To streamline my thoughts on this arc, this will serve as a review of both this volume, and Volume 2: City of Owls. Coming off of The Long Halloween, this could only be an improvement. To begin with the positives, this arc piles on characterization for Bruce Wayne in a way that no other Batman run I’ve read has. It’s almost obsessive in how much it veers into Bruce’s psyche, giving us thought bubbles throughout many of the events that play out. This leads to some compelling setup (that may or may not be paid off in a satisfying way) that pits Bruce’s ego against the true villains of Gotham that have been sitting right in front of him. The criticism of Batman as a vigilante who never really does anything to solve crime has been levied against the character for a long time, but there’s no reason that that criticism can’t be used to his character’s benefit. I believed that this arc would delve into Bruce’s hubris more, and the mistakes that his parents made that he perpetually continues to make. He eagerly investigates the first Talon, having full confidence in his ability as a pre-pubescent detective; the inkling of a secret coalition of Gotham’s elite quelled by his existence as one of said elite. What lengths could Bruce Wayne even go to in fighting the Court without compromising his own position, and giving up the empire that he has built? These plot beats are more interesting than anything else I have encountered in a Batman story, and they use the biggest criticisms of the character to their advantage. Unfortunately, most of these beats only exist in my mind (for now). While Court of Owls does its best to weave so much compelling setup, City of Owls is equally adept at ignoring that setup in favor of eye roll inducing twists and crossover teasing. For all of the initial intrigue I had for Lincoln March, Snyder’s painfully indulgent monologue written for him in the middle of the arc’s most high stakes fight undid almost all of it. Things fall apart so badly in the latter half of City of Owls that the best issue in the book is a mostly unrelated one about Mister Freeze. It has all of the sharp storytelling that was absent in the rest of the book’s desire to make the Wayne family the good guys once again. I will never understand DC’s staunch adherence to the policy that Batman’s parents were pure forces of good. Every time a character comes with a grievance against them, a flashback that will absolve them is never too far away. Why can’t Bruce be chasing an idealistic vision of Gotham that never was? This arc just plays his belief in his own power to save Gotham way too straight. I hope that the rest of the New 52 run of Batman is less afraid to be bold with the character, and to tell a story that takes advantage of what a dynamite villain the Court is.