So much happens here. Spoiler is rash, brash, and just a little boring. Barbara is frustrated by Batman treating Oracle like a secretary. Nightwing is dealing with Blockbuster's death. Cameo from Tarantula is fun. Tim, having stopped being Robin, finds that his school can still be taken over by gang members trying to off the daughter of a mafia boss. And the entire bat-family goes without discussion.Let me say that last bit again, in case you don't understand how momentous that is. Gotham is des...

[3.5 stars]

I read all three volumes of this hulk in one day, which attests to it being a quick read, but mostly to it being a compelling read. I was up until 2:00 AM blowing through the third volume, where the mystery antagonist being outed and becoming visibly active kicks the story up that last notch, especially since he/she is a totally different kind of quirky villain in that darkly understated way. It’s slow to start and has a poor sense of the city really being in chaos since the story is told almost...

I feel like the fact that in the comic, a choice between saving a pregnant 15 year old's life and saving her unborn fetus is presented as a "moral dilemma" and that the doctor felt it "wasn't her choice to make" but left it up to the girl's mother, who chose to save the fetus, kinda tells you all you need to know about how the writer of this title views women.Like do I save an unborn fetus that may or may not live? Or do I save the scared 15 year old girl with hopes and dreams and the rest of he...

"They must be targeting family members! Wives, children, non-combatants! Oh my God, if this war seemed bad before . . . it's about to get a whole lot worse." -- Barbara 'Oracle' Gordon, realizing s*** just got real in the escalating street warfare between Gotham City's rival gangsBatman: War Games, Act 1 - which features the vigilante 'Bat'-family trying to staunch the flow of violence in an increasingly deadly war between the organized criminal elements in Gotham City - has three factors which,...

Stephanie Brown/Spoiler accidentally ignites a city-wide gang war in Gotham and it’s up to the Bat family to end it! War Games is soooo boring! Aside from the occasional cameo by a familiar crim like Penguin, Ventriloquist or Hush, it’s Batman and co. fighting no-name gangsters in a vague, rambling plot line that goes nowhere. It’s impossible to care about when it feels so generic and unexciting. I mean, Batman fighting thugs is what he does during a storyline, it’s not usually THE storyline! Pa...

Act 1 of this arc is an action-packed opener as Batman and co try to stop a gang war in Gotham. It’s fun and all but aspects of the plot made me feel like I was reading No Man’s Land but on a smaller scale.

Eh, a decent enough beginning to a Batman arc, as far as they go. The idea of one of Batman's complex plans going awry has interested me since I read JLA, Vol. 7: Tower of Babel. The first issue sets up the story and all of the key players while the subsequent issues tackle the enormous fallout. The pace is pretty relentless, which is at times thrilling and at other times exhausting and sometimes downright confusing. There are a lot of mob factions at work in this story, and they're not differen...

Wow, you can seriously say this one is action-packed! Sometimes a bit confusing and a bit much.. There are so many characters in play that you really need to keep your head in the game.But despite the overhead, it's been building up to be a great story with amazing artwork btw.I'm immediately diving into the next act!

War has broken out and boy, is it ever-exciting. The body count is high and likely to mount even higher. Can't wait to read the remaining two volumes. This is Batman at his finest.

The first arc of a 3 part series featuring the Batfamily. A mysterious invitation brings Gotham’s gang leaders and their hitmen together. The tension comes to a boiling point when the benefactor doesn’t show up and shots are fired. With most of Gotham’s gang leaders now dead, violence erupts throughout the city as gangs fight for new territory. To top everything off, the Batfamily is short staffed. Tim Drake is leading a normal life and Stephanie Brown has been fired leaving Gotham without a Rob...

When they say it's all out war, they mean an all out war! All the gangs in Gotham have sounded the call to war over the stricken city. Batman and his small team must face them, all alone. This comic makes me wonder why anyone would stay in Gotham City when so many tragic things have happened. This all starts when someone tries to do the right thing but it goes pear shaped and completely out of control. Gotham pays the price and you see the strain that puts on Batman and co. This comic opens a wh...

Basically Batman fires Robin, Robin tries to prove worth by enacting Batman scheme to take down the cities gangs (without Batman being made aware of said enactment) and all hell breaks loose. This was really good a bunch of unknown writers but it was really good

Not sure the exact day I finished so I just put it a day before Act 2. Good start but I got progressively distracted and disinterested in the story through the 3 Acts.

War Games is a major storyline comic book story arc published by DC Comics that ran in its Batman family of titles. The plot revolves around a gang war involving all the major criminal groups in Gotham. It starts with one of Batman's most ambitious contingency plans for a possible outbreak of uncontrollable gang violence.Batman: War Games, Act One: Outbreak collects: Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure #1, Detective Comics #797, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #182, Nightwing #96, Batman: Gotham Kn...

Starts off strong, gets kind of same-y in the middle, but has a decent ending. Batman's ex-sidekick Spoiler invites all of Gotham's gangleaders to the docks in order to get in his good graces. But they start killing each other and a gang war ensues. I liked that it jumped right into the action in the first issue, and that it introduced all the characters (because I haven't read many Batman comics and didn't recognize all the characters). But most of the book that follows is just Batman and his a...

This is one of those complicated and almost political Batman plots. If you count mob and gang politics as political. There are a lot of players but it seems like a good start to this arc. We got some really good Stephanie Brown moments in there. Steph is, in my opinion, criminally underrated so I jumped at the chance to see her motivations and how Batman has influenced her. I was a big fan of both the Nightwing (which has absolutely spectacular art as always) and Catwoman issues in this arc. My

The War Games arc is another thing that's been on my to-read shelf for about 8 years, and I'm finally reading it. Considering its mixed reviews, this story is a lot better than I feared it would be. The batclan deals with a gang war started when someone started shooting at a major meeting of all the heads of criminal organizations in Gotham. For most of the book, the bats - who have been taken off guard by this - are scrambling to do damage control as violent reprisals and powergrabs become par

meh

A mysterious player calls the heads of all the major gangs of Gotham together. The purpose of the meeting is unsure. But in the end, several leaders and their hired muscle are dead. Now Gotham is in chaos as the surviving gang members seek vengeance for their fallen leaders. With the emergency services, fire fighters, and police of Gotham City taxed beyond their means, it's up to Batman and his allies to clean up this mess and restore order. It's the Batman's hope that he can end the hostilitie