Talon #2 – Review

By: James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder (story), Juan Jose Ryp (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: Truly, this is the Mount Everest for dedicated kleptomaniacs.

The Review: I couldn’t help but be amused by the additional stamp on this issue’s cover: “From the pages of Batman.”  Along with the obligatory credit with Scott Snyder, it seems no one working on this book has the dignity to even try to separate Talon from the series it spun off from.  I guess I can’t fault a legitimate marketing tactic, but it does seem to invite you to look at it as a bonus from a popular story rather than a quality book in its own right.

Still, you can see Tynion making some big efforts towards originality.  Better yet, some of it even works.  This issue establishes the dynamic between Calvin Rose and Sebastian Clark as one between crusty old man and brash younger one, and also of shot-caller and muscle.  It’s clear Sebastian has a very specific plan in bringing down the Court, but he will have to defer to Calvin’s expertise in the practical side of things.  At the same time, Calvin can’t operate just by instinct against the Court’s massive operations; he must give weight to Sebastian’s direction.