New on the graphic books hardcover best-seller list this week, at No. 1, is “Batman: Night of Owls,†written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Greg Capullo.
This adventure pits Batman and his allies (Batgirl, Nightwing and current and former Robins) against the Court of Owls, an evil that has shaped Gotham City for decades. Mr. Snyder and Mr. Capullo have been doing an outstanding job with the main “Batman†series, and they continue that work here. The problem with “Night of Owls,†however, is the crossover aspect. Readers who are only reading “Batman†can follow the story fairly well, but supplemental parts of the saga were told in other titles, including “Nightwing,†“Batgirl,†“Batwing†and “All-Star Western.†(Many of these pics are designed to encourage readers to try different series.)
When you’re dealing with characters that live in the same world, it makes sense for big events in one title to affect others. And it is easy, as the issues are published, to follow the story religiously across all titles, or stick to the ones you normally buy. Part of it is personal taste, but I found the flow of the collected edition jarring. Westerns leave me cold, and the opening chapter of “Night of Owls†is from “All-Star Western†issue No. 9, which takes place back when Gotham City was a one-horse town. But whether good (“Batgirl†continues to be excellent, as does “Nightwingâ€) or bad (“Red Hood and the Outlawsâ€), many of the supplemental stories feel like treading water. At a certain point, I found myself skipping some of the ancillary stories to get back to “Batman.â€
As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.
