Customer Reviews

Batman: War Games, Act One - Outbreak

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book collects the first act of an unecessarily lengthy crossover. This volume collects the following:
BATMAN: THE 12-CENT ADVENTURE
DETECTIVE COMICS #797
BATMAN #631
BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #182
NIGHTWING #96
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #56
ROBIN #129
BATGIRL #55
CATWOMAN #34

The basic premise in this story is that ex-Robin and now an outcast, Spoiler aka Stephanie Brown witnesses a covergence of the entire mob families of Gotham City. She eavesdrop on this meeting despite Batman's specific instructions. A gun fire erupts and all hell breaks loose as the mob families vow revenge on each other and fight to be the top boss while the innocents are caught in the brushfire. Now, it is up to Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman, Huntress, Spolier and the rest of the Bat-family to put the mob fires out before Gotham is engulfed.

The premise being set, I'll get to the good parts about this volume first. You won't see it in this act but if you are patient enough (and rich enough) to follow this to the last act, you will see the death of character from the abovementioned bat-family. I am not a foaming and complaining fanboy but this character should never have been written into the Bat-family. That's the ultimate payoff from War Games.

Now, the bad part of this volume. I personally am not a fan of crossovers...you have a lot of different writers and artists focusing on their part of the story and the result is that the entire story as a whole suffers. It basically becomes one giant mess, ie. Superman: Our Worlds at War. Now, I am not saying that the writers of this volume is not talented...some of these writers are veterans, i.e. Ed Brubaker. Mr. Brubaker writes one of the best monthly on the market, Gotham Central but his work suffers here as a whole due to the constant jumping around from one author to another. Other writers in this volume are Andersen Gabrych, Devin Grayson, Dylan Horrocks, A.J. Lieberman, and Bill Willingham. Most of these guys are relative new-comers save for Devin Grayson.

All in all, this book goes the way of most summer cross-overs, fast and forgotten. At the end the only change is the death of a Bat-family character and Batman's relationship with the GCPD changes. But you can be rest assured that the next writer to pick up the mess from this will write as if none of this ever happened. Recommended if you have the patience and money.

I actually enjoyed this book. Perhaps it was because I wasn't in it for Batman alone; I was in it in order to be introduced to these characters, whom I probably wouldn't have gotten exposure to otherwise.
Hey, I'm new to all this DC stuff (my father always collected Marvel, so I'd always stuck with them -- perhaps that's why I don't seem to have the same "oh my god, he's working with other people!" problem that the other reviewers seem to have).

The plot IS actually compelling, at least for this first book. I've not read the second one yet. Yet.

The "official" reviewer has some issues.
1) In highly stressful situations, people can (and do) get a little scoldy. ALL the characters are stressed beyond breaking point. People ARE allowed to be grumpy when they've been going on for a day and a half with no sleep, but still fighting the entire time. Right?
2) Freeze did not concoct the meeting. I don't think the main reviewer finished half of the book, if he/she came to that conclusion. I don't want to give away WHO did, because that revelation is an ironic twist that needs to be left in the dark. Let's just say that I hope it's THAT particular member of the bat-family that gets to go to the great beyond when all is said and done. That character has the ability to annoy me MOST highly. Grumph.

The one complaint that I have is the ending.
The bat family carries a girl out of the high school (which has been attacked by all the mobs, BECAUSE of that girl -- the daughter of one of the other mob bosses). She's barely clinging to life.
And... Batman is fingered for killing her?
And everyone believes it?
Even if there were lots of mob members inside shooting up the joint, and only ONE person got shot BECAUSE the bat-people were there to get everyone out?
Dang, SOMEONE could tell the police/media that she was shot long before the bat people entered the scene, that she was the one the mobs were after. It was plain and clear.

But THIS incident is the one that villifies batman?
Talk about unfair.

That bit didn't sit right with me.
The rest, though, was pure beauty, if you want to look at more than one character at once, working together.

What happens when you get all the criminal bosses together for a meeting with their crew, yup, you get a free for all shootout in which most of the heads of the criminal underworld are killed, thus leaving a power vacuum. Chaos ensues as the underlings scramble to take power during this vacuum. Who can stop this, Batman! At least he will try along with his Bat crew, you know, Nighting, Oracle, Catwoman, Tim Drake (he is retired from being Robin) etc. This 1st arc deals with the criminals trying to wrest control and establishing themselves, which includes the assassination of rival family members. This targeting of family members eventually spills into Tim Drakes high school and its up to Batman and the Bat crew to rescue Tim. Since there are so many different artist and writers in the book, the stories jump around a bit. But overall, this compilation is a decent read.

As a meeting of all the most powerful crime bosses takes place, a powder keg explodes that devolves into a gang war. Batman and all his allies are cast into a constant defensive position, putting out fires all over Gotham. What can end this nightmarish gang war in which innocent people are being killed?

What is worse, it becomes clear that a third party is pulling strings and manipulating this worst of situations to gain an upper hand. However, it is clear that the chaos and confusion caused by this war will not be easy to undo.

War Games contains some great art. In addition, this is another great way to implement the full Batman gallery of rogues, an undertaking that is admirable. Batman's list of strange and unique enemies is indeed a long one, and War Games makes a good run at pitting them against one another. War Games is a solid Batman graphic novel series.

I read all of these issues in individual comics, so when I found out that they were putting it out in a graphic novel it was a shock. The story is great and the fact that it involves all the characters in the Batman story is great. The fact that it is all the issues in one volume is a great convince.

This TPB collects the first Act of the War Games cross over storyarc effecting the Batman titles. Because this first volume of the arc collects various issues by various writers, the story has a very uneven flow to it. Starting off with the prelude called the "Batman 12 Cent Adventure", written by Devin Grayson, the reader gets a clue as to what is going to happen with the narration from the Spoiler and her relationship with Robin. From here on out, the storytelling is scattershot, and while there is plenty of action to satisfy most Batman enthusiasts, it all feels rushed together. Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Sleeper) is a great writer, but he alone can't make up for War Games. Bill Willingham, mainly known for his Fables from Vertigo, is here as well scripting Robin, but he falls flat. The whole Bat-family is here: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batgirl, Huntress, Oracle, and Spoiler, as they try to stop Gotham City from becoming a complete war zone. The various art is above average and about what you would expect, but it's not enough to save War Games. All in all this first (of three) act of War Games is worth a look for Bat-fans who may have missed out on the single issues, but for the rest of us this is better left on the shelf.

I am really disappointed with this serie of Batman War. You don't have the thrill of the writing of a Jeph Loeb or a Greg Rucka. You see Batman endlessly running from one point of the city to another with a lot of cross over characters. This is confusion not a tale. It seems the authors want to place as much characters as possible in this serie just for commercial reasons. Also it reminds me of the No Man's Land period in worse. These books are to be avoided.

This was one of the few Batman stories that I couldn't follow all the way through. It was uninteresting, and just as so many authors are doing with Batman lately, it does not portray him as the detective, therefore there were no foreseeable plot twists or intrigues to make me want to read more. If you want a solid Batman story, pick up Hush, or Bruce Wayne: Murderer.

I love Batman comics. I love crossovers and super-long stories like "Knightfall", "No Man's Land", "Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive", etc. In fact, I disliked Jeph Loeb's and Jim Lee's "Hush" for breaking up the "rhythm" of the endless Bat-crossovers. "Hush", to me, felt too much like a ONE-SHOT story told in 12 parts - especially to appeal to non-fans. When "War Games" was announced, I was excited. I thought that it would be the story that will bring us back to the previous "Dennis O'Neil"-style of huge epics written to reward fans for their devotion to the tiny details of continuity. How did I feel after reading the first TPB collection, "Act One - Outbreak"? Nothing. I'm serious. In fact, I was surprised that I felt absolutely nothing. The style was right. It did look and feel like a Batman crossover should. But the story was so pointless and draggy. A huge crime-war story built upon something so flimsy and small - Spoiler's mistake. Overall, the whole thing came off very unemotional and empty. The issues by Devin Grayson and Ed Brubaker were bearable because they were a little more "old school" and they obviously cared for these characters. The others, by new-comers, were largely uninspiring and pointless. Bill Willingham's portrayal of Robin (Tim Drake) was especially annoying. Tim used to be such an interesting kid, the sidekick who is also there to watch after Batman's back when he gets too obsessive in his war-on-crime. Willingham made him a whiny and selfish young man. I'm hoping that the story improves with the next two acts (I don't know about the original single issues since I read TPBs most of the time these days).

War Gamesis an above average Batman crossover and this review is for the entire three volume series.The scenario is that an ally of Batman tries to regain Batman's favor by putting into motion a scenario in which Batman takes control of the majorGotham gangs as Matches Malone but the individual doesnt know Matches and Batman are the same anda gang war erupts and gets out of control.The carnage is taken advantage of by a second tier Batman foe who is meant to be upgraded as a first tier foe by this series. The seies is high intensity and well done but at times continuity breaks down because of the wide variety of artists and writers and I think the poor characterization of Nightwing is a major flaw. The story ends powerfully though of course much of it ended up retconned but that sort of thing doesnt bother me that much especially when the story is good but it isnt great would get 3.5 stars but I give it 4 because of the intensity of action