Writer: James T. Tynion IV
Artist: Emmanuel Simeoni

Talon has been fairly up-and-down in recent months, but the prospect of a brand new arc starting in this issue was enough to fill me with optimism. Sadly however, a few niggling points stopped the new storyline from really getting going, at least in my opinion.

For one thing, I found myself struggling to figure out just when this story was meant to be taking place. The issue effectively starts with Batman and Calvin Rose working side-by-side, making me feel as though I’d missed a chunk of story, and while the comic references the events of Forever Evil: Arkham War several times, it isn’t really made clear why Batman is back ‘on the job’ when he and his Justice League buddies are all supposed to be “dead”.

That initial roadblock aside, the issue focuses mainly on further establishing and explaining the origin of Felix Harmon (the “Gotham Butcher”). Now from a personal standpoint, I’m not sure that a terrifying, menacing character like Harmon requires repeated flashbacks to show him being terrifying and menacing. The Butcher has been well established in the series to this point as a character built on folklore and superstition, a real-life “boogeyman” with a haunting unpredictability and a thirst for blood. And while I’m happy to see him being the focus of this new arc, I’m not sure continually dipping into his back-story is the way to go.

New artist Emmanuel Simeoni does a solid job with the relatively sedate set-up issue, although it remains to be seen how he handles action scenes and Calvin’s trademark gymnastic style of combat. Overall though, this is a relatively slow start to the new arc, but does put some interesting pieces into play. The overall sense of just when this is happening and why Calvin isn’t having to deal with the war that seems to be engulfing Gotham everywhere else notwithstanding, I’m staying optimistic that this arc can help this series recapture some of its earlier glory.

Rating: 6.5/10.

The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson (aka Ceej)
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