With the immense number of Batman comics throughout the years we have decided to focus on the New 52 and beyond comic lines. With that said, let's get started on Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls. This volume collects Batman #1-7 of the New 52 Batman series. The story begins seven years into Bruce Wayne's career as the Batman. The Justice League had been formed five years prior to the start of the story and Batman is faced with a new foe: The Court of Owls. 

         ***The next section is a synopsis of the comic story. If you wish to skip to the review scroll to the next indicator.***

         The comic opens with Batman narrating and telling us about a long standing column in the Gotham Gazette called "Gotham Is." He lists of a few of the more recent ones; "Gotham is damned, Gotham is cursed, Gotham is bedlam, Gotham is murderous, Gotham is villianous, Gotham is a losing game, and Gotham is hopeless." As he lists these we see a large collection of his rogues attempting to take Batman down. Batman is kicking some serious butt, taking down Killer Croc, Two-Face and the Scarecrow, to name a few. Behind him a voice sounds from the darkness: The Joker. 

         In a surprise twist, Batman and the Joker team up to fight their way out of the crowd of villians. After a rooftop conversation with Commissioner James Gordon, we see Bruce sitting at the Bat-computer with the Joker approaching. It is revealed to be none other than Dick Grayson, former Robin current Nightwing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         The pair leaves the Batcave and joins a benefit party in Wayne Manor. They are greeted by Time Drake, current Red Robin and member of the Teen Titans, and Damien Wayne, current Robin. Bruce then gives a speech to the party attendants attempting to convince them to invest with him in the progression of Gotham City.

          Following his speech, Bruce is introduced to Lincoln March, a mayoral candidate and C.O.O. of March Venture. March expresses interest in Bruce's plans and proposes a meeting to discuss the details. While March is talking, Bruce listens in on a phone call that Commissoner Gordon is having detailing a crime scene involving multiple stab wounds. Bruce excuses himself and heads to the scene as the Caped Crusader.

         Upon arriving at the crime scene, Batman is met by Detective Harvey Bullock. The victim is tied up to the wall in an "T" shape and is pierced with, by my count, 31 antique throwing knives. Each knife has an image of an owl on the hilt. Bullock begins to ask Batman, "Do you think it has anything to do with the old wives' tale about the c--" and then is cut off by the Dark Knight. Batman then discovers a message written in paint thinner that reads: "Bruce Wayne will die tomorrow." Bullock then goes off talking about how Bruce doesn't know Gotham like he thinks he does. Bullock's last line before the first issue ends with a break is: "My view is, when it comes to Gotham, you don't know it, brother. It knows you. And the moment you think otherwise, the moment you get too comfortable...that's when it stabs you right in the back. Because above everything, Gotham is...a mystery." The last panel shows a 100% DNA match for Dick Grayson at the crime scene.

         The next "chapter" (issue) opens with a description of the original Wayne tower and then a shot of Bruce being thrown out of the highest level with throwing knives stuck in his brachial arteries. An assassination attempt, it would seem. The scene then cuts to 24 hours earlier. 

         A helicopter full of bad guys and kidnapped women was flying through Gotham on their way to meet whoever was taking the women. The chopper was badly damaged and flying low over elevated railroad tracks. All of a sudden, Batman, on his motorcycle, rips one of the baddies out of the helicopter and then enters the chopper. The scene then cuts to the morgue, where the autopsy of the knife victim is occurring. Gordon is present, and soon alone. He talks to Batman, who is at the Batcave.

         Batman scans the body using a high tech camera that is called a photogrametric scanner, enabling him to view the and scan the body from the Batcave. Using some very clever and creative artwork, Batman and Gordon stand over the same body in two seperate locations. Batman finds an unusual fracture in one of the victims molars. Gordon investigates it and finds that it is the same owl as the one of the knives that killed the victim. Batman calls it an "Athenian Owl" and says that it appeared on coins in ancient Greece as a sign of wealth and power. 

         Gordon then recites a nursery rhyme about the Court of Owls, a supposed myth. Batman quickly discounts the possiblity of the Court of Owls as the killer, insistent that they are nothing more than a legend to which Gordon replies "To be blunt, so were you for awhile."

         Nightwing (Dick Grayson) joins Batman and is informed that this body was the one that he was briefed on having his DNA under the victims fingernails. Batman asks if Nightwing knows the man and Nightwing tells him about how he met the victim once before and that he had given him a strange warning. Batman then leaves Nightwing.

         Bruce Wayne meets Lincoln March in the old Wayne Tower to discuss Bruce's plans for the city and for March to try and get Bruce's vote for mayor. March then starts talking about an ancient evil that has returned to Gotham and then bloody security guard busts into the room, closely followed by a man dressed as an armored owl.