Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls
Let us now dive into why the writing is so strong and the rhetorical techniques that are used to strengthen this comic. Lets start by looking at the setting. It takes place in Gotham which isn't out of the ordinary or that special. However, there is this layer of "Old Gotham" that is masterfully weaved into the art and writing. What I mean by "Old Gotham" is that The Court of Owls (TCOO) "nest" in places that were built by others. They are in floors of skyscrapers that don't exist on blueprints. They even have a hidden labyrinth underneath Gotham itself. Additionally, the narrative revisits Bruce's first encounter with TCOO when he was a child. We are able to see Gotham in different ways because of the flash backs and hidden layers of the Owls. This rhetorical move tells us that we as readers cannot always believe what we see. There is always more than meets the eye in Snyder & Capullo's Gotham City. This is only the tip of the rhetorical iceberg.
Continuing with the rhetorical genius displayed here, lets take a look at the characterizations. We have a fairly large Bat-Family even though this volume focuses primarily on Bruce himself. We have Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Tim Drake as Red Robin, and Damian Wayne as Robin. Choosing this set of characters is a smart choice on Snyder's part because it allows for a more mature Batman to exist. The reason I argue Bruce is more mature here is because he has made it through Jason Todd's brutal murder. Bruce is also a father now (I never said a good one!) which theoretically adds a new level of self awareness to the space he fills. This puts us on Robin #4 which speaks to the length of time Batman has been doing this. He's not just a billionaire in a cape anymore. He's been doing this for years and has hit a "professional" level of skill. This creates a more mentally sound (keep this in mind as we go along) Batman because of his experience and maturity.
The most powerful rhetorical move in this entire volume comes from the labyrinth. This is a true blend of Capullo's talent as an artist and Snyder's talent as a writer. Batman is slowly losing his sanity inside of the maze. To demonstrate this Snyder and Capullo physically force the audience to turn the comic sideways and even upside down. Lets take a look at an example of this.
From the image above you can see how the pages physically force you to turn the comic sideways and even upside down. In the selected panels above the one that stands out the most is the middle one. Bruce is falling into madness and his mind takes him to a hallucination of his aged parents. This image is so powerful because the Wayne parents were robbed of growing old together. Bruce was robbed of being able to see his parents grow old and change. This is a fun-house mirror distortion of our new mature Bruce. He's older, and because of that he's thinking about age and legacy. His parents were unable to take him past childhood. Will that be the case with his Bat-Family? These are the raw emotions being displayed in these panels. In addition to these raw emotions, Batman is being pinned by overwhelming light. We will get into the details of light and darkness as we further dissect the maze.
The next piece I want to bring attention to is Bruce's left eye.
His eye is bloodshot and his mask broken on that side. There is so much emotion shown through just one eye. It is so powerful because that is all wee need to see how shocked and tormented Bruce is in this moment. His photo is taken by an old style camera and he is surrounded by thousands of photos. Bruce is trying to not fall into the mind games of the labyrinth. However, his eye shows us just how much trouble he is in. He cannot keep his cold brooding demeanor hidden from the audience. He has to use his voice to power through this fear. The exposure of this one eye is so important because it gives the audience the social and emotional cues to what is going on underneath Bruce's rough exterior. The left eye is often associated with protection or a type of power because of the Egyptian God Horus. A few examples of the left eye holding power are in the characters: Gauche Adlai's Mirror Eye (Black Clover), Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan (Naruto), Lelouch vi Britannia's Geass (Code Geass), King Bradley aka Wrath's Ultimate Eye (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), and Allen Walker's Cursed Eye (D.Gray-man) just to name a few (there are hundreds). They all have power, protection, and/or strength from the abilities their left eyes hold. That being said, Batman's left eye is exposed. Instead of giving Batman power, this gives Snyder and Capullo all of the power. They are able to convey the strife and struggle flawlessly through the power of the left eye.
Additionally, light plays an interesting role. There is this displacement between good and evil in terms of light and dark here. An example of this is Batman trying to escape back to the darkness for safety. He is also "The Dark Knight." This is pared with the bright white light being bad. He has to escape from the light and hide in the darkness. We do not normally associate darkness with good and light with evil. The rhetorical move of this displacement is so powerful because it breaks our traditional thought process of symbolism. It is broken because nine out of ten times light will be good and dark will be evil. We have had that rhetoric shoved down our throats since the dawn of storytelling. This rhetorical move forces the audience to rethink this symbolism, and really question morality.
The light leads to insanity. This next image captures Batman losing his mind completely.
The image, as you can see, is upside down. This represents Batman falling into the chaos. He has a blood shot eye, scruff, and is upside down. He's yelling at the voices trying to regain control of this situation. this all happens while a sneak attack is being planned in the light. Again, stealth is something we associate with darkness and not light.
The Image above is the closing image of the issue. I chose to include it for several reasons. I like that we see his bloodshot eye, his beast like hands, the topsy-turvy, the stealth attack, and the lighting. We don't need words at all here. Batman's face tells us everything we need to know. All of this combines into one powerful image that shows the light killing the dark. Our hero is the dark, he is going mad and physically transforming into a beast. This moment takes the earlier displacement of light and dark and takes them even further. Our hero is a monster in the darkness, yet we want him to survive. Another interesting layer here is the embrace of the owl. It is almost sensual the way he is holding Bruce followed by the penetration of the dagger. The upside down image leaves the audience falling from darkness into light as Bruce is stabbed. The dagger is also in the transition of the light. It is as if the dagger is bringing Bruce into the light as he dies. The most important take away here is Bruce's agency. He has no power to stop this sneak attack. He cannot even physically resist because he is in a state of shock. He is helpless. He is powerless. There is nothing left he can do to resist the labyrinth and its tricks.
As this scene comes to a close, Snyder unleashes his ultimate rhetorical trump-card. We see Batman cry. He is calling out for help and he is crying. Again, we are only given one eye to show all of this emotion. This eye has shown us fear, doubt, joy, insanity, and sorrow. This move is so tight and precise that it feels organic. Batman is really feeling all of these emotions, and the audience can understand all of it through one eye. The rhetorical skill level to pull this move off is god tier. This absolutely could not have happened without the flawless collaboration of Snyder and Capullo.
I strongly recommend this series regardless of your exposure to comics, DC, or Batman. The writing is fantastic, and it does not heavily rely on prior knowledge to the Batverse. As I've said before the execution of rhetorical moves through both text and image here are god tier levels of good.
Personal rating: 5/5
-Tory
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