Batman #2

Dec 2011 · DC · 2.99 USD

📊 ~177,105 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Trust Fall”

★ 1st appearance — William Cobb

About this Issue

Batman (Vol. 2) #2 is the issue that first names and introduces the concept of the Court of Owls — one of the most significant additions to Batman's rogues gallery in decades — making it the narrative keystone of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's celebrated New 52 run. The issue deepens the arc's central thesis: that Bruce Wayne, for all his obsessive knowledge of Gotham, has been blind to a centuries-old shadow government operating directly beneath his feet, a challenge to his identity as much as his safety. Titled 'The Court of Owls, Part Two: Trust Fall,' it escalates the first issue's murder mystery into something mythological, with the Talon — the Court's near-immortal assassin, later identified as William Cobb — making a direct attempt on Bruce Wayne's life atop the historic Wayne Tower. The story arc this issue anchors was critically acclaimed as one of the high points of the entire New 52 initiative and launched a mythology that has continued to reverberate through Batman comics, animated films, video games, and television.

writer Scott Snyder · artist Greg Capullo · inker Jonathan Glapion · colorist FCO Plascencia · letterer Richard Starkings · letterer Jimmy Betancourt · letterer Comicraft · cover Greg Capullo

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $4

CGC 9.8 · 844 in census $174

CGC 9.6 · 344 in census $63

CGC 9.4 · 130 in census $63*

CGC 9.2 · 54 in census $56

CGC 9.0 · 37 in census $56*

CGC 8.5 · 19 in census $54*

Show all 11 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 11 in census $54*

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $37

CGC 7.0 · 2 in census $37*

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 · 1 in census $31*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Batman #2 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Read it digitally

DC Universe Infinite DC’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Batman (Vol. 2) #2 was produced by writer Scott Snyder and penciler Greg Capullo — with inks by Jonathan Glapion and colors by FCO Plascencia — as the second chapter of the very first arc of their New 52 Batman run, which launched in September 2011 alongside DC's company-wide relaunch following the Flashpoint event. Snyder and Capullo's approach on the title was deliberately additive rather than revisionary: rather than discarding Batman's Post-Crisis history, they layered a brand-new mythology onto Gotham City itself, with the Court of Owls serving as proof that even the world's greatest detective has blind spots in his own city. Snyder had been seeding thematic groundwork for this organization in his pre-New 52 Batman work, most explicitly in the 2011 miniseries Batman: Gates of Gotham, co-written with Kyle Higgins, which examined Gotham's concealed architectural history — the same institutional rot that the Court of Owls would be revealed to have exploited for generations.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published October 19, 2011 (cover-dated December 2011); written by Scott Snyder, penciled by Greg Capullo, inked by Jonathan Glapion, colored by FCO Plascencia.
Titled 'The Court of Owls, Part Two: Trust Fall' — the issue is the first in DC Comics history to name and formally introduce the Court of Owls as a concept within the narrative.
Features the first full action sequence involving the Talon (William Cobb), the Court's near-immortal assassin, who attacks Bruce Wayne in broad daylight atop Wayne Tower — the building erected in 1888 by Bruce's great-great-grandfather, Alan Wayne.
The Court of Owls is depicted as a violent cabal composed of Gotham City's oldest and wealthiest families, having wielded covert political influence through murder and money since the city's founding — a secret society completely unknown to the general public outside of urban legend.
This issue is part two of the 'Court of Owls' arc (Batman #1–7), which led directly into the 2012 Bat-family crossover event 'Night of the Owls' (Batman #8–11 and tie-ins across multiple Bat-titles).
The arc and its continuation were collected in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls and Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls trade paperbacks, and later in the Batman by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo Omnibus Vol. 1 (2019) and a 2023 Absolute Edition (Batman #1–11) featuring Capullo's character sketches, the full script and pencils for Batman #1, and a new Snyder introduction.
The Court of Owls made their animated debut in the 2015 DC Animated Movie Universe film Batman vs. Robin (directed by Jay Oliva), which drew inspiration from the comic arc, and also appeared in the Gotham live-action television series in 2015.
Snyder had foreshadowed the Court of Owls thematically in his pre-New 52 work Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011), a miniseries co-written with Kyle Higgins that examined Gotham's hidden architectural and institutional history.