Calvin Rose returns to Manhattan to bring down yet another facet of the Court of Owls… and to find his beloved Casey and her daughter Sarah. Does he get the jump on the Court? Does he get the girl? Or does he once again find himself in the Court’s clutches? More after the jump!
TALON #3
Writer: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Artist: Guillem March
Letterer: Dezi Sienty
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: DC Comics, Inc.
Cover Price: $2.99
Previously in Talon: Despite bickering the entire time, Calvin Rose and Sebastian Clark struck another blow against the Court of Owls when they destroyed the Orchard Hotel. The Court, becoming annoyed with Rose and Clark, decided to wake up one of their most savage and violent Talons in known Court history.
POOR MAN’S NIGHTWING
Calvin Rose shows up in Manhattan to get in touch with Casey Washington and her young daughter Sarah, only to instead tangle with a few of Washington’s associates. After having his rear royally beat, Rose is given a tour of Casey Washington’s facility, one that’s dedicated to helping people who are being hunted by various criminal organizations. Though Sebastian Clark isn’t particularly keen on having Washington’s help during their next job, both Rose and Clark accept her aid in robbing a Court run bank. However, as per usual, the Court remains one step ahead.
I really love Zack Snyder’s other books and I adored Tynion’s work in the Batman Annual #1. I had hoped that the two would make an amazing series when they started writing Talon. However, that’s yet to happen even unto this current book. There is very little about Talon that most people haven’t seen before. Calvin Rose isn’t a terrible character, but he’s more like a less-cocky Dick Grayson, and only seems to get more so as the series progresses. If I wanted to read a book with a Dick Grayson type character, I’d just read Nightwing.
That isn’t to say the whole book is just a rehash of everything seen before. With the introduction of Casey Washington and the makeshift refugee network she created, Snyder and Tynion have introduced an interesting concept. The refugee network consists of people running from criminal organizations, such as the League of Assassins and the Court of Owls. Since many of them are former members, they are naturally the best at fighting back against said organizations and indeed succeed in doing so. It’s an idea I personally haven’t seen done before and one that’d be interesting to have Snyder and Tynion flesh out a bit.
LORDY, THAT WOMAN IS MUSCLY!
March has a style that seems to fit an avian themed superhero book. The lining is very elegant though it’s points and edges end off very sharply, giving all the art a very angular feel. Like the rest of the series, the color scheme is light with most of the darker colors being reserved for the Talons themselves. There is something very light and airy about the characters’ appearances, a trait that sets this book apart from the other Batman-based series. March did some great work with Catwoman and the Gotham City Sirens and he continues to do some nice work here as well.
My only issue with this book is how muscly Anya Volkova was. I understood that she’s supposed to be of the female body-builder persuasion, but, even so, there was just something off about her proportions. There’s a full page where we get to see most of her physique and the ratio between her hips, legs and waist is very strange to look at. It looks as if she has muscles bulging where muscles shouldn’t be bulging. The human body is often distorted in comics, but here it’s really distorted. That would have been fine if that was March’s intention but it really doesn’t feel like it was.
BOTTOM LINE: MEH… NOT BAD, NOT AMAZING…
When I first heard of the concept behind Talon, I was gung-ho for a dark revenge-esque type story or at least something Batman-based that manages to hold on it’s own. Yet, as the series has gone on, there is very little I haven’t seen before. The art is nice and the story is passing, but this book doesn’t particularly stand out from the other issues in this series or from anything else that DC is currently putting out. I keep waiting for Snyder and Tynion to step up their game and that has yet to happen. I’m giving them one more issue before I decide to move on to something else altogether.
DID YOU READ THIS ISSUE? RATE IT!
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