Now I want to finish off the Superman and Batman themed month with my favorite Batman experience ever: Batman #1. It begins the terror-filled arc that tells the story of “The Court of Owls.” This journey is headed by writer Scott Snyder and penciled by Greg Capullo as part of DC’s New 52 brand. Together these two artists bring out what Batman stories should be like. In this story, we are reminded of the world that these characters inhabit. Gotham city has become a soulless haven for the worst criminals. Batman investigates a murder with three interesting clues: daggers with owls etched on them, the message “Bruce Wayne will die tomorrow” and DNA samples that lead to the murderer being Dick Grayson. There is a mystery that must be solved and this is where Batman’s detective skills come in to play. In fact, as the issues progress, he presses them farther and farther until he finds something about Gotham City that even he didn’t know about, a place darker than he’s ever known, a place where even he knows fear.
This is the issue that I was introduced to the writings of Scott Snyder. The entire run of the “Court of Owls” storyline gave me a new aspect on storytelling. From here I followed his work on American Vampire, Wytches, The Wake, and so on. For any hard core Batman fan this is required reading.
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