Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Batman, Birds of Prey, Comics, dc, nightwing, Red Hood And The Outlaws

Night Of The Owls, Beat For Beat

I have mocked the Avengers Vs X-Men crossover for portraying a seemingly impossible and contradictory series of events in a variety of comics that, for anyone trying to read the whole thing, doesn't make a great deal of sense.

Batman's Night Of The Owls crossover has, in comparison, been meticulously planned. The events, all taking over one night, see member of the Batcorp defending prominent citizens of Gotham, their every action timestamped, so that they all slot neatly into each other. Almost as if they actually planned it properly.

So it's punctual.

This week, Red Hood And The Outlaws #9, taking place from 8:18pm to 8.53pm, carries out the most pointless protection mission, protecting Mister Freeze from the Talons. Assassins that become vulnerable at low temperatures. And this never even comes up. Even though it's a major plot point in other books…

Red Hood does reprise the Court Of Owls nursery rhyme sung to Gotham's children and… damn, seriously, no wonder everyone in Gotham turns out odd.

Birds Of Prey #9 starts at 8:20pm till about 9.03pm but also takes place in 1842. A bit. And, in the continuing battle against a Talon finds a way to way to make me smile.

Nightwing #9 continues the story, starting at 8.22pm but also taking place at various points over the last hundred years uses different timelines to give the book major amounts of gravitas, and turns a fight into a generational separation of ideas, given physical form. Oh and really nice landing impacts such as this one.

Damn that had to hurt. Again though, no recognition that the snow and ice might have a factor. Funny, it isn't snowing in the other books… unless, is this taking place near Mister Freeze's place? Of course it is! Nice one! That's how you do it.

Of course, for plot purposes, all of these are utterly missable. You won't gain insight into the Court Of Owls that you won't get in Batman. Which is probably the point, they are all plug and play crossovers and, with everyone fighting a talon, gets a little repetitive. Norman Osborn syndrome all over again.

But at least you have an idea about what's going on. And some of it is rather pretty too.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Check them out at Kapow this weekend.

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