It’s back to good vs. evil after a month of pure evil courtesy DC Comics Villains Month in which bad guys ruled the comic book shops with stand-alone issues starring the rogues, foes and psychos you love to hate!
Forever Evil #1 kicked it off with the Crime Syndicate of America declaring the Justice League was dead, rallying the villains into an army and using Nightwing as a painful example of what happens if you oppose them.
Bad guys from Anton Arcane to General Zod starred in wave after wave of issues that tied into the status quo of Forever Evil.
What was the best Villains Month issue?
Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Assassins, Doomsday, Joker, Darkseid were close but it was the symbol of evil and a real “secret society” that hooked me.
Batman and Robin #23.2 Court of Owls starred the malevolent secret cabal that’s manipulated Gotham City for centuries. The honor goes to James Tynion IV and Jorge Lucas for this visually and tonally dark stand-alone issue that was the most terrifying tale of stunt month.
“Exquisite Dread” was a chilling tale set in the past and present of Gotham City with three stories of poor souls who dared to cross the Court of Owls. These stories were woven through the current storyline as members of the Court react to this world in chaos after the death of the Justice League.
Bruce Wayne uses the Bat as a symbol to strike fear in criminal. The Court uses the Owl to represent their all-knowing, all-seeing power and influence.
Scott Snyder (in Batman and now Tynion in Talon) have created an evil force that works on my mind on so many levels: The Court of Owls are the calm, eerie mysterious strangers that watch your every move. The Court is the rich and powerful 1% who think their money really does give them power over the rest of us and they have the best enforcers money can buy to exert their will over you directly or in ways you don’t even know.
What’s truly sinister about this issue is how it works as a story of a father comforting his child amid a scary crisis. Erase the murder and creepy masks and you might even consider this a touching story of father/daughter bonding. But this family is part of the Court of Owls and that makes this all the more twisted.
In a month of over the top solo super villainy this issue was the best. Tynion and Lucas leave you with a startling final image that dares you not to pick up the next issue of Talon to see the Court’s next move.
By Editor
By Editor