The idea of Talon as a series is certainly sound; following a man that was able to break free of the Court of Owls’ clutches and try to redeem himself is a concept with plenty to offer. We could see him try and right the many wrongs he’d done as a Talon while trying to avoid assassination by the Court he betrayed. However, with Calvin Rose being a brand new character introduced in issue #0 – after we’ve seen the kinds of motivations that lead one to becoming a Talon – he’s got a long way to go to proving his worth as not only a hero of Gotham, but as the anchor of one of DC’s New 52.
Writer James Tynion IV makes him endearing enough – he’s an escape artist that is led to the Court as a child – but his motivations for “accepting” his role within the Court are questionable. Compared to past tie-ins that provide these seemingly evil characters reason enough for becoming tools of assassination, Calvin’s is never made entirely clear. He’s got daddy issues (a necessity in the DCU, it seems), but other than that, he just seems to be easily swayed by the Court’s monologue about cleaning up Gotham. Granted, it’s doubtful he would’ve even had a choice in the matter, but Talon #0 still shows Calvin accepting the offer rather quickly and without good reason. Since this is serving as an origin story, it’s a bit disappointing that we don’t get more of an understanding of Calvin’s character other than the very broadstrokes.
That said, Tynion’s narrative voice is solid, offering many anecdotes about Calvin’s early days in the circus and as a Talon. Despite the narrative captions serving mainly as exposition, Tynion deftly spices things up with insight into Calvin’s personality. Talon #0 also makes great use of Calvin’s history as an escape artist, using it for solid thematic content instead of just convenient plot points (having a lockpick hidden away in dire circumstances is always recommended). The Court of Owls also makes a significant appearance here by necessity, but Tynion is able to mine that psychologically disturbing element that makes them such spectacular villains to great effect.
It’s nice to see Guillem March on a book that doesn’t rely simply on cheesecake, allowing him to showcase his storytelling chops to the reader without worry of distraction. March isn’t known for subtlety, but he gets to enact some during the aforementioned Court sequences, both in terms of action and horrific imagery. It’s a very nice change of pace for the artist, so here’s hoping that the future installments can maintain this sort of quality.
Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter, or find him on IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.
Source : ign[dot]com
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