Batman #8 Night of the owls

It's finally here, the start of Batman's major story arc that will crossover to different members of the bat families comics and what a start it is. Much like the end of he Nightfall series, this kicks off with a weakened Bruce/Batman who is back in Wayne manor trying to rest. The talons attack fast as Bruce and Alfred quickly try to escape, Alfred heads to the bat cave where Bruce tries to fight off each owl member as he can but makes an escape for the roof. Again like Knightfall, Bruce is not wearing the bat suit but a dressing gown and doing his best to fight. Ultimately outnumbered he makes an escape for the chimney and leads to a secret entrance to the bat cave to meet up with Alfred. Unfortunately he is followed and the court of owls find out that it is Bruce Wayne who is the batman. Bruce at this point in time could care less about the court knowing that he is batman, he is just trying to survive.

Locking them self's in a room in the bat cave Bruce opens the door to reveal a new bat suit that that looks a lot like the Ironmonger from he Iron man series from marvel comics. Batman does not fight the court at this time but rather shows them that he cant be hurt. This gives Alfred time to send out a message to the other hero's of Gotham city, and members of the bat family, that He and Bruce have discovered that every major player that shapes Gotham city will be killed and must try to stop it, thus the tie-in begins and we will see this being played over the next few months in different issues of the batman series.

This issue is another near perfect issue from Scott Snyder. It plays out in good pace and you never lose track of the action. Again I would compare it to Knightfall as it has a similar story with some events that take place. It sets up the crossover story arc perfectly and gives the reader a sense of scare that the Court of owls have infiltrated (even the justice league have had a few run-ins with them.) A highly recommend this issue to any comic book fan! 

Batman: Night of Owls

Everything that has happened in the Scott Snyder run of Batman comics has came to the first big story arc of the year for DC. This story is to crossover into different DC titles that features most of the 'bat family' taking on the court of owls. Now anyone will agree with me that the Court of Owls story arc is one of the best to come out of the DC New 52 and it's all coming to an epic conclusion. Will Batman finally put this new enemy to rest or has that dark knight finally met his match?

The idea to bring in the bat family had to be done as we know batman cannot take on the Owls by himself. Over the years batman has always called Gotham City, His city and all that has came into question over the past 7 or 8 months. Its not just one villain batman must face but the Court of Owls is a society of people that are Taking Gotham City back and its up to the Bat society to stop them, thus carrying the story into different DC books.

Scott Snyder's Owls story has been one of my favorite since Batman RIP and its always great to watch the events unfold. This is something that i cant wait to get my hands on over the next few weeks and cant wait to see the epic end of this battle. Anyone who has not been reading Batman comics will not need to panic because if you are a batman fan you can always lift the Graphic novel that is set to come out after everything is reveled but I strongly recommend that people read through the first 7-8 issues of Batman because they have just go better and better as this story continues.

TAKE GOTHAM BACK!!


Books to include the Court of Owls:

• All-Star Western #9
• Batman #8-9
• Batman Annual #1
• Batman: The Dark Knight #9
• Batwing #9
• Batman and Robin #9
• Birds of Prey #9
• Batgirl #9
• Catwoman #9
• Detective Comics #9
• Nightwing #8-9
• Red Hood and the Outlaws #9

DC and Marvel showcase at Kapow

Before Watchmen will be showcasing at this years Kapow! This is part of a series that is said to not only be one of the best comics ever written but one of the best novels of all time. We all know what Watchmen is about and shame on you if you are a comic book fan and have never read the graphic novel, but just how will this new series stand against what the original has become over the years? this will be quite the event and good to see DC and Marvel coming over seas to give comic book fans here in the UK something to look forward to.

This event will be the first time Marvel and DC comics have been to the same event in the UK in over 20years! and as a fan of both DC and Marvel it's something to look forward to! In saying this lets just devide the two right now and take a look at them. I would like to now what you (the people reading this that is) think will be the big seller this summer and what you are more looking forward to, Before Watchmen or Avengers vs Xmen? I was not keen on fear itself but i think at the minute marvels best series is the amazing spider-man and with DC I have to go wit Scott Snyder's Batman but what do you think? comment below and follow. Also feel free to let me know who will be attending Kapow? 

Batman 6 review

The Batman is down and badly beaten just like how we left off in the last issue. We finally get a view of the court of owl's and they are damn right creepy! most of the dialogue is done by the court itself where batman showing no resistance to stay down as he is brutally attacked by the entire court! The images used in this issue are amazing showing batman's real dark side making him look like a wild animal or beast with fangs. there was a part in this issue where I thought batman would really cross that line that makes him different from the scum of Gotham City.

Scott Snyder has not outdone the last issue but it still a close contender to it with the way the story progresses and from what we find out about the court and who really runs the show. The artwork again first class the cover art being my favorite as it's insane and shows more just what is coming. The story progresses nicely and really keeps you entertained throughout. I think this is the first time in a long time that iv'e read a batman comic where he is afraid to come back to the villains hideout. The court has really taken its tole on batman showing not only his weak side but a side of fear in the dark knight detective.

Overall i'm still loving Scott Snyder's batman it the perfect view of what a batman comic should be about and the best story in the series. I cant stress enough that comic book readers should start to read this series! even if you are not a batman fan as I can see this going down as one of the best batman story arcs and I think its clear that we all welcome the court of owls as first class villains for batman. Like I said tho Snyder does not outdo himself with this issue but defiantly brings a great issue and follow up to to the perfect issue that came before it.

Batgirl #6

Batgirl issue 6 kick starts where the last issue ended, with Bruce Wayne ready to attack Batgirl!. This issue I thought was stronger than some of the past issues especially with story and some of the art work. The weird thing about this is that the story arc that kicked off in the last issue ends in this issue sort of short but sweet and at first I thought this was bad but then I felt it would have got annoying for this story to drag on a few more issues and it nicely represents Barbra Gordon if she had no love in her life from her father and the bat family, she could have easily went off the rails the way the main antagonist did in this issue. It does go back into the killing joke story line and again I think a lot of fans will be quick to dismiss this and as much as I love the killing Joke it really does set a good follow up to Barbra becoming Batgirl once again (even though I really miss her as Oracle) and when batman says "Barbra you where men't to be Batgirl" you know it's true and i'm not one to argue with The Dark Knight of Gotham City.

The team have done a good job with this story and again gives us a good look at what Barbra could have become. The writing is solid and the artwork is great, always love those panels with Batman towering over someone it really brings a sense of fear in him. I never got bored reading it the issue but I must say there ae times where it really picks up then goes down again like a roller coaster. I think Gretel should have been the first villain the batgirl faced because it mirrors her more than mirror did, no pun intended, and we all can relate more to her as a character tan that of mirror.

Over all this series has got high points and low points, it will be interesting to see where it goes now this story arc is over with. We have more history to catch up on with Barbra's mum but I feel like this is a forgettable story line at least for now.hope the next issue starts with a bang and ends the same way, we need a little faith in Batgirl and stop thinking about the past as much as we love Oracle its time to move on unfortunately.

Batwoman #6

Batwoman issue 6 is really a stop in story to shed light on what has been going on in the series so far and i'm all for this but this past while Batwoman has become one of the most own comic books over the past 6 months and this issue has let me down. The story does not really go anywhere but its good to get the emotions of some of the characters down but I couldn't help but get the feeling that if I wanted to know what was going on in past issues I would go and and read the other issues again. We get to know who was behind the weeping woman story to say that this is not over yet and we also see Batwoman's new Armour that makes her bulletproof, something that batman had but give up on it, and fights easy. not to say its a bad thing that the story stops in favor of and up to date on current events issue because it kind of lets us take in whats been going on but just doesn't feel as natural as it did in Scott Snyder's Batman comics. 


One of the main things that you will notice is that Williams III is not doing the art anymore, instead Amy Reeder steps in and don't get me wrong she does a great job with the comic but Williams did an amazing job. With Williams on the art every panel looked amazing with Amy only some of the book looks great where others just look OK but the cover art is up to par with past issues. The writing is great but nothing we haven't seen from past issues but then again not every issue can be perfect and this one is just a step back for the team and really hope they bring back their A game in the next Issue. 

Batwoman #2

What can I say about Batwoman Issue 2? well the one thing that this comic has other than its great story is the artwork. This book has some of the best and most beautiful artwork that is being done in this age of comics where most of the art in other books are top notch this series really takes it to a compete different level. If you read comic books you better read these because to me the Batwoman series is right up there with Scott Snyder's Batman comics. When the new 52 came out i took it upon myself to read all of the bat family books (being a big batman fan) and I will be honest I didn't think I would enjoy batwoman as much as I have. It is a series that I am becoming to love and one that I now I am going to be looking forward to each month.
This issue deals with Batwoman aka Kate Kane training her new sidekick, the former flamebird, tracking down the mysterious weeping woman and trying to decide if she should join up with batman Inc. the story is solid with the weeping woman the artwork when it comes to this character is Gothic and at the same time beautiful. It is one of the more creepy aspects of the book which near borderlines this with the horror genre with the weeping woman kidnapping children and its up to batwoman to find out why.
The book is more of a detective book than it is action and something that i'm happy with that carries the bat name.

The Good:
Well I ave said enough about the artwork so will just say, yes J. H. Williams III is a god! but what really drives this comic is the mystery behind it all. Kate is a very mysterious woman and her motives are not always clear but its that which drives the character and keeps us reading on to find out what is going to happen. There are more sub plots going on in this than the actual plot but this is a good thing as it all fits in later and keeps character development strong and we never get bored of reading it.

The Bad:
While the story is good some readers might get a little mixed up or confused about what is going on with the main plot especially because of the sub plots that are going on so some people may not like the idea of having to give it a re-read at points to figure out some things but its really a minor bad point and not something that should be frowned at because this is a sold issue into the series.