Batman (The New 52) # 3

By Mark Rodriguez

The Court of Owls has targeted Bruce Wayne to die and they made good on the promise as one of their top assassins was sent to kill him at public event. Bruce had to take the guy down without being too showy. Even though the Talon fell several floors and smashed onto a car, he still survived...

Issue three continues with ‘The Thirteenth Floor’, going back to Gotham City 1922 as a crazed and desperate Alan Wayne runs through the winter streets in nothing but a bathrobe, begging for help and saying ‘they’re after him’. The police grab him as the man claims ‘they’re real, their nests are all around!! They’re in my home!!' As the police try to comfort him and decide what to do next, they hear him scream as he fell down a manhole… but didn’t see exactly if he fell or jumped.

Present day in the sewers, Batman slams the face of a creep named Luka Volk, member of the Ukrainian Mob, demanding answers about the assassin. The Dark Knight figured the assassin must have entered the Old Wayne Tower through the rails, and since these gangs run the rails, they must have seen him. The Whisper Gang attack Batman, but our Caped Crusader kicks all their asses. He um... tosses a tiny magnet to an upcoming train, and magnetizes it... and since these guys are wearing steel masks... they get stuck on it and are carried off by the train... holy bat-magnets Batman!!! Once alone again, Volk tells him he knows nothing about this owl themed assassin.

 Back in the Batcave, Bruce continues to ponder the identity of the assassin, but not even his voice-recognition software can figure out who this guy is. Alfred demands he gets some rest, but Bruce asks what he knows about owls and his family, since the Talon mentioned ‘killing Waynes’. Alfred mentions Alan Wayne, and remembering how he mentioned how he was paranoid about ‘owls coming to get him’ and saying they have nested in his home. Even latest portraits of him had owls in the background. He died by drowning in a manhole cover, so no foul play was suspected. Batman then decides to head off.

Bruce visits Lincoln at the hospital and finds out that he was also threatened by the Owls. Bruce insists that if something like the Court of Owls ever exists, he would know about it. Lincoln asks what if the Owls didn’t want him to know about them. Now that Bruce announced this renovation project, that brought their attention towards him. Bruce heads off and says he’ll have his top people watch over Lincoln.

 Bats remembers how Alan Wayne was one of the first to remove the 13^th floor of buildings… that buildings have a small space between the 12^th and 14^th floor. After inspecting the hidden 13^th floor of a building, he finds what looks like the hideout of one of the owls. He then asks Alfred to look up every building built by Alan Wayne’s trust fund, and sure enough, each one them has a hidden 13^thfloor with another lair for the Owls. The last building was made just 5 years ago, and just as Batman deduces that these Owls really do nests in their homes… the building explodes.

 

My Opinions

I find this story to be intriguing. It reminds me of older stories where Batman was going around town looking for clues, trying to solve a mystery, and to have the villains just be interesting characters that aren't just the usual Joker or Penguin all the time. I liked seeing Batman go out and try to get clues from thugs and try to go deeper into this deadly mystery. Of course the art is awesome and just fits the mood perfectly. 

The Court of Owls is a cool concept, and I like the idea of how creepy it is to see owls basically everywhere, hinting they were always around. The deal with the empty space between the 12th and 14th floor is cool since a lot of building really do skip the 13th floor. Maybe the Court of Owls has a base on the 13th floor of the next big building you go to visit.