No for reals, I've never purchased a Batman comic before now. At Barnes and Noble a special edition package came out with the trade paperback "The Court of Owls" that also included a mask! It was $24.95 and I HAD TO HAVE IT. Pics coming soon, I want to whip together a quick cosplay first. Speaking of which I should finish the three or four cosplays I have yet to finish. That being Blue Nightwing, Soul Caliber IV Ivy, Deathstroke and Grifter as well as Crow from Deadman Wonderland.
Anyway I digress. I first learned about the Court of Owls in Catwoman #9 when they resurrected one of their assassins to reclaim some sacred daggers from the Penguin. I was fascinated by their look and the story really intrigued me. When I did some digging I found out about the Court of Owls Batman storylines and decided I wanted to read them. When I saw the mask... well you know the rest.
But yeah, as much as I like Batman I never purchased a comic until now. Sure Catwoman is in the Batverse and she has become one of my favorite female comic characters (right behind Roxanne Spauldling and Caitlyn Fairchild. Freefall and Fairchild respectively from Gen 13) but I have only watched stories about Batman on screen, be it the big screen or small. Batman: The Animated series is probably my favorite animated series of all time and while I didn't care for the Tim Burton movies at all (and refuse to watch the Joel Shumacher series) the Christopher Nolan trilogy was pretty good. Not my favorite movies period but up there. My biggest portal to the Batverse, however, has got to be the Arkham video game franchise. I am in love with Arkham City and have beat it I think three times at least. While the gameplay is great I think the standout feature is the codex that explains the basic history and origins of the characters. This really gives you a chance to immerse yourself in the Batman universe and it blows the story wide open when you understand the characters and how they relate to one another. The Arkham games are one of the best Batman storylines in the history of the character I think which should make sense since the first two games were written by Paul Dini. For those who don't know Paul was actually the mastermind behind Harley Quinn and created her in the animated series.
Maybe there should be a Court of Owls storyline in the next Batman Arkham game? I would buy it. :) Of course I still have to buy Arkham Origins but that is a different story.
So why haven't I purchased or read a Batman comic up till now? The reason may seem odd but to be honest it was lack of interest. D.C. comics has historically never really caught my attention. I was first and foremost a manga guy before I was initiated to American comics when Image was created. Naturally I followed Spawn quite a bit but jumped ship when I discovered Gen 13 which I followed all the way until J. Scott Campbell left and I followed Grifter as well. Never WildC.A.T.S. though which is strange. Witchblade and Fathom both captured my imagination for a while and I just picked up the new Fathom from Aspen comics. From Image I moved over to Spiderman and eventually Deadpool. Once the New 52 came out I moved to that and have been there ever since. So far in the New 52 I have Catwoman, the new Grifter, Team 7, Huntress, Suicide Squad I had until I gave it away but until Court of owls no Batman, ever. Will I buy more Batman comics? Well The Night of Owls is part two of the Court of Owls and if there is going to be a trilogy I will most likely buy that as well but to be honest probably not. I'm re-buying my favorite Image comics from the mid to late 90's, Darkchylde and Gen 13 and I may even decide to dig up the old WildC.A.T.S. series if I can find them so I'm running out room on my shelf. Since I'm more into the video versions of Batman I may move back to those.
But yeah, despite everything you've read about how much I want to create Shadows of the Bat and As Gotham Dies Batman has been absent from my comic collection until now. Should be an interesting read for me.