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A review by walkerct
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
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!
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!