If you were hoping that with a clean slate of continuity and a publishing initiative as aggressive as The New 52 -- designed, ostensibly, to bring new readers to DC Comics -- would come a reduction of old inconveniences like multi-title event storylines and $3.99 comics, then we've got bad news for you. Alas, the publisher confirmed this week that preparations have begun for "Night of the Owls," a forthcoming crossover event that will span the Batman titles. "Night of the Owls" will be introduced in backup stories appearing in future issues of Batman and Detective Comics, raising prices of those issues by one dollar to $3.99.

The bright side is that "Night of the Owls" is devised by Scott Snyder (Batman: The Black Mirror, a ComicsAlliance pick for Best Comics of 2011), and will expand upon the Court of Owls, the wicked Gotham City secret society that's driving events in the writer's Batman title. Additionally, the backups in Batman and Detective will be drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, whose work with Snyder on Vertigo's American Vampire has made that series one of our favorites. James Tynion IV will co-write the backups with Snyder.Snyder spoke about the project at DC's The Source blog:

The first backup, in issue eight will give a sense of the terrifying scope of the Court of Owls' attack on Gotham. This really will be the first shot in a war for the soul of Gotham City," said Snyder. "And then, starting in issue nine, we'll begin a three part story called 'The Fall of the House of Wayne' that will investigate the secret history of the Court of Owls and its relationship to the Wayne family – particularly to Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents. The story will be told from the point of view of Jarvis Pennyworth, Alfred's father, and offer some big surprises and shocks about the forces that shaped the bat-mythology as we know it. Can't wait for you all to see these stories!

"I'm also excited to be co-writing with my friend, James Tynion IV, a young writer I'm extremely excited about. Especially in the spirit of the New 52, it's a real thrill to get to give someone new and talented a chance to get his foot in the door, and James is a writer to watch and expect great things from!"

"And of course, I'm over the moon about getting to work with my good friend and AMERICAN VAMPIRE co-creator Rafael Albuquerque on the some of the very first ones!"

Naturally, extra story pages means a price hike. As confirmed by Newsarama last week, Batman will increase from 32 pages (including ads) to 40 with April's issues #8 to facilite the additional content, and Detective Comics #8 will also introduce its own supplemental feature that we can expect to be announced very soon.





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