Batman Vol. 2- The City of Owls

Quick Summary

Pros: The storyline and art are, once again, excellent and this wraps up the “Court of the Owls” story arc very well.

Cons: The only complaint to be made is that the changes made to Mr. Freeze’s origin are not the best.

Overall: This book continues the greatness established in the first volume and gives a wonderful conclusion to the story. This collection then also contains some really interesting backstory behind the Court that makes its reading even more worthwhile.

Story

If you read Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) then you can expect some more of the same from this volume, and that is a really good thing. The first half of this trade collects the pulse pounding finale to the Night of Owls storyline, while the second half collects some background stories to shed more light on the Court. I think Snyder wraps up this story perfectly: there is a twist ending, a lingering mystery, and a satisfying conclusion to top it all off. Plus, the additional materials are a great read as well. Overall, this is another really stellar collection.

(spoilers start here)

The Night of the Owls event starts with this book and ends up being a much more solid story than any of the tie ins. Once the Talons are dispatched the story’s real treat begins, the reveal of the true big bad. Lincoln March being the real villain was a wonderful twist ending. It was an ending that pulled in the current story, past issues, and even just lore behind Batman into one solid finish. Overall, it was a very satisfying ending.

Throughout this collection Batman, and us as readers, have been plagued with numerous doubts and suspicions: “Is the Court of Owls real?”, “Can Batman really stop them?”, “Do they really know more about Gotham than Batman?”, and finally “What is Gotham?”. All of these doubts have made us question what we know about Batman and have really driven this story arc. Batman ends the collection and all doubts by saying “Gotham is ALL of us” and that he is confident that March is not his brother. While this seems like a nice conclusion, this theme of doubt still manages to sneak in and infect the reader, which I think is the point. Snyder has shown that anything can and will happen to this version of Batman and that he is not afraid to do new and different things. I’ve really loved what Snyder has done with this theme, throughout this arc, and am interested to see if he’ll continue with it in the future.

Although the Mr. Freeze story contained in the Annual is a good story by itself, I prefer Freeze’s original origin much more. Freeze was always a really great Batman villain because he was someone you could sympathize with and easily feel sorry for. He was not just some common criminal out to make a quick buck; he was a man out to correct a horrible injustice in his life, though often through horrible ways. This story just makes him a one-dimensional mental patient. I’ll admit that the story is a neat subversion of the norm but I think that really only works good in a one off story, not one connected to the rest of the universe.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Not only do I love Greg Capullo’s artwork but I think that every artist in this collection was used on issues that highlight their strengths. The art will shift from Greg Capullo to Rafael Alburquerque a couple of times during the Night of Owls, with each time being when the Talons are mid assassination. I think these shifts worked very well as Alburquerque’s art seems a little more menacing and scary.

Becky Cloonan and Andy Clarke take over art later in the book for a story from Harper Row’s perspective. This change works well as it helps separate the perspective shift a little further. The art also works well for these characters and almost is reminiscent of the artwork in the Scott Pilgrim series (or maybe Harper just reminds me of Ramona Flowers).

Finally, Jason Fabok comes in to draw the Mr. Freeze annual. He does an amazing job in this issue, specifically in drawing faces. The color scheme is also used perfectly, white, black and red are almost the only colors used but they give a beautifully somber tone to the story.

Continuity

Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls continues the story from Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review).

The story here continues in Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).

This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• This volume is the nexus for the Night of Owls event. This event spans across multiple series but begins and ends here. These other series are not necessary to understand how the event happened but can be read to see more of what happened on this night.
  • All-Star Western Vol. 2: War of Lords and Owls
  • Batgirl Vol. 2: Knightfall Descends (Review)
    
  • Batman and Robin Vol. 2: Pearl
  • Batman the Dark Knight Vol. 1: Knight Terrors
  • Birds of Prey Vol. 2: Your Kiss Might Kill (Review)
  • Catwoman Vol. 2: Dollhouse (Review)
  • Nightwing Vol. 2: Night of the Owls (Review)
  • Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review)
• Pieces of this volume will also come into play with the Batman Eternal (Review) series.