The Court of Owls is the talk of internet and the crossover taking place in a number of Bat-books, The Night of Owls, is only a couple of months away. Comic Book Resources talked with Snyder about what is in store for readers.
CBR: In the first, or maybe second issue, Alfred talks about Athenian owls and the symbols those coins adorned. Athenian owls date back thousands of years. Is it safe to say the reach and history of the Court of Owls goes even further back and reaches further around the globe than the past 400 years of Gotham City?
Scott Snyder: Well, I don't want to spoil it but I do want to say that their history is very long and dark. You'll see how far they claim to be there — from the very, very beginnings of Gotham. And you'll see how they show this to Bruce. Or how they make that argument and try to prove that to him. But in terms of how far their actually reach goes globally, that's stuff that we're excited to explore even further down the line.
CBR: And this, of course, is all leading towards "Night of the Owls," the big Bat-event slated for later this year.
Scott Snyder: Yes. I was basically writing the "Court of the Owls" story, and I realized that there was a point in the story where the attack on Gotham was such that the other members of the Bat Family would have to at least be addressed in "Batman." This all begins in "Batman" #9.
What I did was ask the other writers if they wanted to use an element of the "Court of the Owls" story in their books, without giving too much away. They were welcome to use it however they wanted, and if they didn't, that was totally fine, too. We didn't want to interrupt anybody's stories, so some books, like "Detective," are not going to be a part of the "Night of the Owls" event because Tony is having so much fun with his story and we'd interrupt it. Same with "Batwoman."
Some books are just going to keep on going as they are, while other books, where the writer decided they thought they could use some material from "Night of the Owls" to just further or do something within the story they were telling, or tell a short story in a way that would fit the series that they were writing, those series will tie-in. "All Star Western," "Birds of Prey," "Batgirl," "Nightwing," "Batman and Robin," "Red Hood" and "Dark Knight" — we're really excited to be including all of those books in the crossover. But they will all be self-contained, too, just to be clear. Meaning, you could read "Batman" and none of the other books and it will not affect your reading experience when it comes to the narrative in "Batman." You will not need to go and read "Nightwing" to understand "Batman." And you really shouldn't have to read "Batman" to understand what's happening in any of these other books. So if you are enjoying "Batgirl" or "Nightwing" or "Batman and Robin," you can read all of those books singularly and not need to come over and read "Batman" in order for it to make sense.
CBR: Dick's definitely played a role in this storyline already, and Damian and Tim appeared in a brief cameo. Will we see more of the Robins, old and new, in the "Court of the Owls" story?
Scott Snyder: Dick plays a very big part in it. You're going to see Tim play a part in it. You're going to see Damian play a part in it. You're going to see Jason play a part in it. All of the Robins, other than Steph, are in it, and that's just because DC has future plans for some characters in the Bat Universe, like Stephanie and Cass, so they want to keep them off the table for these stories right now. But there's some exciting plans for them too.
For the entire interview, including talk about the inception of the Court of Owls, head over to Comic Book Resources. Batman #5 hits stores later this week.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
