A nice surprise, a deeper look at Stephanie Brown, and a violent city on the brink of exploding. I have to say I wasn't expecting to enjoy War Games as much as I did. Andersen Gabrych writes most of these issues, and maybe because I never heard of him before, but I didn't think he'd bring much to the table. Instead he gives us a Batman on the edge at all times dealing with both his successes but also failures while we get a deeper look into the batfamily as well. While the first half isn't essen...

Steph as Robin =❤️

(B+) 79% | GoodNotes: Accentuates Batman's malleability, like an oft-covered song, differently iterated in voice, mien, tone and appearance.

Last three issues of 2004 for Batman, Detective Comics, Gotham Knights, Legend of the Dark Knight, Catwoman, Nightwing and Batgirl. A momentous foul-up by Spoiler (formerly Robin) results in a chaotic and lethal breakdown of law in Gotham, with Huntress and Black Canary out of town it's left to Batman, Tim Drake, Oracle, Nightwing, Batgirl, Catwoman and Dr Leslie to try and stop the onslaught. A dark, deadly and unforgiving Bat event, well worth a read, from the Bat event hey days of the Noughti...

I've read most of Act One of War Games before (a long time before) but I enjoyed this edition for the prelude to the body of the story, as there are a lot of threads that tie into this collection. I find this a really enjoyable arc, as all of the big Batman disasters in Gotham tend to be - No Man's Land is another favourite of mine. War Games includes all my favorites, Nightwing, Cassandra Cain as Batgirl and Barbara Gordon as Oracle, Tim Drake even though he's not currently Robin - he's my Robi...

There are two different reviews here - one for the story arc War Games (the first part of it, that is), and one for the volume itself.First the volume. Wow, there are so many unrelated stories leading up to War Games actually starting. I'm pretty sure there is another release of this story arc, in three books, that is comprised of less issues. I probably should have just read that. I know that certain characters, specifically their role in War Games, and in some cases their very lives, play such...

I haven't read a Batman comic in years and was unfamiliar with this series. But Gabrych's War Games started off spectacularly well and most of the art work was fantastic and the story line was great. I really loved the dark elements and the worse for wear Batman. I loved the somewhat new backstory in the book and some of the characters that I was not familiar with like Tarantula, Orpheus and Onyx. For the most part all of the artwork syncs up nicely considering all the different inkers/pencilers...

Here is another Batfamily event in which I don't know what came before and what came after. Ah, well.Anyway, the book opens up super strong with Scarification, Batman Detective Comics #790, by Andersen Gabrych. Batman seems to be out of control (again), vengefully punishing a drug seller after the death of another G.H.D. overdose victim, when Batgirl confronts him about it. Batgirl: "Seems more...personal."Batman: "It's always personal. I thought you, of all of them, understood that." Cass seems...

War Games might genuinely be one of the worst things that have ever happened to comics. It's riddled with horrific art, bad writing, bad treatment of beloved characters. The few attempts at brevity, goodness, or even relief are frequently undercut by homophobia, rape jokes, transphobia, and sexism. As a fan of multiple of the storylines which were interrupted to produce this all-time low in comic event storytelling, and a fan of characters who were fridged, character assassinated, or otherwise s...

The calm before the storm, Batman finds himself caught in a war that he might have possibly started. I haven't dabbled much in 90s Batman, though this was written in the early 2000s. The pacing starts off slow in the beginning working to introduce the key players of War Games but ramps up. Just a warning, if you're from rebirth or N52, this Batman will feel mis-characterized to you. War Games is the climax to a lot of storylines that had been going in various Bat-books for the past few years. I...

In Batman: War Games Book 1 New Edition, Gotham finds itself in a literal war zone when the entire underground battles for turf. Our caped crusader finds himself in the centre of this chaos as he fights to keep Gotham safe. Knowing how the Batman universe works, you know that this battle will not come without sacrifices and in War Games there is a HUGE one. With all of the subplots that take place throughout the extensive series, readers are kept on their toes wondering what happens next. While

Things are heating up and the storyline has some nice crossover. There are a few things that are referenced in this book that happened in titles' issues outside of this book that would benefit from one of those ["When he stopped the villain, Batman #645, -ED!] panels they used to run, but other than that, a variety of characters, art styles, storytelling voices, all come together for a pretty cohesive crossover.

I absolutely hated this graphic novel. It makes a cheap, politically correct move, and when it backfires, attempts to cover its tracks back making established characters do things that they would never do.

This book took a looooooooong time to get me invested, but when it did, I couldn't put it down. Batman rocks. Even the newer characters (to me), like Orpheus, were really entertaining, thus far. Can't wait for volume two, soon!

Gotham goes up in flames again, and Batman hasn't a clue what the hell happened. (Hint: (view spoiler)[It's his fault (hide spoiler)]). It goes like this. Someone invites every gang boss to a meeting that they think is a one on one, but it's actually a public meetup. Everyone is nervous and are carrying explosives, and one wrong move results in 21 dead bodies (I think, it's a high number). Once the gangs have lost their bosses, everyone wants supremacy, and everyone wants someone else's territor...

The actual War Games crossover doesn’t begin until the second half of the book. Some of what happens before directly connects with War Games, namely Stephanie Brown’s brief tenure as Robin. Stephanie is rather delightful in the role, and I wish she would’ve stayed Robin longer. The rest of the first half is decent but forgettable detective stuff, mostly from Gabrych’s Detective Comics run. Along with the Stephanie issues, the Leslie Tompkins story is most memorable. I think some of these prelude...

This was the strongest Batman collection I've read recently. I thought the story was very strong and very well put together, the character work was very good, and I actually liked most of the art (even if it was, at times, like the artists had never seen a woman's body before - but I am usually prepared for that in comics). The emotional beats were there, and at no point did I read any part of this having to pretend I knew who one of the characters were - they were all actually introduced in som...

I liked the plot, even if the characterization of the heroes felt off. Everyone is extremely unlikeable and petty. They all treat each other terribly and are extremely reactionary. Its like a procedural but everyone has a huge ego and wears costumes. The stories span across several comics (detective, Catwoman, Batgirl etc.) so of course the art and writing are different per comic, but the whole concept is interesting.

One of my favorite side characters in the Batverse is The Spoiler. She is all over this collection as she steps in as the new Robin for a bit. A full-out gang war breaks out in Gotham and the Bat-family is spread thin as they try to calm the bloodshed. This is a fun read that adds a ton of weight to the Bat-family mythos. There are so many Bat-titles that getting the collection is the best way to read the story in the proper order.

This one had some hit or miss moments for me, but overall I adored it. Whenever it's focusing on Batman without some member of the team the story ground to a halt, but much of it was the interaction I adore in this story. This is a particularly shining arch for Stephanie Brown, chronicling her brief time as Robin.