Review: BATMAN #10

BATMAN #10
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV
Art by Greg Capullo, Rafael Albuquerque
Release Date: June 13, 2012

The Night of the Owls continues with Batman #10 by Snyder and Capullo, one of the hottest teams in comics and the simple and fast review of this book is one word: “great”. Month after month this title impresses and is building a tension and momentum unlike any other comic in the industry. Snyder has masterfully built the title all the way from the first issue until issue #11 into a singular arc with twists, turns, deceptions and just as many questions as there have been answers. This issue is no different. What has amazed me the most with this run so far is how quickly Snyder can take my perceptions of what is going to occur and twist them into a complete 180 and leave me baffled and amazed by what he has pulled off. For me, issue #10 is the strongest of the Night of the Owls series as I enjoy Batman on the prowl and was happy to read a comic without a Talon being frozen as has happened in so many of the crossover books. This issue focuses entirely on what Bruce is doing: taking the offensive stance and going after the Owls and it was great to read some answers to the pages and pages of riddles that Batman has gone through. Snyder is firing on all cylinders in this issue, his dialogue is fantastic, his pacing is brilliant and the man knows how to throw one hell of a literary curveball. I won’t dig into spoilers, but there were several pages in this issue that absolutely floored me as he made a reveal or plot twist that I completely did not expect, yet blissfully enjoyed. This will be a fantastic tale to read as a collection and is the best written book in the DC universe.

Time to talk art, and Capullo is flawless. His Batman is everything he should be: powerful, intense, confident and, at times, absolutely menacing. Shadows are used brilliantly in this artwork and Gotham truly is the darkest place on the planet when penciled by Capullo’s hand. He has mentioned that he is going to be working on Batman for the long haul and if the artwork stays at this level of quality then readers are in for quite a treat.

The additional story by Snyder, James Tynion IV and Rafael Albuquerque does a solid job of adding to the mystique and confusion that still exists about the Court within the few pages it runs. I have enjoyed how they are creating some ‘fresh history’ that we have never seen before and acknowledging the part that Alfred’s family has played in the life of the Wayne family. Tynion definitely seems to be warming up for his newly announced Talon series and based on this small sampling of his work there is definitely potential there.

Verdict: 9.5/10

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