it does not disappoint. However, for all the buildup, the final conclusion was rather lame. An undying villain simply disappears and is not actually defeated, only giving Bruce motivation for the future. I did enjoy the Harper one-off, however.
I still have three more issues to review to get caught up, but I shall review those in time. Just wanted to get things posted to prove that I'm actually reading stuff!
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