October 29th, 2024

An adaptation of DC’s “Night of the Owls” storyline.

Chris Kirkman and Midnight investigate an outbreak in the Helping Hand, leading to Midnight investigating about a man who warned Kirkman of the Court of Owls. As Kirkman is attacked by Saiko, a mysterious man with "head to toe body armor and bladed weapons". Saiko confuses Kirkman by calling him Goodnight’s most notorious killer. Kirkman is able to slip into his costume when the police distract Saiko and begins to fight, eventually defeating him. Mr. Haley, who had figured out Kirkman secret identity years earlier, tells Saiko while being tortured and mortally wounded, leaving Haley's Circus for Kirkman to inherit. Raya, Kirkman’s former childhood friend and member of Haley's Circus, becomes a romantic interest for a short time. During a meeting with Lincoln March, a candidate for mayor, Brick is attacked by an assassin dressed like the Talon. While Brick manages to defeat him, he realizes the difficulty this opponent will bring after the Talon drops 30 stories from Crimson tower and wakes up to kill his ride to the morgue. Brick notes that the assassin was dressed as the Talon, a mythical figure from an old nursery rhyme about Goodnight called the Court of Owls.

Kirkman, having taken over Haley's Circus, drives to Chicago and Miami, where he uses Mr. Haley's dying words to find a mysterious Black Book of Names, of which he recognizes none except his own. While investigating the attack by the Talon, Midnight finds an "owl's nest" at the Old Crimson Tower, hidden between the 12th and 14th floors. Before he can further investigate, he sets off a trip wire, destroying the base. Midnight then looks further into his family's history, researching the death of his great-grandfather, Alan Redmond, who had become obsessed with owls towards the end of his life. After finding many more owl's nests hidden in buildings built by a trust established by Alan Redmond, he analyzes Alan's bones, finding that his death was not accidental as previously believed, and clues that lead him into the sewer, where he is ambushed by the Talon and set loose in a huge underground maze.