A review by unladylike
Batman: The Night of the Owls by Kyle Higgins, Jimmy Palmiotti, Eddy Barrows, Patrick Gleason, Scott Snyder, Peter J. Tomasi, Tony S. Daniel, J.H. Williams III, Scott Lobdell, Justin Gray, Duane Swierczynski, Judd Winick, David Finch

3.0

This collection was a mixed bag, as could be expected by the fact that it was written by many writers across various Gotham-related titles. Some stories - specifically, the ones from Birds of Prey, All-Star Western, and Red Hood and the Outlaws - barely warranted a 2 star rating. The issues from the primary Batman title featured some good comeback fighting, occurring almost immediately after Batman/Bruce Wayne had barely made it out of the Court of Owls' ancient labyrinth. Seeing how beaten down and truly terrified Batman became, and his mental struggle with the discovery that the city he thought was His had been operating with the powerful influence of a centuries-old elite cult, right under his nose, helped show the humanity and mortality of the Dark Knight more than most stories he stars in. But it was the tales that illuminated the diversity and humanity of the reanimated corpse army of assassins known as Talons that earned 4-5 star ratings in my book, bringing the whole collection to about a 3.5. I was extremely glad the writers didn't just plot out the same scene over and over with slightly different protagonists (as they might have done given the nature of the threat), and that they didn't even limit themselves to focusing on the protagonists' struggles at all. Instead we learn some very interesting stories told at different points in history, informing us of the origins of some of the Talon assassins, the reason behind Dick Grayson's name, and some really important newly added layers to Bruce Wayne's primary canonical mythology involving Alfred's father.

I have a fairly significant complaint about the way this collection was edited: nearly all of the issues are sequenced out of order. I get that not everything has to line up in a perfect sequence, but there were several times when an issue would end by coming back to a certain plot point, secondary mission, or a Big Reveal, and then a later issue would be partially about leading up to that thing. There's probably a better reading order already listed by fans somewhere, but the editors really botched the chronology with this sizable trade hardback.