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Talon
Talon, Volume 2: The Fall of the Owls
As a young performer with Haly's Circus, young Calvin Rose was secretly being raised to be a master assassin--a killing machine called a Talon. The Talons have always served the mysterious Court of Owls, a group of wealthy individuals who will stop at nothing to maintain their grip on power in Gotham City. When Rose defects from the Talon's ranks, he is marked for death and spends the next few years using all his training to hide from his former masters.
In this volume, Calvin must slip unseen onto Bane's personal island fortress of Santa Prisca to capture scientist Sebastion Clark and uncover the truth about Bane's ongoing experiments on the island. What Calvin finds would make even Doctor Moreau tremble in fear.
Collecting: Talon 8-17
In this volume, Calvin must slip unseen onto Bane's personal island fortress of Santa Prisca to capture scientist Sebastion Clark and uncover the truth about Bane's ongoing experiments on the island. What Calvin finds would make even Doctor Moreau tremble in fear.
Collecting: Talon 8-17
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2014
About the author
James Tynion IV
1,685 books2,154 followersPrior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 18, 2016
They should've quit while they were ahead. The last three issues are incredibly pointless. A new talon is even introduced but then we never find out why! Maybe he shows up in another series? Who knows.
Also, if one of your characters loses an eye you should probably remember that throughout the issue:
Also, WTF is this face?!
Not a fan of this artist at all. Terrible volume.
This series is now canceled and I can totally see why. It's really not fair though because Calvin's story started off so strong.
Also, if one of your characters loses an eye you should probably remember that throughout the issue:
Also, WTF is this face?!
Not a fan of this artist at all. Terrible volume.
This series is now canceled and I can totally see why. It's really not fair though because Calvin's story started off so strong.
July 20, 2014
Well, THAT tanked fast. I only read DC in trade, so when I learned that Talon had been cancelled, I was shocked. I had loved the first trade, a creative and fun exploration of a superhero with dim motivation and an escape artist background. It stood apart from the DC superhero titles and felt like a place for a unique breed of story, like Marvel's Punisher but without the draining revenge obsession.
Having finished this trade, I am surprised it lasted this long. Almost everything I liked at first was gone - the Guillem March art, the frequent references to escapism trivia and technique, the shocking plot twists... In their place was a monstrous villain that was always big but inconsistently so, who was always single-minded except when he wasn't, who was smart and tactical except when he was blunt and enraged... The violence ramped up, including torture of a child and an amputation and enucleation on a beloved female supporting character. I was sure we had outgrown this with the end of the old DCU. Even the escape from Bane's prison, which had so much potential, fractured into a kaleidoscope of subplots and had trouble enforcing the Escape theme. Tynion leaves as author three issues before the end, giving us a really great single-issue exploration of a new Talon told in reverse by Marguerite Bennett, then a disappointing tarpit of a two-parter by Tim Seeley where the characters were so silly that I honestly thought there were three bad guys instead of two and kept waiting for the third to jump out at our team. I wish I hadn't seen a great series turn into this. This experience was like visiting a friend in hospice when they had really wanted you to remember them in their vitality.
Having finished this trade, I am surprised it lasted this long. Almost everything I liked at first was gone - the Guillem March art, the frequent references to escapism trivia and technique, the shocking plot twists... In their place was a monstrous villain that was always big but inconsistently so, who was always single-minded except when he wasn't, who was smart and tactical except when he was blunt and enraged... The violence ramped up, including torture of a child and an amputation and enucleation on a beloved female supporting character. I was sure we had outgrown this with the end of the old DCU. Even the escape from Bane's prison, which had so much potential, fractured into a kaleidoscope of subplots and had trouble enforcing the Escape theme. Tynion leaves as author three issues before the end, giving us a really great single-issue exploration of a new Talon told in reverse by Marguerite Bennett, then a disappointing tarpit of a two-parter by Tim Seeley where the characters were so silly that I honestly thought there were three bad guys instead of two and kept waiting for the third to jump out at our team. I wish I hadn't seen a great series turn into this. This experience was like visiting a friend in hospice when they had really wanted you to remember them in their vitality.
January 15, 2019
Calvin Rose, escaped pre-conversion Talon of the Cout of Owls , is a mix of hero and anti-hero. He kind of grew on me over the course of the series. Trigger warning for so many of the Court related stories -there are a lot of instances of physical child abuse throughout the stories, some only very thinly implied.
November 16, 2018
Wow, this series really took a nosedive between volumes 1 and 2. Though the first book was a bit of a stretch to set up, it eventually found its footing, building out a decent cast of characters and utilizing Calvin Rose's escape artist skills to tell some fresh, less predictable superhero stories.
All that is gone here. Any semblance of the smaller, more character-centric arcs is thrown out completely in favor of big, ridiculous plot machinations and misguided, pointless attempts to weave famous Batman villains like Bane into the fold. With the stories shifting from stealth missions to full-on battles, Calvin barely uses his escape artistry anymore, instead becoming just another great brawler who can seemingly handle himself in any fight. The thing that made his character interesting is replaced with more of the same superhero stuff we always see.
The biggest problem here, though, is the plot. It is... nonsense. There are multiple contradictions, dangling cliffhangers that are never re-addressed, convenient changes in plot devices. It's honestly some of the sloppiest plotting I've seen in a long time.
For instance, one issue ends with Bane seemingly killing Sebastian Clark, who has been the main villain in the series for several issues. He does so because a mysterious stranger we've never seen before shows up and offers him a new partnership opportunity, and Bane, sick of Clark's schemes, punches him offscreen in a blow that seems to indicate that Clark is now dead or, at least, extremely injured. Beyond the fact that Bane has no idea who this stranger is and therefore no reason to trust him, the series never revisits any of this. Never. Next issue, Bane is gone from the book, and Clark is perfectly healthy, continuing his scheme to take over the Court of Owls with absolutely no indication he was assaulted by one of the strongest men in the world. Bane's pact with the stranger is never shown again, and we never have any idea what any of that meant. It's maddening.
If this was the only instance of this kind of plot avoidance, I'd write it off as an editorial screwup and move on. But this happens repeatedly. In one issue, Clark has developed a serum so potent that it literally will dissolve the organic tissue of any Talon its injected into. Later, when he injects the same serum into Calvin, all it does is turn off his healing factor. Obviously, we don't want him to instantly kill our main character, so we instead just make the serum suddenly less potent.
There's not even a decent wrap-up to this book. This is the final volume of Talon, and it just kind of peters out. The final story is a two-parter about Calvin teaming up with Anya (a character we've barely gotten to know), in which they fight two characters we've never seen before who feel like they're going to be new villains in the series. By the end they solve all of Calvin's problems by some random miracle, and then it's over.
Truly this book makes the first book worse. It's such a mess that it undoes any of the work the first volume did towards making a halfway decent monthly. I'd say skip them both.
All that is gone here. Any semblance of the smaller, more character-centric arcs is thrown out completely in favor of big, ridiculous plot machinations and misguided, pointless attempts to weave famous Batman villains like Bane into the fold. With the stories shifting from stealth missions to full-on battles, Calvin barely uses his escape artistry anymore, instead becoming just another great brawler who can seemingly handle himself in any fight. The thing that made his character interesting is replaced with more of the same superhero stuff we always see.
The biggest problem here, though, is the plot. It is... nonsense. There are multiple contradictions, dangling cliffhangers that are never re-addressed, convenient changes in plot devices. It's honestly some of the sloppiest plotting I've seen in a long time.
For instance, one issue ends with Bane seemingly killing Sebastian Clark, who has been the main villain in the series for several issues. He does so because a mysterious stranger we've never seen before shows up and offers him a new partnership opportunity, and Bane, sick of Clark's schemes, punches him offscreen in a blow that seems to indicate that Clark is now dead or, at least, extremely injured. Beyond the fact that Bane has no idea who this stranger is and therefore no reason to trust him, the series never revisits any of this. Never. Next issue, Bane is gone from the book, and Clark is perfectly healthy, continuing his scheme to take over the Court of Owls with absolutely no indication he was assaulted by one of the strongest men in the world. Bane's pact with the stranger is never shown again, and we never have any idea what any of that meant. It's maddening.
If this was the only instance of this kind of plot avoidance, I'd write it off as an editorial screwup and move on. But this happens repeatedly. In one issue, Clark has developed a serum so potent that it literally will dissolve the organic tissue of any Talon its injected into. Later, when he injects the same serum into Calvin, all it does is turn off his healing factor. Obviously, we don't want him to instantly kill our main character, so we instead just make the serum suddenly less potent.
There's not even a decent wrap-up to this book. This is the final volume of Talon, and it just kind of peters out. The final story is a two-parter about Calvin teaming up with Anya (a character we've barely gotten to know), in which they fight two characters we've never seen before who feel like they're going to be new villains in the series. By the end they solve all of Calvin's problems by some random miracle, and then it's over.
Truly this book makes the first book worse. It's such a mess that it undoes any of the work the first volume did towards making a halfway decent monthly. I'd say skip them both.
May 5, 2015
Average read and another that contained issues from another volume (Birds of Prey). The last part was really dumb. Cool concept with new villains but their dialogue was very immature.
May 23, 2016
This could've been so great, and that's the most disappointing thing. Instead, it was just sort of hard to get through, with only glimpses of good ideas buried under the execution.
February 13, 2019
This trade paperback picks up where the previous volume left off, collecting the last nine issues (8–17) of the 2013 series and Birds of Prey #21.
Book: Talon, Volume 2: The Fall of the Owls opens with a three part crossover series with Birds of Prey. With the resurrection of Calvin Rose as a true Talon – his first mission is to deal with an errant Talon that has joined the Birds of Prey. Not wanting to kill a fellow Talon, he faked her death, and continues his cover as a loyal Talon, because they have his love, Casey Washington and her daughter, Sarah Washington, was captured by the Court of Owls.
John Waycliffe, the current Grandmaster of the Court of Owls, wants Calvin Rose to track down and eliminate Bane and Sebastian Clark. Calvin Rose tries to walk the double-edge blade as serving as Talon while trying to save both Casey and Sarah Washington. He teams up with Batman and with his help, he manages to stop Sebastian Clark, Bane, The Gotham Butcher, and save the Washingtons, but at the cost of his life. However, Batman and Casey Washington had a backup plan and saved Calvin Rose from succumbing more into the Talon curse. Calvin Rose then joins Batman Incorporated.
Additionally, there is a one-shot of an unnamed Talon who was the successor to William Cobb and a two-issue story arc having Calvin Rose facing Lord Death-Man and Doctor Darrk.
James Tynion IV has penned the main story of the trade paperback (Talon #8–14) with Marguerite Bennett and Tim Seeley writing the one-shot (Talon #15) and two-part story (Talon 16–17) respectively. Furthermore, Christy Marx penned Birds of Prey #21, the crossover story at the beginning. For the most part, I somewhat liked how the story concluded – it was a satisfying tale of a small chapter of the grander story with the Court of Owls. However, Bennett's one-shot and Seeley's story seemed superfluous to the series.
Miguel Sepulveda (Talon #8–10), Emanuel Simeoni (Talon #12–14), Jorge Lucas (Talon #15–17), Szymon Kudranski (Talon #10–11), Graham Nolan, and Romano Molenaar (Talon #9 and Birds of Prey #21 respectively) are the pencilers for the trade paperback. For the most part, their penciling style complements each other rather well, yet remains distinctive, which makes the flow of the trade paperback somewhat smooth – artistically speaking.
Overall, Talon was a wonderful series that unfortunately didn't ended soon enough – it's not like I didn't like the story – I did, but ending it with a one-shot and a sulfurous two-part story seemed to stain the story that James Tynion IV wanted to tell and felt like outliers to the entire series. While Dick Grayson as Nightwing made one cameo, I just wished that Calvin Rose and him interacted, because they both were from Haly's Circus and potential Talons, which I imagine that they would have many things to talk about.
There were too many pencilers throughout the series, which was rather inconsistent where the flow of the art is concern. Had the series have one or two pencilers on the onslaught the art would have been more consistent. However, having said that, the pencilers that the series did have wasn't too back with a few exceptions.
All in all, Talon, Volume 2: The Fall of the Owls is an adequate conclusion to an interesting series, which extended the mythos of the Court of Owls.
Book: Talon, Volume 2: The Fall of the Owls opens with a three part crossover series with Birds of Prey. With the resurrection of Calvin Rose as a true Talon – his first mission is to deal with an errant Talon that has joined the Birds of Prey. Not wanting to kill a fellow Talon, he faked her death, and continues his cover as a loyal Talon, because they have his love, Casey Washington and her daughter, Sarah Washington, was captured by the Court of Owls.
John Waycliffe, the current Grandmaster of the Court of Owls, wants Calvin Rose to track down and eliminate Bane and Sebastian Clark. Calvin Rose tries to walk the double-edge blade as serving as Talon while trying to save both Casey and Sarah Washington. He teams up with Batman and with his help, he manages to stop Sebastian Clark, Bane, The Gotham Butcher, and save the Washingtons, but at the cost of his life. However, Batman and Casey Washington had a backup plan and saved Calvin Rose from succumbing more into the Talon curse. Calvin Rose then joins Batman Incorporated.
Additionally, there is a one-shot of an unnamed Talon who was the successor to William Cobb and a two-issue story arc having Calvin Rose facing Lord Death-Man and Doctor Darrk.
James Tynion IV has penned the main story of the trade paperback (Talon #8–14) with Marguerite Bennett and Tim Seeley writing the one-shot (Talon #15) and two-part story (Talon 16–17) respectively. Furthermore, Christy Marx penned Birds of Prey #21, the crossover story at the beginning. For the most part, I somewhat liked how the story concluded – it was a satisfying tale of a small chapter of the grander story with the Court of Owls. However, Bennett's one-shot and Seeley's story seemed superfluous to the series.
Miguel Sepulveda (Talon #8–10), Emanuel Simeoni (Talon #12–14), Jorge Lucas (Talon #15–17), Szymon Kudranski (Talon #10–11), Graham Nolan, and Romano Molenaar (Talon #9 and Birds of Prey #21 respectively) are the pencilers for the trade paperback. For the most part, their penciling style complements each other rather well, yet remains distinctive, which makes the flow of the trade paperback somewhat smooth – artistically speaking.
Overall, Talon was a wonderful series that unfortunately didn't ended soon enough – it's not like I didn't like the story – I did, but ending it with a one-shot and a sulfurous two-part story seemed to stain the story that James Tynion IV wanted to tell and felt like outliers to the entire series. While Dick Grayson as Nightwing made one cameo, I just wished that Calvin Rose and him interacted, because they both were from Haly's Circus and potential Talons, which I imagine that they would have many things to talk about.
There were too many pencilers throughout the series, which was rather inconsistent where the flow of the art is concern. Had the series have one or two pencilers on the onslaught the art would have been more consistent. However, having said that, the pencilers that the series did have wasn't too back with a few exceptions.
All in all, Talon, Volume 2: The Fall of the Owls is an adequate conclusion to an interesting series, which extended the mythos of the Court of Owls.
September 1, 2014
Although it's not on the same level as the first volume, it's still a fun entertaining read.
I was shocked at how good this series was when it started out. The story was solid and the art was fantastic. This volume had a few flaws, main one being the art was inconsistent and no where near as engaging as the first volume. That being said it's not bad, it just switches styles throughout.
The book starts off where the previous instalment ends with Calvin's neck being snapped by Bane after being double crossed by Sebastian Clark. The Court retrieves his body and revives him to serve as their talon once again by blackmailing him with Casey and Sarah's lives. The first part of the book is based around Calvin saving the girls and taking down both Sebastian Clark and the Court, although I doubt either is gone for good. This section had some great sections, but also some not so great. We get more appearances from grumpy butt Bat's, the Birds of Prey and the mammoth Bane. Speaking of Bane, we see him approached by the "society" who want his army to take over Gotham, which in guessing ties into his part in Forever Evil. The lowest moment for me was when Lucius Fox equipped Casey with an armoured prosthetic arm to go into battle against Bane. It bothered me that the writers thought it was a good idea to send her in with no field training, especially after seeing how helpless she was against Sebastian Clark and the Butcher. I don't know if it was just me, but it just rubbed me up the wrong way.
The second section of the book is Calvin trying to regain his mortality with help from the Lazarus pit. After realising he no longer had the sensitivity to be a good lock picker and overall escape artist he embarks to become "alive" once more. With the help of Anya Volkova, ex League of Assassins, they embark on an adventure to Pakistan. To an underwater base where the League manufacture the waters for the Lazarus pit. I had to skip back pages at a few points to re read some sections so I understood what was going on, but I think the confusion was mainly from the fact I had no idea who the bad guys were. The highlight in this section was Lord Death Man...yes that's his name! I had never encountered this guy before so I was gobsmacked at how terrible his name was, until I realise this guy was bat-shit crazy and basically a gimmick. They take this piss of the fact he is called Lord Death Man and after reading this guys dialogue you can see why. It is some of the weirdest dialogue I have read in a while and I loved it. So many one line zingers that make so little sense that they're hilarious.
The end of the series was nicely done, tying up loose ends while also giving us a little cliffhanger. Though this series has ended, it certainly won't be the last time we see Calvin Rose.
I was shocked at how good this series was when it started out. The story was solid and the art was fantastic. This volume had a few flaws, main one being the art was inconsistent and no where near as engaging as the first volume. That being said it's not bad, it just switches styles throughout.
The book starts off where the previous instalment ends with Calvin's neck being snapped by Bane after being double crossed by Sebastian Clark. The Court retrieves his body and revives him to serve as their talon once again by blackmailing him with Casey and Sarah's lives. The first part of the book is based around Calvin saving the girls and taking down both Sebastian Clark and the Court, although I doubt either is gone for good. This section had some great sections, but also some not so great. We get more appearances from grumpy butt Bat's, the Birds of Prey and the mammoth Bane. Speaking of Bane, we see him approached by the "society" who want his army to take over Gotham, which in guessing ties into his part in Forever Evil. The lowest moment for me was when Lucius Fox equipped Casey with an armoured prosthetic arm to go into battle against Bane. It bothered me that the writers thought it was a good idea to send her in with no field training, especially after seeing how helpless she was against Sebastian Clark and the Butcher. I don't know if it was just me, but it just rubbed me up the wrong way.
The second section of the book is Calvin trying to regain his mortality with help from the Lazarus pit. After realising he no longer had the sensitivity to be a good lock picker and overall escape artist he embarks to become "alive" once more. With the help of Anya Volkova, ex League of Assassins, they embark on an adventure to Pakistan. To an underwater base where the League manufacture the waters for the Lazarus pit. I had to skip back pages at a few points to re read some sections so I understood what was going on, but I think the confusion was mainly from the fact I had no idea who the bad guys were. The highlight in this section was Lord Death Man...yes that's his name! I had never encountered this guy before so I was gobsmacked at how terrible his name was, until I realise this guy was bat-shit crazy and basically a gimmick. They take this piss of the fact he is called Lord Death Man and after reading this guys dialogue you can see why. It is some of the weirdest dialogue I have read in a while and I loved it. So many one line zingers that make so little sense that they're hilarious.
The end of the series was nicely done, tying up loose ends while also giving us a little cliffhanger. Though this series has ended, it certainly won't be the last time we see Calvin Rose.
July 24, 2014
The guy Mr. Darrk stating at the end that his knowledge was so expansive that he knew all of the Pokemon and their evolutions was the only enjoyable part for me. So awful in comparison to the great first volume. Not quite the same without Snyder, but what could be?
December 17, 2019
Jak to mówią co niektórzy początkowi raperzy: "Reprezentuję biedę...". Jedno zdanko, a pokazuje czym jest w zasadzie drugi tom swoistego spin-offu serii Batman. Pierwszy tom był naprawdę niezły i pogłębiał mitologię Trybunału Sów, czyli grupy ludzi potajemnie rządzących Gotham (i nie tylko), skrywających swoją tożsamość pod "sowimi" maskami.
Zamysł genialnie wykonany w pierwszym tomie Batmana, który narobił smaczku na więcej informacji na temat tajnego stowarzyszenia, które dało w kość samemu pogromcy Gotham, tutaj został sprowadzony do ładnie zobrazowanego akcyjniaka bez polotu i w dodatku bardzo przewidywalnego, przez co zdawało mi się ziewać, a lektura ciągnęła się niemiłosiernie. Tym bardziej, że bodajże trzy ostatnie zeszyty są całkowicie zbędne i nudne. Taki zbędny filler.
Calvin Rose zginął z ręki Bane'a po przewidywalnej zdradzie swojego mentora, Sebastiana Clarka, a któremu to marzy się ponownie objęcie władzy nad Trybunałem, którym aktualnie zarządza niejaki John Wycliffe. Mistrz Trybunału widząc nadchodzące zagrożenie, postanawia wskrzesić Calvina i wykorzystać go na swoje potrzeby. A ma go naprawdę w garści, bowiem zarówno Casey, jak i jej córka Sarah, znajdują się w łapach tych złych, z Felixem Harmonem na czele. Psychol tylko czeka, aż będzie mógł komuś przetrącić kark. Akcja gna na złamanie karku, czasami nawet dosłownie. Tyle, że nie ma tu rozwoju postaci.
Najbardziej stracił na tym Calvin, który jest tutaj już tylko wyblakłym trybikiem, obok plejady innych postaci, które nie wybijają się ponad ksztynę, no może poza Casey, która odniosła takie obrażenia, że wyposażyli ją w sztuczną kończynę. Bolała mnie też kwestia Harmona, bowiem w poprzednim tomie morderca budził autentyczny niepokój. Tutaj zaś jest go chwilami za dużo, a i okropieństwa jakie robi nie są już tak straszne. Tym głupiej rozwiązano jego wątek, bo o ile do ultra brutalnego końca nie mam zastrzeżeń, to widok "poskładanego" Rzeźnika był zwyczajnie głupi. Czemu nie spalono jego zwłok... Jeszcze cały wątek prania mózgu Sary i tego jak się zachowywała... Nie.
Tego typu rozwiązań jest tu cała masa i są zwyczajną głupotą, służącą chyba tylko efektownym rozwiązaniom fabularnym, które w rezultacie budzą tylko politowanie na twarzy. Szkoda mi było wątku Bane'a, bo złoczyńca wystąpił tu na chwilę, z zapowiedzią czegoś większego w najbliższym czasie. I jest Batman. A jakże. Jego występ uważam za poprawny, tak jak i Ptaków Nocy.
Końcówka jednak jest tak nudna i zbędną, że słyszałem jaki mi trzeszczą zęby w trakcie lektur. Ten cały Lord Death Man i Doctor Darrk. Było tu kilka dobrych pomysłów i gestii słownych, ale to wystarczy. Rozumiem zamysł i chęć odzyskania normalnego życia, ale użycie do tego jamy Lazarusa jest... Tanie. Wiem, że seksowna pomocnica z Ligi Cieni to coś zawsze na topie, ale...
Tym bardziej, że tom wygląda relatywnie nieźle, jeśli brać pod uwagę, ile osób go ilustrowało, ale jest to nieco stracony potencjał. Szpon stracił pazur, jaki miał wcześniej. To nudna kontynuacja, bez odpowiedniego ładunku emocjonalnego i strachu o los bohaterów, w obawie, że trafią gdzieś na to bydle, Felixa. 2/5
Zamysł genialnie wykonany w pierwszym tomie Batmana, który narobił smaczku na więcej informacji na temat tajnego stowarzyszenia, które dało w kość samemu pogromcy Gotham, tutaj został sprowadzony do ładnie zobrazowanego akcyjniaka bez polotu i w dodatku bardzo przewidywalnego, przez co zdawało mi się ziewać, a lektura ciągnęła się niemiłosiernie. Tym bardziej, że bodajże trzy ostatnie zeszyty są całkowicie zbędne i nudne. Taki zbędny filler.
Calvin Rose zginął z ręki Bane'a po przewidywalnej zdradzie swojego mentora, Sebastiana Clarka, a któremu to marzy się ponownie objęcie władzy nad Trybunałem, którym aktualnie zarządza niejaki John Wycliffe. Mistrz Trybunału widząc nadchodzące zagrożenie, postanawia wskrzesić Calvina i wykorzystać go na swoje potrzeby. A ma go naprawdę w garści, bowiem zarówno Casey, jak i jej córka Sarah, znajdują się w łapach tych złych, z Felixem Harmonem na czele. Psychol tylko czeka, aż będzie mógł komuś przetrącić kark. Akcja gna na złamanie karku, czasami nawet dosłownie. Tyle, że nie ma tu rozwoju postaci.
Najbardziej stracił na tym Calvin, który jest tutaj już tylko wyblakłym trybikiem, obok plejady innych postaci, które nie wybijają się ponad ksztynę, no może poza Casey, która odniosła takie obrażenia, że wyposażyli ją w sztuczną kończynę. Bolała mnie też kwestia Harmona, bowiem w poprzednim tomie morderca budził autentyczny niepokój. Tutaj zaś jest go chwilami za dużo, a i okropieństwa jakie robi nie są już tak straszne. Tym głupiej rozwiązano jego wątek, bo o ile do ultra brutalnego końca nie mam zastrzeżeń, to widok "poskładanego" Rzeźnika był zwyczajnie głupi. Czemu nie spalono jego zwłok... Jeszcze cały wątek prania mózgu Sary i tego jak się zachowywała... Nie.
Tego typu rozwiązań jest tu cała masa i są zwyczajną głupotą, służącą chyba tylko efektownym rozwiązaniom fabularnym, które w rezultacie budzą tylko politowanie na twarzy. Szkoda mi było wątku Bane'a, bo złoczyńca wystąpił tu na chwilę, z zapowiedzią czegoś większego w najbliższym czasie. I jest Batman. A jakże. Jego występ uważam za poprawny, tak jak i Ptaków Nocy.
Końcówka jednak jest tak nudna i zbędną, że słyszałem jaki mi trzeszczą zęby w trakcie lektur. Ten cały Lord Death Man i Doctor Darrk. Było tu kilka dobrych pomysłów i gestii słownych, ale to wystarczy. Rozumiem zamysł i chęć odzyskania normalnego życia, ale użycie do tego jamy Lazarusa jest... Tanie. Wiem, że seksowna pomocnica z Ligi Cieni to coś zawsze na topie, ale...
Tym bardziej, że tom wygląda relatywnie nieźle, jeśli brać pod uwagę, ile osób go ilustrowało, ale jest to nieco stracony potencjał. Szpon stracił pazur, jaki miał wcześniej. To nudna kontynuacja, bez odpowiedniego ładunku emocjonalnego i strachu o los bohaterów, w obawie, że trafią gdzieś na to bydle, Felixa. 2/5
May 4, 2020
"Scourge of the Owls" ended on a very shocking cliffhanger of Bane killing Calvin Rose, so I was definitely excited to see were volume 2 went. Right off the bat I missed Guillem March's art. No offense to Miguel Sepulveda but why was The Butcher so monstrously huge! But it wasn't just the character proportions that were different; Guillem's panel layouts always had a clear flow for the story. Sepulveda's layout and panels often had me confused as to what someone was doing or what had happened. I had no idea that The Butcher had crushed Casey Washington's arm until she had it amputated in the next issue. But the change in artists wasn't the only downfall of this story.
First the tone drastically changed from the last volume. I started this volume feeling hopeless and frustrated at Casey and Sarah being captured and tortured by the Court. But then things shifted and suddenly the seriousness or bleakness of the tone just made the story feel ridiculous. I also thought it was dumb villain logic for the Court to be the ones to resurrect Calvin and then black mail him into being their Talon. Like of course he's going to find a way to escape and save the girls! But I was still holding out that this story wouldn't be a waste of time. That is until issue 12. Everything after defeating Bane on Santa Prisca made no sense. How is Sebastian Clark alive if Bane killed him to end their partnership after Calvin escapes the island?! How is the Orchard hotel still open of Calvin blew it up earlier? Every issue just progressively gets further and further away from the characters I enjoyed in volume 1. The Butcher is just this monster that mainly just looks scary and makes threats but never really does anything. Casey Washington and Calvin Rose both lose their depth as characters; they used to have this vulnerability that made them heroic. But now they just have agro and hate for the enemy. And the Court just seemed like the writers never intended for them to be weakened or stopped. Very disappointed in how this played out.
First the tone drastically changed from the last volume. I started this volume feeling hopeless and frustrated at Casey and Sarah being captured and tortured by the Court. But then things shifted and suddenly the seriousness or bleakness of the tone just made the story feel ridiculous. I also thought it was dumb villain logic for the Court to be the ones to resurrect Calvin and then black mail him into being their Talon. Like of course he's going to find a way to escape and save the girls! But I was still holding out that this story wouldn't be a waste of time. That is until issue 12. Everything after defeating Bane on Santa Prisca made no sense. How is Sebastian Clark alive if Bane killed him to end their partnership after Calvin escapes the island?! How is the Orchard hotel still open of Calvin blew it up earlier? Every issue just progressively gets further and further away from the characters I enjoyed in volume 1. The Butcher is just this monster that mainly just looks scary and makes threats but never really does anything. Casey Washington and Calvin Rose both lose their depth as characters; they used to have this vulnerability that made them heroic. But now they just have agro and hate for the enemy. And the Court just seemed like the writers never intended for them to be weakened or stopped. Very disappointed in how this played out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2018
What happened? There’s a lot more stuff that happens in Volume 2 with even more cameos, but I can’t say it adds up to much. Calvin is a bit different in this volume due to plot reasons, but that’s not all that died and came back strange. We pretty much get the entire story and most of the loose ends wrapped up. That’s definitely nice but it’s really just a few pages at the very end. I can’t help but wonder what could have happened with this character, silly costume and all, if he’d really been given a chance to shine. Instead he’s sort of dragged through the mud of endless tragedy and given supporting characters that are barely there. Even the Court of Owls’ masks don’t really look right. There is an exciting one-off issue that tells the story of a new Talon in reverse chronological order. It’s never revisited but is interesting by itself. If you must know how Talon’s story ends, well it’s definitely in here. Otherwise I suggest watching the Batman vs Robin animated movie to get your Court of Owls’ fix instead.
November 24, 2021
"I AM NOT A MAN. I AM SOMETHING MORE. I AM SOMETHING LESS. I AM SOMETHING ELSE."
- Talon (known only as Jonas) from the story, 'for every life, a feather'.
Calvin Rose was killed by Bane in the last book and now he's been resurrected by Court of Owls as a full-fledged Talon. When Calvin fights his brainwashing and goes off script, the court sends Felix Harmon, the 19th century Gotham butcher-turned Talon, to put our hero back in line. Honestly, this couldn't have pleased me more.
I was delighted that my rather low expectations were more than adequately surpassed.
While the main story is fascinating and original, my personal favorite was the solo tale, 'for every life, a feather'. There was something very Dickens/Hemingway/Poe about it.
Overall, the plot and pencils were much improved.
Four stars.
- Talon (known only as Jonas) from the story, 'for every life, a feather'.
Calvin Rose was killed by Bane in the last book and now he's been resurrected by Court of Owls as a full-fledged Talon. When Calvin fights his brainwashing and goes off script, the court sends Felix Harmon, the 19th century Gotham butcher-turned Talon, to put our hero back in line. Honestly, this couldn't have pleased me more.
I was delighted that my rather low expectations were more than adequately surpassed.
While the main story is fascinating and original, my personal favorite was the solo tale, 'for every life, a feather'. There was something very Dickens/Hemingway/Poe about it.
Overall, the plot and pencils were much improved.
Four stars.
November 25, 2017
Okładka oszukuje, Talon nie będzie bił się z Batmanem. Rozwiązanie akcji z pierwszego tomu nie przynosi zbyt dużo rewelacji. Pojawia się Bane, ale to zaledwie preludium do jego wyprawy do Gotham. Przygody Calvina to jednak akcyjniak, w którym ciężko doszukiwać się głębszego sensu.
July 23, 2019
YEESH, I remembered the series got bad after volume 1, but I forgot HOW bad. Bad/Inconsistent art and character writing, with a bonkers plot that forgets what made Calvin Rose so interesting to begin with. Not worth the money.
November 10, 2017
Lord Death Man was hilarious, in a very un-Batman-series-like way. Nice ending though.
August 26, 2025
📱3.5⭐️
Nothing gets past the Court of Owls
Nothing gets past the Court of Owls
January 2, 2020
Action scene after action scene, twist after twist, yet I didn't feel anything.
February 28, 2016
Reprints Talon #8-17 and Birds of Prey (3) #21 (July 2013-May 2014). Calvin Rose is dead…again. Re-resurrected as a Talon again, Calvin finds himself a prisoner to his past. Calvin must find a way to escape his immortality if he hopes to ever live again and be free of the Court of Owls. In a race to save his friend Casey and her daughter Sarah, Calvin finds himself facing off against Bane and the Court and teaming with Batman to save Gotham City before it is too late.
With James Tynion IV and other writers, Talon 2: Fall of the Owls is the second and final volume of the Batman spin-off series. Following Talon 1: Scourge of the Owls, the collection features multiple writing teams and authors and a crossover with Birds of Prey (Volume 3) which was also collected in Birds of Prey 4: The Cruelest Cut.
Talon started out as a promising title. I liked the exploration of essentially a cog in the Court of Owls and the decision to explore the Court of Owls through Calvin. Unfortunately, the source material grew a little thin after a few issues, and Talon became a rather routine comic…something that generally can’t survive in the world of expensive comics.
The stories in this volume border on average to bad. The series rounded out the main storyline in Talon #14 (February 2014) and then continued to do generic Talon stories for the next three issues. If I had been reading Talon regularly, I would have been pretty upset by the arc of the story. The final two issue “Deadman’s Party” wrapped up Calvin’s character arc, but it wasn’t very satisfying.
Not only were the stories so-so I found the composition quite difficult to follow. I don’t know if parts of the story were cut down, but it jumped all over the place and left threads in the dust. Bane’s storyline went nowhere (in this title). “The Deadman’s Party” made very little sense and the backwards issue “For Every Life, A Feather” which told the story of another Talon was also rather weak.
The art also wasn’t that great and it doesn’t help the story. With two strikes against it, Talon didn’t really have much of a chance, and the character ended up being a generic almost ’90s character. I hope the character doesn’t get left behind, but I can see Talon ending up like Azrael and other Batman spin-off titles. I suspect that Talon will pop-up on occasion but I’m guessing if you are a fan of the character you should savor these issues.
With James Tynion IV and other writers, Talon 2: Fall of the Owls is the second and final volume of the Batman spin-off series. Following Talon 1: Scourge of the Owls, the collection features multiple writing teams and authors and a crossover with Birds of Prey (Volume 3) which was also collected in Birds of Prey 4: The Cruelest Cut.
Talon started out as a promising title. I liked the exploration of essentially a cog in the Court of Owls and the decision to explore the Court of Owls through Calvin. Unfortunately, the source material grew a little thin after a few issues, and Talon became a rather routine comic…something that generally can’t survive in the world of expensive comics.
The stories in this volume border on average to bad. The series rounded out the main storyline in Talon #14 (February 2014) and then continued to do generic Talon stories for the next three issues. If I had been reading Talon regularly, I would have been pretty upset by the arc of the story. The final two issue “Deadman’s Party” wrapped up Calvin’s character arc, but it wasn’t very satisfying.
Not only were the stories so-so I found the composition quite difficult to follow. I don’t know if parts of the story were cut down, but it jumped all over the place and left threads in the dust. Bane’s storyline went nowhere (in this title). “The Deadman’s Party” made very little sense and the backwards issue “For Every Life, A Feather” which told the story of another Talon was also rather weak.
The art also wasn’t that great and it doesn’t help the story. With two strikes against it, Talon didn’t really have much of a chance, and the character ended up being a generic almost ’90s character. I hope the character doesn’t get left behind, but I can see Talon ending up like Azrael and other Batman spin-off titles. I suspect that Talon will pop-up on occasion but I’m guessing if you are a fan of the character you should savor these issues.
March 28, 2015
So James Tynion IV wrote these excellent back up stories in the pages of the most recent Batman/Joker story "Endgame". They were really wonderful. I figured, after reading that, this would be a decent read. It ended up being more of a struggle. Considering this is the second volume of a new series, this had a pretty involved plot and a large group of supporting characters, with only about two that I actually cared for. I admire the ambition for trying to start up a new superhero in the Big two, which is something we almost never see anymore. However, it seemed more like a chore to get through this.
It might be due to the fact that the main character is pretty generic. I go back to that large supporting cast point I made before, there are a ton of characters in this solo character book, and each one has a little hook that is supposed to make the reader root for them (one is a former member of the league of assassins, another is an african american, single mother, who runs a company worth billions of dollars). Besides their specific quirky trait, there is nothing to these characters. All of their voices sound exactly the same.
This is all before the two stories at the end of the trade, which were written by another writer and bordered on incomprehensible.
It might be due to the fact that the main character is pretty generic. I go back to that large supporting cast point I made before, there are a ton of characters in this solo character book, and each one has a little hook that is supposed to make the reader root for them (one is a former member of the league of assassins, another is an african american, single mother, who runs a company worth billions of dollars). Besides their specific quirky trait, there is nothing to these characters. All of their voices sound exactly the same.
This is all before the two stories at the end of the trade, which were written by another writer and bordered on incomprehensible.
December 25, 2014
This is a surprisingly strong outing for a new character. Talon was dead, but when has that ever stopped a comic book character? He comes back strong, enslaved to the Court of Owls again and sent do kill his former master, who has hooked up with Bane. Lots of action, and not all of it centering on Talon. Then there's a random issue I'm guessing was part of the villains month, introducing a random character that never appears again, which was odd, and then it turns into a spy team series for one double issue story, which works okay, mainly due to the absurdity of Lord Death Man as a random factor in the story. The story's pretty good overall, although it does tend to meander a bit, and move in fits and starts. Art is strong throughout, and this makes a decent if unspectacular end to the series.
May 13, 2015
Volume one, written by Scott Snyder, was a good read. Very interesting story, and enough to make me read Vol 2. This book, however, is pretty terrible. I really had to slog through it, just to say I read it. The overall story is mildly interesting, the writing is so ham-fisted it's tough to get through. Not to mention the art is very amateur and forgettable. Really feel like I wasted my time on this one when there are so many better reads. Very disappointed, and I seriously doubt I'll even pick up Vol 3.
March 18, 2015
I like this one less than the first one. I will miss this series but I can see why it didn't last. At that point everyone reading Batman and anything in the "Bat-verse" was sick to death of Owls. It's still a good read and while I didn't like part of the direction it went at least there's potential for Talon to return in Batman incorporated.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2016
Well I gave it two volumes. This was a better two, I finished it and had to debate a two or a three, but in the end, I have no interest in looking for more Talon, and that tells me everything I need to know about the book. There are two many other, better comics, even in the super-hero mainstream to spend time here.
August 18, 2014
A ending that works for Talon.
The series was a mixed bag, and I kind of wished they had used on of the "old" talons instead of a new one. For example, using Mary would have been an excellent choice and I hope to see more of her in Birds of Prey.
The series was a mixed bag, and I kind of wished they had used on of the "old" talons instead of a new one. For example, using Mary would have been an excellent choice and I hope to see more of her in Birds of Prey.
April 7, 2015
The Talon was an interesting character idea tying into Scott Snyder's earlier "The Court of Owls" storyline, but an entire series devoted to a former assassin of the shadow group on a mission to take them down? I'm not so sure there was enough here to warrant yet *another* Bat-book.
August 2, 2014
I thought the book had an interesting cast of supporting characters. Would love to see more of them. Didn't really like how they shoe-horned Bane out of the story, though.
January 25, 2015
Book started good but last two issues were kind of dumb.
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