Batman: Lost (2017-) #1

The Court of Owls was, easily, one of the best Batman graphic novels I have ever read, right up there with Miller's Year One and Moore's The Killing Joke. (Disclaimer: While I'm making rapid headway through the great ones, I have not read every - or even a lot - of the Batman graphic novels out there.) Equal parts suspense thriller and comic sci-fi, literary achievement and accessible story, Scott Snyder keeps it authentic for comic fans and deepens the Batman ethos through insinuation, metaphor, sociological reference, and light psychology.

The notion of the Court of Owls hiding in the “false” thirteenth floors of Wayne-built buildings - that is to say, hiding in the populace's fear and superstition - terrific. The apparent architectural authenticity backing up the thirteenth floor legend in Wayne buildings felt factual and pushed the narrative in a surprising way. Batman's Gotham has always been a caricature of our own society's fears, failures, and achievements. The idea that a secretive Court of Owls that watches over the city and upholds its own style of justice plays right into our own fears of Big Brother - an example of Snyder's subtle way to grab the buy-in, the emotional connection from the reader so necessary to making a great story.

Using a court of owls - natural predators of bats - as a rival of the Wayne family was another of Snyder's solid decisions. While it is true that the Wayne family's contributions to Gotham's charities, skyline, etc. have certainly not been “nocturnal”, the court of owls appeared to be one step ahead of the family in knowing that its ultimate greatest contribution to Gotham - the Batman - would be. The court knows the Wayne family better than the family knows itself.

In what I have read regarding DC's “The New 52”, reviews are mixed. To a certain extent, I agree. But the launch of The New 52 gave this particular Batman title a chance to reset and Snyder appears to have taken full advantage of that opportunity. It is with anticipation that I begin Batman, Vol. 2: The City of Owls.