Following the lead in Scott Snyder’s current run on Batman, DC Comics has posted a graphic containing all of the titles that will be participating in the Batman crossover event Night of the Owls.

Night of the Owls started this week with a prelude in Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows’ Nightwing #8 which kickstarted the first issue in the crossover event, Batman #8 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The concept of the mini-event is that Gotham City has a sordid past that even Bruce Wayne was unaware of. The Court of Owls, an evil group of assassins, has been controlling the fate of Gotham the entire time. There’s much more to the story including Dick Grayson’s lineage and an all out assault against the Wayne family and other leaders of Gotham City. It’s a war of Bats vs. Owls when most of the Bat-family is called upon to participate.

Included in the Night of the Owls event are Nightwing #8 (Prelude) and Batman #8, both of which came out this week, Batwing #9 by Judd Winick and Marcus To (May 2), Batgirl #9 by Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf (May 9), Batman #9 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, James T. Tynion IV, and Rafael Albuquerque (May 9), Batman and Robin #9 by Peter J. Tomasi and Lee Garbett, even though DC’s website has the artist listed as Patrick Gleason (May 9), Birds of Prey #9 by Duane Swieczynski and Travel Foreman (May 16), Catwoman #9 by Judd Winick and Guillem March (May 16), Nightwing #9 by Kyle Higgins and Eddie Barrows (May 16), Red Hood and The Outlaws #9 by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort (May 16), All Star Western #9 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Moritat and Patrick Scherberger (May 23), and Batman: The Dark Knight #9 by Judd Winick and David Finch (May 23). The story continues, however, in Batman #10 (June 13) and concludes the Court of Owls arc with Batman #11 (July 11). While there are plenty of comics coming out April and May in this event to keep you interested, there are two notable exclusions on this list: Detective Comics #9 and Batwoman #9. Why? The only answer I’ve gotten at the time of writing is that the creative teams didn’t want to break up the flow of their current story arcs.

At this point, it’s hard to tell which books are “safe” to skip in order to save money, and which are must reads. But if we’re betting, I’m betting on Nightwing and Batman as the most important comics considering the level of involvement of the two characters at this point and the creative history between Higgins and Snyder who cowrote last year’s Gates of Gotham together, which (not so) coincidentally is being used in this story. Now, how much would all of this cost you if you choose to participate in it 100 percent? Well, all of the comics listed here are $2.99, with the exception of the over-sized Batman which features a back-up story by Snyder, Tynion and Albuquerque entitled The Fall of The House of Wayne and All Star Western, both of which are oversized and $3.99. So, using a fancy thing called math, I have calculated that this event will roughly cost you, the reader, a total of $38.88 for the 12-part crossover and $46.96 to complete the story. These numbers, obviously, do not include taxes or discounts that you would receive based on where you buy.

This is the first time since the recent relaunch of DC Comics where a group of titles are attempting to a large, ambitious crossover of this magnitude. Prior to Night of the Owls, titles have only crossed over a couple of issues or featured a guest character or two. Is this is a sign of things to come? More importantly, is the event worth your time and money? Well, we won’t know until we get to read the comics. I’m reading the majority of the titles, so I may pick up the other 3 books next month to see how it goes, so I’ll be sure to keep the Geeks of Doom readership informed.

Night of the Owls begins this week and continues throughout May in most Batman-related books.

[Source: DC Comics]