Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls has sent their army of Talons to attack the city and Alfred called the Bat Family to help stop them. The Talons attacked Wayne Manor and after Batman stopped this violent home invasion, he went to Arkham Asylum to rescue Dr. Arkham. Now he heads to rescue Lincoln March. This is one of the most misleading covers ever ‘I can no longer be broken’ starts off with a Talon attacking Lincoln March, stabbing him fatally. However, the Talon is a bit old and careless and gets tased. Lincoln pulls out a gun and shoots him in the eye. We then flashback to the Talon’s life. Like several potential Talons, he started off as a child in Haly’s circus. Due to being afraid of the high wire, the kid is tossed into a trailer that was set on fire. The kid survived the fire, and the ringmaster called him worthy to be the next Talon.  Twenty seven years later, we see that adult Alton Carver as a Talon, killing someone in Gotham. However, he was spotted by police and had...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have sent their army of Talons across the city as many of them attack Wayne Manor. The Bat Family took care of most of the Talons and Batman has finally fought his way through them and defeated the ones that invaded his home. Now back on the streets, Batman drives towards Arkham Asylum to rescue one of the people on the Court's hit list- Dr. Arkham himself. ‘Night of the Owls: The Owls take Arkham’ begins at 8:26 PM with some cops watching the asylum when something bounced off the hood of their car. Due to Gordon’s orders, the place is under lockdown. Inside the asylum, Jeremiah Arkham actually feels safe in his little madhouse and doesn’t want to leave, despite police saying he should leave due to his name being on a hit list. Arkham says he has work to do, as he continues to walk and look over his patients, Mr. Zsasz, Steeljacket, Fright, Clayface and Nocturna. Just then a cop tells him that Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, is ready to end his hun...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have unleashed their army of Talons upon the city, and they've started to storm Wayne Manor. Alfred send the call out to several members of the Bat Family including Nightwing, Batwing and the Birds of Prey, while Batman himself has to protect his home from the Talons. This one is going to be kinda tricky since this comic actually takes place before and after the Night of Owls. His adventures will continue in Detective comics and an event that happens in Batman Dark Knight overlaps with the events of this issue. The first time I reviewed this I actually split it up to review half the comic, then the crossover stuff and then back to the events after the Night of Owls ended. This time I'll just review it normally but be sure to read my reviews on Detective # 9 and Batman Dark Knight # 9 to get the full story. ‘Night of the Owls’ starts with a monologue explaining that when the very first Waynes, Solomon and Joshua bought the house which would be...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have unleashed their army of Talons, and as they storm Wayne Manor, Batman has Alfred call out to everyone in the Bat Family to help out. Catwoman didn't get the call. In her case, she was planning to rob the Penguin... who happened to be a target of the Owls. "Night of the Owls- Mirrors come in all Sizes" starts in Gotham 1665. One of the Talons was sent to kill someone, but feeling a sense of honor, he gave the man a blade so he could fight for his life. The man ran out into the streets and the Talon was seen killing him. Forced to kill several British officers, the Talon also lost one of his blades. As a result, the Court prepares the next Talon and put this one to sleep. Back to modern day, Catwoman and her new partner in crime, Spark, plan to rob a 300 year olf owl-head blade from the Penguin. The Court awakens all the Talons for their attack on the city, and send Ephraim Newhouse, the Talon from 1665, after the Penguin. After bein...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have released their army of Talons all over the city. As Talons storm Wayne Manor and Batman tries to fight them off, Alfred send a call to everyone in the Bat Family to help out. The call even extends to Black Canary, Katana and Poison Ivy, the Birds of Prey! "Night of the Owls- Gangland Style" opens with a flashback to Gotham 1847 as the streets are full of gangs trying to kill each other. The narrator tells us there's a stronger group than the gangs, and that is The Court, as a Talon wipes out the entire crazed crowd. In Gotham modern day, Katana and Black Canary are busy fighting one of the Talons. Canary wonders if Poison Ivy is dead but Katana's sword (possessing the soul of her husband) tells her she is alive. The Talon was been stabbed by Soul Stealer a few times, but the Talon has no soul for Katana's sword to steal. The Talon tackles both women down and Canary lets out her Canary Cry, but to her surprise, it did nothin...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have unleashed their army of Talons all over Gotham City. As Batman fights off the invading forces in Wayne Manor, Alfred sends the call to every member of the Bat Family- including The Red Hood! "The Night of the Owls- Who Are You? Hoo Hoo" opens with Red Hood, Arsenal and Starfire staking out Mr. Freeze's lair as they've been told he's another target of the Talons. They were wrapping up another mission in Gotham when they got the call from Alfred. Starfire asks why Jason is willing to help Batman if he hates him so much. Jason tells her that he's doing this to save the city, not for Batman. Jason remarks that Mr. Freeze knows the Owls are after him and he's turned Chinatown into his own private (and frozen) bunker. The Outlaws have to rescue Mr. Freeze from the Talons, but they also have to rescue the city from Mr. Freeze. Red Hood leaps out towards the ice structures and tells Starfire and Arsenal to get as many peopl...

By Mark Rodriguez The Talons are attacking all over Gotham City. Nightwing rescued the mayor from being killed by one of the Talons, but as he was leaving he was attacked by another. This other Talon is William Cobb, his own great grandfather! The story opens with more of Cobb's flashbacks. He says that during the time he courted Amelia, he rarely dealt with her father. One time he met up with him and Burton Crowe asked what he was doing with his daughter. He invites him to play chess and explains that world, like chess, only has light and dark and no in-between. He reminds him that even though he came from the slums and rose up in fame with Haly's Circus, he was still filth. In modern day, Nightwing faces William Cobb and wonders how he escaped the Batcave. He tells the mayor and his men to hide in their panic room as he tackles the Talon out the window. As they all, Cobb tells Grayson to show him what he has become and to impress him. In free-fall, Nightwing fires a grappling...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls has unleashed their army of Talons all over Gotham City! As they storm Wayne Manor, Batman holds them off while Alfred send the alert to the BatFamily. After discovering earlier on that one of Nightwing's great grandfather was a Talon, and that he himself was once destined to become a Talon, he has a more personal stake in this. How will Nightwing deal with the Talons? "The Night of the Owls- Bloodlines" begins with the flashback of a child juggling for pennies on the streets of Gotham City in the year 1910. At the time the Elite of Gotham were Alan Wayne, Frederic Cobblepot, Edward Elliot, and Burton Crowe. The child's father worked building bridges and when a bridge collapsed during construction, he lost his life. His mother worked at a textile plant and couldn't afford to watch the kid. Even though she warned her against begging on the street corners, he continued to juggle on the streets for a year. One day a guy tried to ru...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls has unleashed the Talons upon Gotham City! As they storm Wayne Manor, Batman does his best to hold them off while Alfred send the alert to all their allies. Now Robin will be facing one of the Talons. "Night of the Owls- Robin hears a Hoo" begins with Robin getting the same distress signal from Alfred as does everybody else, and he wants to go home and help his father. However, Alfred sends him to protect another target of the Owls… Major General Benjamin Burrows. Robin uses some sort of bat-jetpack to fly to the scene. The General is busy commanding his troops when something starts to attack his soldiers. Robin lands and tells the General that the soldiers were killed by the Talon, sent by the Court of Owls, to kill him. The General doesn't take the pint-sized hero seriously at first. The Talon strikes and the men’s gunshots can’t stop him. Robin tells the General to hold onto him so they can both fly out of there. As the General leave...

By Mark Rodriguez The Court of Owls have unleashed an army of Talons upon Gotham and Batman has Alfred tell all their allies to be on alert and stop them from killing their targets! Now it's Batgirl's turn to take down one of the Talons! "Night of Owls- In the Line of Fire" begins with a have a flashback to China 1944, as a schoolgirl named Ayumi, along with the rest of her class make balloons called Fusen Bakudan. These mini hot air balloons carry bombs. We then go to Gotham City 1946 as we see that the girl is now older and has her face covered in bandages. She’s in Haly’s Circus, the same circus that will someday have the Flying Graysons, and barely survived the balloon bomb attack. One of the Court of Owls went to see her and recruits her as one of the Talons. We flash to the present as Batgirl faces one of the Talons, the time being 6:07 PM. A balloon bomb caused major damage during dinnertime, and Batgirl ran into this female Talon as she went to investigate. Sh...