Batman (The New 52) # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

The New 52 started with Batman trying to find the mysterious organization The Court of Owls, and stop their recent rash of killings. This leads Batman to explore the hidden 13th floor of certain buildings, finding one of their bases. The building suddenly explodes with Batman still inside it.

Issue 4 continues with ‘Face the Court’ as Batman narrowly escapes the exploding building. Back to the Batcave. Dick checks up on Bruce finding out that he’s been so obsessed lately that Alfred has to slip him pills to get him to sleep. Bruce is awake, regardless, and checking his computer for anything he can get off the remains of Alan Wayne. Dick reminds him of all the things he discovered so far, including that they now know that the Talon he fought in issue 2 survived the fall and escaped. Bruce seems set on denying the existence of the Court of Owls and underestimating the enemy. Dick is about to leave when Bruce stops and tells him he looked into the Court before.

Back when he was a kid, a week after the infamous murder of his parents… Bruce couldn’t accept his parents were killed for something as random as some jewelry and pocket change. He felt something bigger had to be at work. Growing up, he also heard of the legend of the Court of Owls and remembered seeing an owl nest in their attic. He saw this as a warning his parents ignored and was determined to locate the Court of Owls.

After a lot of investigation, he found a building called Harbor House, an abandoned social club, in which every member of high society was once a member of, with a double owl on the crest. He found a hidden room in the upper tower right above the crest outside. However, once he finally got there, all he found was an empty dusty abandoned room. Bruce was trapped there, comatose by the time Alfred finally found him. On that day he decided there really was no Court of Owls and to never let his emotions run a case. Bruce kept looking over the years and found nothing. Dick reminds Bruce that Gotham is nearly 400 years old, and maybe it belonged to something darker.

Batman heads off for a lead. Upon checking Alan’s bones, he found tiny puncture wounds… from throwing knives. And he also found residue of something similar to marble… which was odd because the sewer he died in was made of granite. As Batman studies the walls of the original place his great grandfather died in, suddenly the Talon busts through the wall and grabs him. Batman wakes up in the middle of a maze as the Court of Owls watch him.

My Opinions

This issue was kind of a cool down issue, I guess. They did spend a bit of pages on flashbacks of Bruce as a kid trying to find the Court of Owls even then. He is pretty stubborn like that, if he couldn't find them as a kid, even if this was before Batman was even part of his plan, then the Owls simply can't exist. I was also never a big fan of the death of his parents being part of some master plan. It should always just be a random mugging in a dark alley gone wrong, nothing more and nothing less. There's not much to say about the issue, it's mostly Bats trying to survive the explosion and some backstory as they try to further fit the Court of Owls into Bruce's childhood. Yes, the Court was here all along, and this story is working it's darnest to retcon them into history and established lore.

I really loved the details and lighting here

The issue ends with Bats in a maze, and hooo boy, is this every going to mess him up. As you'll see next issue, this maze is really going to test the very limits of Batman's sanity and survival instincts.