EXCL. PREVIEW: "Batwing" #9 - "Night of the Owls"

[minasithil]

I can never quite get over how pretty Marcus To's pencil's are. And how attractive he draws people without it being overly sexualized. Why hello there, David. You're looking handsome today.

[Dr. Hurt]

Bats aren't scary? In what kind of twisted world do you live in?
Owls are overgrown chickens that hunt down mouses and do "Ououou", Bats are freaking rats with wings that suck blood and when they screams it sounds like fingernails againts a blackboard. They're scary as s**t.

[maxpower00044]

This is scary.

Oh, and Marcus To is an amazing artist, I will miss the art of Ben Oliver but Marcus draws very beautiful.

Holy crap! That's some freaky s**t. The way the two on the right are both staring right at the camera, while they move in sync with each other, is freaking me the hell out. And, the lunatic in the back? What's that owl's deal? He looks psycho.

[Dr. Hurt]

What have they done? They have killed a politician , they have kidnapped Bruce and drove him almost to insanity , dick has been framed for murder, as the end issue 7 the owls start rampaging on the city. The back up of batman 8 has the owls killing important people in Gotham.

Whoop dee do. Penguin does that every other week. I felt that Bane ran gotham when he beat up Batman, hell, i even felt that Black Mask ran gotham's underworld in Daniel's bad batman run. And that was Daniel ffs! Snyder has yet to make me feel that the Owls are important, that they run they city, and that i should fear them.

[Mr. Holmes]

Oh my god, did they really start rampaging the city!?

[maxpower00044]

I've also seen tigers and lions that can be pet and play around with people. Would you consider those animals "not scary"?

edit: holy crap, anyone who watches this video, needs to watch "kitten stands up to dog" after.

btw: I want that small owl as a pet.

[maxpower00044]

is there going to be some sort of timeline to all of these NotO stories? I mean, how Batman and Nightwing issues last month said, "Begins" and "Prelude"? (which confused me 'cause it makes more sense to read Batman first, yet Nightwing's issue was a prelude.) I'm wondering if it will be linear according to each week's issues, or what.

[Jabare]

looks good

[Cavemold]

Whoop dee do. Penguin does that every other week. I felt that Bane run gotham when he beat up Batman, hell, i even felt that Black Mask run gotham's underworld in Daniel's bad batman run. And that was Daniel ffs! Snyder has yet to make me feel that the Owls are important, that they run they city, and that i should fear them.

Issue 9 where the event really takes off . So are you saying if were kidnapped and drugged and taken to labyrinth you wouldn't be a little scared? Also the owls have shown how small bruce really is.

[Dr. Hurt]

Issue 9 where the event really takes off . So are you saying if were kidnapped and drugged and taken to labyrinth you wouldn't be a little scared? Also the owls have shown how small bruce really is.

This must have been the 1000th time Batman was in a death trap. How exactly is this any different? Snyder says they are so important and so above him, but we've yet to see it.

Bane broke his back and took over Gotham, literally running the entire city.
Hurt brought 5-6 of the richest men in the world to watch Batman die. He controlled the Joker (or thought he did), he forged documents about the Waynes, he got into Batman's mind, he had Jet to be his spy as Bruce's lover, he manipulated the police to run that fake batmen experiment for him, etc.

These Owls are just there. We're told that they run the city but now they have to kill all its officials. Why? Arent these officials under their control? It's the same people that run the city a month ago, but now they have to die?

Just because the writer says something it doesnt mean he sells it just as well.

[maxpower00044]

To's artwork really is awesome here. I really did like Ben Oliver, though. I still miss him.

[JasonTodd428]

I'm glad to see To back on art duties again. The artwork here looks amazing and I can't wait to see what the rest is like.

[Etoma]

Really like the way Judd has written the court of owls members, they have an air of old world class and menace. And the art is a pleasure to the eyes, the panel with the empty armor is so just plain awesome.

[BlueLily]

We managed to stay secret because we don't do anything.

I don't doubt that, but I don't think Snyder has given us enough reason to really fear or care about the Owls. The idea of the Owls is more intriguing than what's actually been done with them.

It's amazing how flimsy this concept is. This Court of Owls has an army of highly-trained assassins to kill "rowdy politicians" and aging architects, but they've never paid attention to any of the super-villains causing an insane amount of destruction all over Gotham for the past five years? Snyder says that Batman is just a blip on their radar, but what about The Joker, Two-Face, Dr. Hurt or any other member of Batman's rogues gallery? Somebody on this board had a theory that these super-villains were actually helping the Court of Owls' agenda, which is actually kind of interesting and neat, but that was completely disproven by the Talon's reason for hunting Jeremiah Arkham for "harboring and encouraging criminals..." so we're back to square one. Just terrible execution and poor writing.

These Owls are just there. We're told that they run the city but now they have to kill all its officials. Why? Arent these officials under their control? It's the same people that run the city a month ago, but now they have to die?

Exactly! What do these Owls control? What makes them "own" Gotham? They're meaningless and their entire presence as a threat is completely contrived.

[Retro315]

It's amazing how flimsy this concept is. This Court of Owls has an army of highly-trained assassins to kill "rowdy politicians" and aging architects, but they've never paid attention to any of the super-villains causing an insane amount of destruction all over Gotham for the past five years? Snyder says that Batman is just a blip on their radar, but what about The Joker, Two-Face, Dr. Hurt or any other member of Batman's rogues gallery? Somebody on this board had a theory that these super-villains were actually helping the Court of Owls' agenda, which is actually kind of interesting and neat, but that was completely disproven by the Talon's reason for hunting Jeremiah Arkham for "harboring and encouraging criminals..." so we're back to square one. Just terrible execution and poor writing.

Exactly! What do these Owls control? What makes them "own" Gotham? They're meaningless and their entire presence as a threat is completely contrived.

So why kill Arkham at all? Unless the intent is to free loonies from Arkham. Snyder will certainly have his work cut out for him when he reveals the architect of the present-day court, and "why" any of it should be considered mastermind stuff.

So they're so rich and so secretive that they make Bruce Wayne, one of the richest, most secretive men alive actually seem kind of less extreme, obsessive, and just a normal guy with a nocturnal hobby?

I like Court of Owls for the pure symbolism of the owl and the meta-context involvement of Dick Grayson, hell, even for a huge reason to explore more Return of Bruce/Gates of Gotham historical material.

But motives, and on the threat-level they're still overblown. Circus assassins in theatrical owl garb? I can dig it. I can even accept them as "not ninjas" (though they share a lot of commonality). Old rich money. Sure, we've seen it. People who are careful enough to stay secret so that even Batman can't learn about them? Yeah it's possible. It's a huge city, Gotham rivals NYC in scope. And the Waynes lived out in the Palisades, not in the historic central penthouses and monuments of the mega-ultra-sophisticated.

So these people are so goddamn careful that they've never ever slipped up before ... what changed? Why in god's name would they only now decide to send out every damn Talon in their cupboard? It can't have been the villains of Gotham. Villains aren't new to Gotham. Batman's rogues have been out there for years and before that it was the gangster families and before that the Religion of Crime and so on.

Well, strictly speaking we know what changed, at least as far as our protagonist's involvement. He got himself Incorporated. He's less angsty, healthier and wants to make even more of a difference. He's not content to be a vigilante anymore, he's got to be the savior of Gotham day and night. That's the hubris that's got even more arrogant old status quo-mongers crawling out of every dark corner.

I think the straw that broke the back was Wayne publicly linking himself to Batman, and Wayne Enterprises publicly assisting Batman, Incorporated. Somebody was going to get riled ("What happens when Batman's enemies come for Bruce Wayne?" asked Selina.)

I think the problem for the Court of Owls is that it was too late. Once Batman took his stock public, and they exposed themselves, they were doomed.