The following story and photos are from Giant Panda King's book,
Gotham 1919-1939 by Russall S. Beattie, available from www.giantpandaking.com.
Viewer discretion is advised.
The talon will strike you dead...
Death was on the horizon. The Bat-Man’s meddling in the affairs of the Court of Owls was seen as
a declaration of war by the Court. It didn’t matter that the Bat-Man barely knew of their
existence due to their secrecy. The Court wanted blood. And when the Court wanted blood,
the Talons would see to it that they received it. The first telltale signs came about during the
Gotham Urban Renewal Project in 1933, funded by Wayne Enterprises Inc. It was personally overseen
by Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox, and was inspired by the construction of Central Park in New York,
as well as the renewal project in Chicago in 1909. Its goal was to provide secure and affordable
housing to Gotham citizens in the quickly growing city. Bruce’s hope for the project was that it
would help lower crime rates by decreasing the desperation many citizens faced daily.
This was the final straw for the Court of Owls. They had already lost the support
of some of their politicians in Gotham’s infrastructure, and now they were facing
the prospect of losing the candid reliance of the people. They devised a plan to remain in control.
Because they were losing their grip on most aspects of the city’s infrastructure,
other than economically, a list of names was established. It was a list of city officials;
Mayor Hady, Commissioner James Gordon, Professor Hugo Strange, and many more were on the list,
including Bruce Wayne. It laid out who influenced which aspects of Gotham’s day-to-day governance.
This list was a hit list for the Court to provide its Talons with their targets.
During a quiet evening after a busy day of fundraising, Bruce Wayne was at home. He
was caught unawares when an armed assassin broke into Wayne Manor and attacked him.
Bruce managed to evade the attacker, and police soon arrived at the scene.
Before the assassin escaped, he proclaimed to Bruce that the Court of Owls had sentenced him
to die. The assassin made his getaway, and the police gave chase, but the trail went cold, and
no one could find any new leads. The police merely laughed when Bruce mentioned what the assassin had
said about the Court; they were a fairy tale, a ghost story to scare children into behaving.
Unconvinced, Bruce hearkened back to his investigations into shadow societies as a child.
He’d wanted to find some reason, any reason behind his parents’ murder.
He’d suspected that the Court might have been responsible,
but had never found any proof. This new attack brought all of his suspicions flooding back.
Soon after, he met one Silver St. Cloud. She had recently appeared in the Gotham socialite scene,
claiming to have come from upstate. Silver was interested in the Gotham Urban Renewal Project,
and she told Bruce that the attempt on his life grabbed her attention.
If someone wanted him dead, he must be doing something right, she reasoned to him. Bruce
agreed to bring her onboard, never one to turn down another socialite’s generosity. If it meant
the betterment of the city, he was for it. This partnership soon blossomed into a romance. Bruce
was enamored with Silver. What Bruce didn’t know was that Silver St. Cloud had a deadly secret.
She had been born in a nunnery; her teenage mother had died giving birth to her.
The infant was brought to the local orphanage. She spent most of her early years there until
running away at the age of 13. The next few years were a struggle for survival.
The girl lived meal-to-meal, scrounging what she could from the streets. Upon reaching 17,
she finally found employment; it was an entry level job cleaning at the Owl Creek Country Club.
Here, she witnessed how the upper class lived, and found herself envying it.
As a housekeeper, she had access to most of the rooms at the Owl Creek facility. She also picked
up bits and pieces of information overheard from the members of the club. But she wanted more; more
than the hand that life had dealt her. The young woman took note of the numerous functions that the
members of Owl Creek held. For the next 18 months, she saved every cent she made as a housekeeper,
in the meantime reinventing herself as a wealthy heiress. The young woman who came through the door
to the Annual Ball at Owl Creek was completely transformed. Gone was the housekeeper that
everyone ignored; in her place was someone new, someone beautiful, someone formidable.
Silver St. Cloud. It was a huge gamble to show up uninvited to the ball,
but it paid off. Even though she had spent so much time cleaning up after the members of Owl Creek,
none of them recognized her. Silver’s confidence and transformation made
that much of an impact on them. She spent the remainder of the evening making acquaintances,
and no one questioned her. After that night, she was treated as any other member of the Owl
Creek Country Club. Silver St. Cloud used the information she had gleaned in her time working
there to move up in the ranks, discovering the true face of the club: the Court of Owls.
Bruce was none the wiser for these truths about Silver. There was no way Bruce could know that
she was now one of the highest ranking members of the Court. This would all soon come to light.
The police continued to look into the mystery assassin who had attacked Wayne,
but their search was fruitless. Then the deaths began.
They were scattered throughout many days and weeks; a city councilor found in a dumpster,
the new City Treasurer found in Gotham River. Over time, a pattern began to emerge, but while the
police suspected foul play, they had no evidence to support it. What they did have was the Bat-Man.
Following the pattern of city officials, the Bat-Man and his team staked out the
residences of the most likely targets. Their waiting finally gave them a lead.
While staking out Commissioner James Gordon’s home, the Bat-Man saw a shadowy figure arrive,
knife in hand. He confronted the figure and engaged in combat. What he faced was a Talon,
armed to the teeth and trained remarkably well. The Bat-Man recognized this assassin
as the same one who had attacked Bruce Wayne. He fought furiously, wanting to overpower the
Talon and get some answers. The vigilante soon realized that they were evenly matched.
The fight continued until the rest of the Bat-Team arrived on the scene. Together they overpowered
and captured the Talon. They brought the Talon back to the Bat-Cave located beneath Wayne Manor,
and soon discovered the truth behind the Talon: that he was a black man captured and reprogrammed
by the Court of Owls. The Talon had been through a rigorous torment at the hands of the Court,
his identity wiped away. His name was Lincoln March, a man who had gone missing years ago.
The Bat-Man learned that there were numerous Talons all at the disposal of the Court,
and he acquired a full list of names for elimination within Gotham’s city officials.
The Bat-Man was adamant about handling The Court on his own;
he assigned the rest of the Bat-Team to watch over and protect the other targets of the Talons.
He then released the Talon they’d captured back into the city, intent on tailing the poor
soul back to the source: Owl Creek Country Club. The Bat-Man’s rage burned furiously;
he’d seen the injustices reaped by the Court in the murders, the brainwashing of their Talons,
and he would not stand for it. He would burn the Court to the ground.