‘The Court of Owls’, review. The best Batman story in the last 15 years

In 2011 DC decided to turn all its collections upside down with The New 52, a restart that affected the 52 publications that it had in progress at that time and that made a clean slate with everything that had happened previously. It was an attempt, this time radical, to bring order to a multiverse which had expanded to such a point that it was difficult to follow the adventures of DC’s superheroes and even more so to delve into their past; There were multiple lines to follow and many of them were directly incompatible.

Batman was only partially spared from this tsunami; He was the great icon of the publishing house and the stories of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Jeph Loeb… could not be erased at the stroke of a pen. So the company commissioned two of its best talents to kick off the new stage, a story that should preserve part of the masked man’s past, but that would have to open a new path.

A plot that captivates

Scott Snyder, who had moved from Marvel to a decadent Vertigo in 2010, was then notable for a series about vampires, ‘American Vampire’. It was a collection that had great success with the public and critics, it even won the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2011, and which helped it win the jackpot: the reboot of Batman.

The New York screenwriter builds a new iconography for Batman by presenting a hitherto unknown enemy, The Court of Owls; a threat that is on par with the great antagonists that have populated its pages: Joker, Ra’s al Ghul, Bane, Two-Face… It is a secret society that is made up of the richest families in the city and that has been directing the destinations of the metropolis since its beginnings and dispensing its particular justice.

Batman has the double mission of discovering who is part of the conspiracy while surviving the attacks of his assassins, the claws, since he has become a priority objective of this brotherhood of crime.

Snyder’s merit is to present an unrecognizable Gotham; The vigilante’s hunting territory, of which he knew every alley, suddenly appears as a threatening place where there is no way to hide. The writer describes a Batman that is more human and even at times overwhelmed by the magnitude of the events, with a double timeline that opens to a past that provides a different perspective on the events of his childhood.

A cartoonist for history

If Snyder built a splendid story that returned his detective character to the character of Batman, Greg Capullo was not far behind. His work in ‘The Court of Owls’ is probably the best of his long career and his beefy ‘Batman’ is forever associated with the DC icon. Chapters 5 and 6 of the first arc, ‘In Front of the Court’ and ‘Under the Glass’, in which Batman suffers harsh physical and psychological punishment, are some of the best pages of the Bat ever drawn.

The Spawn artist shows here all the characteristics that have made him a reference at the level of his teachers, Frank Millar and John Romita: His characters show exaggerated musculature, he always looks for powerful frames and poses, and uses groundbreaking structures. (he has no problem even turning the pages) and creates a dark and disturbing atmosphere thanks to a profuse use of shadows.

Conclusion

‘The Court of Owls’ is one of those essential stories in the Batman universe, The edition of the complete Saga in two volumes is an excellent opportunity to enjoy a great comic and two great talents in the medium: Snyder and Capullo.