Reviews

Batman: War Games, Act 2: Tides by Paul Gulacy, Andersen Gabrych, Ed Brubaker, Devin Grayson, Ramón F. Bachs, A.J. Lieberman, Bill Willingham, Jon Proctor, Mike Huddleston, Al Barrionuevo, Brad Walker, Dylan Horrocks, Kinsun, Mike Lilly

kirkreads's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

newbarrel's review

adventurous dark sad fast-paced

3.5

walter_the_wombat's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

nerdywerewolf's review

4.0

The sheer amount of characters in this story makes it worth reading. Heroes and villains I've never seen in a story together are battling right there on the pages. Great stuff. Can't wait to read the next. :)

walkerct's review

4.0

I'm really glad that I picked up Act 2 despite not really being impressed by Act 1. While not perfect by any means, there was a lot of solid work on Batman that didn't revolve solely around Batman kicking people in the face (though, to be fair, there is still a lot of that). I became interested in picking up this series after reading Glenn Weldon criticize it for being the most flagrant example of the "master strategist" interpretation of Batman. That is, the writers who took his history of detection skills and battle planning and magnified them to the nth degree so that he's the seemingly all-knowing, ten steps ahead of everyone kind of hero. No doubt that's the backbone of this storyline, but I was pleased to find that the focus of the arc was Batman's weaknesses, specifically the way in which his cold and dictatorial manner causes tension with his allies. It doesn't shy away from how poorly Batman treats Oracle, Nightwing, Robin, and anyone else who tries to lend him a hand. This extends to his relationship to the new James Gordon-less GCPD with some pretty disastrous results. Far from celebrating Batman as a master strategist, this arc really nails how his paranoia and secretive nature make it extremely difficult for him to work effectively as a team player.

As with any collection, some of the issues are better than others. Andersen Gabrych, Devin Grayson, and A.J. Lieberman all do fine work. I didn't like Ed Brubaker's issue of Catwoman, which is surprising, because that was one of the high points of Act One. I also didn't care for Dylan Horrocks Batgirl, though that might have had more to do with Mike Huddleston's cartoon-style artwork. Bill Willingham's work is decent, but it centers around one of my least favorite aspects of the story, the treatment of Spoiler. She's one of my favorite minor characters, and I feel the way DC treated her was pretty awful and problematic.

Overall this leaves me with some optimism for the third installment. Hopefully they can stick the landing!

virginiaduan's review

4.0

I love me some Batman and this middle volume is no exception. However, I must say that sometimes, Batman is infuriating and could do a bit better in the "Team Player" department. I would've normally rated this three stars, but the story gets one extra star for the way it ends alone. :)

birdmanseven's review

4.0

While I tend to like the Batman stories when Batman isn't a complete and total jerk to all of his friends, I am really enjoying this War Games arc. As is with any middle entry of a trilogy there was no resolution to this, but the story was fast-paced and interesting. I love the Batman family so it's cool to have the whole gang working together. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

For more (much, much more) on Stephanie Brown's Robin, tune in to a special spotlight over on the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-241-holy-robin-spotlight-batman

quinnster's review

4.0

It's hard to review stuff like this without giving away key plot points that make the story is great as it is. There are moments here where I thought 'oh crap, didn't see that coming!' and I don't know if it's because I'm not as immersed in this era of Batman or if it really was an 'oh crap, didn't see that coming!' moment for others who read it as well.

I'm not so versed when it comes to Orpheus or Onyx and I didn't even really remember there was ever another Batgirl besides Barbara Gordon so there was a lot of new material for me to digest. There is a lot of drama in this collection and this was one of those collections where I felt like I should have read the issues before these, but that's a lot of backstory and until I can get my hands on all 630 Batman issues before this one I'm probably always going to be behind.

Nonetheless, this was an engaging, gripping series. There were a few times when I was a little lost as to who was speaking, but that was usually cleared up pretty fast. I would surely recommend this one to anyone who was looking to get into the Batman world. It's got some pretty big moments...

jamesthegill's review

4.0

I just like the option to hide this review because of Spoilers.

sookieskipper's review

3.0

The second act is underwhelming in the way everything that was subtle in the first act is drawn out in detail and is exposed bit by bit. The continuity of this arc was a let down after a wonderful opening.