"Batman: The Court of Owls and The City of Owls" Good Concept, Bad Execution

 

    I remember when the Court of Owls was first introduced as a concept. Of course I was nine at the time so I thought it was pretty cool that there was this secretive society that Batman didn't know how to fight because they made up the city he was sworn to protect. Nowadays, whenever they're brought up people seem pretty mixed about them, at least on comic book Twitter. Personally? I couldn't actually remember much, though as a child I do remember looking back at Scott Snyder's time writing Batman quite fondly. As such, with rumours that they might be featured heavily in The Batman Part II, and it being a main sticking point in Batman vs. Robin, which is my next DCAMU film to review, I thought it would be the perfect time to look back at this arc. Let's talk about it.

    Oddly enough, the introduction regarding the Court of Owls is actually split up into two arcs and while I don't hate it, it leaves a lot to be desired. I will say the second half, The City of Owls, feels quite a bit weaker. It basically just involves Batman finally facing his "half-brother" and ends on two separate story arcs involving some child named Roy (whose last name I can't remember) and Alfred's father. It really feels like half an arc because they couldn't finish the first arc in the right amount of issues, because it's not like the fight between Lincoln and Bruce is anything special.

 

    Conceptually, I do not hate the lore about the Court of Owls, but in terms of execution involving Lincoln March, I was less forgiving. I just usually do not enjoy the superhero trope where they introduce some random unknown family member who was somehow hidden from everyone this entire time. I just do not think writers need to be fiddling too much with established origin stories like that, because often times it just undercuts a lot of what people already enjoy about the characters. This isn't even the last time this happens with Batman and I don't know how often people actually enjoy it. It can feel a bit lazy.

    Furthermore, if you were looking for some Batfamily action in this game, just don't. This is very much a Bruce Wayne story, with some odd Dick Grayson mixed in? I say that in the sense that there's this whole subplot about Dick's family actually being part of the Court of Owls, but they never really get very far with it, Batman's just like don't worry, this doesn't define or change who you are. All of which is really nice and cute, but would have been significantly more impactful if you know, anyone other than Bruce and like kind of Alfred got any sort of page time in this comic. 

    I just wanted more. I understand that you could always do more with them afterwards, but other than the cool maze Batman had to escape from I can't say you actually get much from the court themselves. You hardly learn much from them, in fact they spend more time reshashing Mr. Freeze's origin story than going through just even a little bit about the Court. They were too mysterious, why were they doing anything of what they were doing. They were more substance than anything? Then most of them died in the end anyways.

Final Score: 50/100

    There are some interesting bones to chew on with this villain, it's just that Snyder and co. decided to give you very little of anything else. I hate to say people were right about it, but they were right. Maybe I just kind of like the art style of how Batman was drawn in this one, but I'm fairly certain that it's largely nostalgia doing the talking since like I said, I remember this story arc when it came out, even if I was too young to really understand or appreciate how little was actually accomplished with this one. Like it's old enough now that I remember reading the final fight with Lincoln March, but I can't remember when I actually read through this arc.