Batman: City of Owls & Night of the Owls

Batman:  City of Owls (Batman:  The New 52 vol. 2), by Scott Snyder; graphic novel; 208 pages

Batman:  Night of the Owls, by Scott Snyder; graphic novel; 368 pages

I'm writing about these in one post because they're both about the same event, and there's a lot of overlap between the two.  Both volumes follow the Court of Owls kick-off that launched the Batman side of the New 52.  For those who missed it, the Court of Owls is a shadowy secret society that rules Gotham from behind the scenes.  They have a pet assassin, called the Talon, who is traditionally recruited from Haley's Circus (yes, the same circus that Dick Grayson grew up in).  In the first volume, Batman managed to get inside the Court, and cause some serious havoc.  City and Night are the Owls way of retaliating.  Using a regenerative compound developed by Mr. Freeze, the Court raises ALL of its past Talons and sets them loose on Gotham.  A number are sent after Bruce Wayne in his home, while others still go after the people who control the city--police officers, city officials, prominent doctors, and more.  City of Owls collects the Batman issues of the story:  Bruce's fight with the assassins both at the Bat-cave and on the streets of Gotham; Night of the Owls is a crossover event, collecting the experiences of Nightwing, Catwoman, Robin, and the Birds of Prey.

Both the writing and art in both volumes are excellent (Nightwing no longer looks like a 16-year-old!), though readers should be warned that Night collects some of the same Batman issues as City, so there's a lot of overlap.  This is great for the collector, or for someone who's just picking up one of the volumes, but was mildly annoying for someone reading the two books back to back.  Night does a great job of introducing us to more of the changes in the New 52 (Poison Ivy's a Bird of Prey now???  Also, Arkham seems to have been moved to an island in the heart of the city--ala Batman Begins--rather than its traditional place in the middle of nowhere).  One of my favorite changes is the alteration of Freeze's backstory (to say more would be a spoiler, but rest assured that this was the first Mr. Freeze story I've EVER really enjoyed, and I was glad to see it was collected in both volumes).  If I had to change one thing, it would be to add more Red Robin into the mix (he's in ONE PANEL of one issue, and doesn't even speak, despite the fact that he's the main person on the cover of that issue).  Some of the crossover stuff was a bit of a stretch (Jonah Hex?  Really?), and I was disappointed the Red Hood got such a prominent role, but not Tim Drake.  But all in all, this is a strong continuation of the reboot storyline.  I can't wait to get my hands on Death of the Family.