JT's Take: Catwoman #11

Hey honorary members of the Todd Squad, I'm here with our final review before the new comic week starts off, so let's check in with DC's resident feline femme fatale, Catwoman.

Catwoman #11

 

Summary: This issue of Catwoman starts off with her confronting Detective Alvarez in his own home. He of course goes on the defensive, but Catwoman subdues him long enough to tell him that something is going on in Gotham. She tells him about the recent abductions and how the cops aren't doing anything, but if he wants to help then to call her at the number she left. As she leaves, we see that Spark is watching her and Detective Alvarez. We then see the kidnapper, it turns out our villain is watching and kidnapping people with healthy organs to sell them, and the next one on the chopping block is useless, since he slit his wrists and his organs went bad before they could be properly refrigerated. From there we see Catwoman's associate, Gwen, get shoved into a limo against her will, and she's met by a shadowy figure (Penguin?) who asks about her relationship with Catwoman. A few hours later, Detective Alvarez calls Catwoman, interrupting what was about to be a steamy sex scene with Spark, and the three go on a stakeout looking for the abductor. Not long into the stakeout, the Abductor shows up, at all three locations, causing each one to tackle the abductors and find they have the wrong person. That is, except for Alvarez, who finds the abductor to be a woman named Dollhouse. She shoots pretty much everyone with syringes, including Alvarez, knocking them out, then loads a few of them into her van. Catwoman and Spark show up, but too late, as she's already escaped with Alvarez and the rest. Catwoman feels like this is her fault, since she got Alvarez into this situation, as this issue ends.


Thoughts: Really? Dollmaker, Doll House, whats with all these doll characters? Anyway, aside from that, I was surprised the kidnapper was a woman, that genuinely shocked me. And this was an alright story, nothing really stood out or made this special, but it wasn't bad either, just average I guess. I am interested in seeing how Catwoman finds Alvarez, and Batman is advertised for the next issue, so that will be interesting to say the least.

Score: 6/10

Catwoman: You scream like you're having sex and people will either listen in or trot away. Either way, nobody calls the cops. At least, not right away. (It's funny cause it's true...)

JT's Take: Catwoman #7

Hey everyone, JT here with a review of what I think is one of the most consistently well written comics coming out of DC since the reboot, Judd Winick's Catwoman.

Catwoman #7

Summary: In this issue we started off seeing Catwoman steal an obscenely expensive 2011 Ferarri California from a very, very rich man. After stealing the car we see a hooded man on the rooftop that planned on stealing the same car. From there we got a feel of Catwoman and her new partner Gwen's relationship. She basically reiterates what Batman had said to Catwoman, that she's taking a bunch of risks that will get her caught or killed, but Catwoman maintains that she has everything under wraps. After coming across another job stealing cars, Catwoman runs it by Gwen but Gwen says it's too good to be true and wants to look into it first. Catwoman, not wanting to let the chance and the money get away, decides to take it into her own hands and go after the cars. Unsurprisingly it was a trap by the police, but before they can apprehend the Feisty Feline, the masked man from earlier drops down and blows up all of the cop's vehicles with his electricity powers. The two escape on Catwoman's motorcycle as the man introduces himself as Spark, and says he wants to steal things with Catwoman.


Thoughts: This was an alright issue, nothing big happened besides the debut of Spark so I'm wondering where they'll take that. I really like that Gwen is yelling at Selina and setting boundaries, considering what happened to Selina's last fencer. There was also a scene where a man in a van knocked out two prostitutes with darts or something then loaded them into his van, that was odd and creepy but I'm sure we'll see more on that in the future. I wish I had more to talk about but sadly not much happened here, it seemed to fly by and not accomplish much this month.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Spark: Get on.
Catwoman:That's my bike.
Spark: I know. It's nice. Can we go?

JT's Take: Catwoman #6

Hey everyone, JT here again with another review that you won't get from my blogging counterpart. :P This time I'm gonna review Judd Winick's Catwoman series, which I've enjoyed since the beginning, let's see if this issue kept up the trend.

Catwoman #6

Summary: We kick things off with Catwoman in a holding cell with some crooked GCPD officers, asking where's the dirty money she stole from the electric powered super-villain known as Reach. The officers leave as Reach beats the hell out of a handcuffed Catwoman, before asking her where the money is, and when she gets too close, Selina pulls a Mike Tyson and bites off Reach's ear. This of course leads to a pissed off Reach about to skin our favorite Cat until a clean police officer saves Catwoman and lets her go free, before the crooked cops return. During her escape with the cash, Catwoman is stopped by Batman who tells her to return the stolen money, but she refuses. This leads to a knock-down, drag-out fight between The Bat and The Cat until Batman finally yells at her and asks how long she thinks he can keep letting her get away with this, and if she wants to die from all of her stupid risks. Surprisingly Catwoman replies with "Maybe I do!" which stuns and surprises Batman. He backs away and lets Catwoman continue her escape, as she finds her friend Gwen, a woman that fences stolen goods, and reveals to her that she's Catwoman and she needs her help as this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: I think Judd Winick did a great job on this issue, we've seen that the GCPD is crooked but Catwoman has at least one officer willing to help her, we saw more of Reach who I really enjoy as Catwoman's main villain, as it looks to be heating up even more since Reach got her ear bit off. I loved that scene because it showed how ruthless Catwoman can become when backed into a corner, which is a great thing to have in a character. I also really enjoyed the scene with Batman, as you can see he does care about Catwoman more than just a sex-partner and he wants to help someone that just doesn't want help, and you really got a feel for that during their argument. I also want to point out how great Guillem March's artwork was, he drew the fights great and the action really translated, and I really like how he draws Reach, she comes off as a big, thick, hoss of a woman who looks a bit like an Amazon, so she definitely looks like an intimidating factor, I really hope we see more of her. He also did an amazing job on the expressions of Catwoman and the rest of the cast. If there was anything I didn't enjoy is that the end seemed a bit anti-climactic with Selina running to Gwen and telling her who she was, especially after losing her last friend so soon, but I guess it makes sense considering she has dirty money she's going to need laundered now.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.
Batman: Put the money down. It's caused you enough trouble.
Catwoman: This? This is just laundry.

Catwoman #2

Hey, check it out, it's yet ANOTHER DC comic I'm considering dropping! Last issue was a major misfire in my eyes, but as a big fan of Judd Winick, I'm still holding out some hope that he turns it around this issue.

Catwoman #2:

What Happened: After a roll in the hay with Batman, Catwoman steals some painting that is very important to Gotham's Russian mafia. She contacts the two factions of Russian mobsters and sets up a public meeting, telling the mobsters to drop off her money at a predetermined spot and she'd leave the painting for them at Wayne Foundation gala. The two factions of mobsters drop their money off and run into each other in the room where the painting was, which naturally leads to the mobsters shooting it out with each other. CW collects the money and heads back to her friend's home, finding her friend murdered. CW is beaten and this one ends with a villain named Bone introducing himself to her.

The Good: The story was fast paced and made sense. The cliffhanger was strong. CW pitting the Russian mobsters against each other, AND making sure the mobster she hated the most was a part of the shoot-out was nicely done. This Bone guy at the least looks interesting, and has given Catwoman a reason to hate him going forward.

The Bad: So wait, in almost every other Bat-related comic Bruce Wayne is well respected and intent on moving Gotham City to a bright and shiny future, but in this issue he was back to his hard-drinking, playboy ways. I'd have preferred Black Mask in Bone's spot. Catwoman NOT being privy to Batman's secret identity kind of annoys me since as I've pointed out in several other Bat-related posts, EVERYBODY seems to know the identities of either Bruce or his various Robins... Everybody except the woman he's scoring with on the side I guess...

The Verdict: This issue was good enough to win it another month on my pull list, so that should say a lot about what I thought about it. I mean honestly, after the first issue, I REALLY thought I'd be dropping this series really soon. Instead I'm actually looking forward to issue #3, which is somewhat surprising to me. Sure, there are a few things I could nitpick about, but overall this was a very good comic.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.So out of the 74 people who DO know Bruce Wayne is Batman, Catwoman ISN'T one of them... Oooooo-kay then...

Catwoman #1

Here's a title I picked up based solely on the writer. I've always been a HUGE fan of Judd Winick's work, and if not for him being the writer here, I'm not sure if I'd be all that interested in reading a Catwoman solo series. As such, this is one of those series I'd be willing to drop if it doesn't wow me within the first three months...

Catwoman #1:

What Happened: This issue begins with some goons breaking into Catwoman's apartment and blowing it up. Catwoman, who managed to escape with her cats just before the goons entered, is obviously a bit perturbed by that turn of events and heads to a friend of hers for some information on a place to stay as well as any jobs to rake in some money. CW's friend tells CW about a penthouse apartment that would be vacant for two weeks, as well as a meeting of drunken Russian mobsters where CW may overhear some juicy info. CW goes to the meeting in disguise, hears about a painting that she could steal and sell to the mobsters for big money before running across some man from her past(I think?) who was supposed to be locked up. CW confronts the man in the restroom and beats the ever-loving hell out of him before escaping from the angry Russians. She goes back to the penthouse where Batman is waiting for her. Bats wants to know why her apartment was blown up, but instead of answering CW gets frisky and the two wind up getting intimate on the floor.

The Good: I like the way Winick portrayed Catwoman here. The mystery of CW's apartment being destroyed could have some legs.

The Bad: The flashback scene didn't tell us who this Russian guy was or why Catwoman hated him... Did he shoot her friend? Sister? Mother? Who knows. Surprisingly, the story wasn't particularly interesting. Catwoman and Bats being an item with no backstory kind of annoys me.

The Verdict: And the above average comic reading streak comes to an end at 8... This wasn't a horrible comic or anything, it just didn't hold my attention. It was just a bunch of loosely connected stuff. Oh look, CW's apartment blew up. Oh look, CW's in disguise beating some guy up for some reason. Oh look, CW's on top of Bats. Speaking of Bats, I could have done without a Batman appearance here. Having him show up this early in the series takes something away from Catwoman and her story. That's what I liked so much about the Nightwing series, it focused ONLY on Nightwing, not Bats or the other Bat-family members. I'll stick with this series for one more issue, but the clock has begun ticking...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Yeah! Kick that guy's ass for some reason!!

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Catwoman #1

Overall: The Insider(Bruce Wayne for those of you coming to the party late)has tasked Catwoman with keeping an eye on Vicki “The Pest” Vale. It seems Vicki's quest to link Batman and Bruce Wayne has taken her to some exclusive villains club, where a mystery informant told her to meet with him. While Vale is awaiting her informant, Harley Quinn arrives on the scene and starts a riot, which causes Vale to bail(hey, that rhymed!). Catwoman follows Vicki back to her apartment, where Vicki's mystery informant calls her, setting up a meeting at a diner not far from her place. Vicki takes off and Catwoman breaks in, discovering Vicki's wall o' Batman, as well as another wall containing the identities of several super-villains. Catwoman leaves and hangs out on a rooftop waiting for the Insider to arrive. He does, and CW gives all of the details of what she saw in Vicki's apartment. The Insider and CW speak for a while, and over the course of the conversation, Catwoman begins to realize just who the Insider was. Instead of telling Catwoman who he was though, Bruce disappears, leaving Catwoman pondering what just happened.

Like the other Road Home comics, this one was really good. It was definitely on par with the Road Home books that came out last week. The story was similar to the other Road Home books, with Vicki Vale running around and Bruce secretly testing a member of the Bat-family, leaving them confused by the end of the tale. After Catwoman saw the wall of criminals in Vicki's apartment, she thought to herself that Vicki was making a potentially fatal mistake sticking her nose into Gotham's underworld. I really hope Catwoman's words turn out to be prophetic, because I'm so tired of Vicki's annoying quest to connect Bruce and Batman. I just don't see where the Vicki Vale story can possibly go... Besides that, I will admit to being a tad disappointed that Bruce didn't reveal himself to Selina, so the two could share some sappy movie-style kiss. While Bruce pushing the object of his desire away was well within his character, I wouldn't have minded seeing the two of them get together, but I guess that was not to be... Just yet.

Score: 8 out of 10.Jeez, just kiss her already!

Catwoman #83 & REBELS #12. Plus, Emerald Twilight!

Hey there fellow comic book junkies, it's time for another batch of reviews here at the Comic Blog de X-Man. To be honest, I was planning on reviewing more then just the two comics I have listed in the title, but when the mail came today, that all changed. One of my eBay packages arrived, and when I opened it up, my plans for this post changed. Want to know what was in the package? You do? Great, I'll tell you! First off is Marvel Team-Up #22 which featured a very early team-up between Spider-Man and my favorite comic book archer(sorry Green Arrow!)Hawkeye. I also received a comic called Superman: Apokolips Now. It's got Supes versus Darkseid, I figure you can't go wrong with that, right? Ah, and then there was the crown jewel of this order, the Emerald Twilight storyline that ran through Green Lantern #48-50. I've been trying to procure those three comic books for more then a year now. They were either not in stock, or were priced WAY higher then I was willing to pay. For those of you who don't know, Emerald Twilight is the story that occurs right after Cyborg Superman and Mongul destroy Coast City, which leads to Hal Jordan descending into out and out, total madness. I'm dying to read those three comics, so the reviews in this post may be a bit on the short/sucky side. For that, I apologize in advance, but come on, Emerald Twilight!!! Besides being something that I've been looking forward to reading for ages, Green Lantern #49 is probably among my favorite covers of all-time. Here, check it out:Now is that awesome or what? Depending on time, homework and stuff like that, I'll try to post reviews for the Emerald Twilight comics sometime this week. All right, enough of my fanboy gushing, it's time to get to the reviews at hand. Hey, look at that, they're both written by Tony Bedard! I'll start off with the return of the Catwoman series.

Catwoman #83: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Marcos Marz.

This issue begins with the original Black Mask recalling the events that led to his death before rising as a Black Lantern. Once Black Lantern Black Mask rises from his grave, he goes right after the woman responsible for killing him, Catwoman(you know, I should probably see if I can find that issue somewhere...). Needless to say, Catwoman is quite surprised to see BL BM alive, but can do little to halt his assault. BL BM finally manages to corner Catwoman, but she decides that if she's going to die, she's not going to give BL BM the satisfaction of seeing her afraid. BL BM tries to elicit fear out of Catwoman, and when she doesn't give it to him, he leaves, telling her he'll just go after her insane sister instead. Catwoman gets in touch with her fellow Gotham City Sirens(Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy)and the trio head to Catwoman's sister's nuthouse. Upon arriving at the crazyhouse, the Sirens spot BL BM and Harley and Ivy attack him while Catwoman rushes inside to check up on her sister. BL BM makes quick work of Harley and Ivy by dropping a wall on them, and proceeds to head inside. Catwoman finds her sister, who blames the death of her husband(at Black Mask's hands)on Catwoman. Sensing BL BM approaching, Catwoman grabs her angry sister and tries to spirit her out of the crazyhouse, but they run smack dab into BL BM, who has transformed the surrounding area into a replica of his old torture room. BL BM chains Catwoman to the wall, and prepares to cut Catwoman's sister's eyes out. However, he is halted by the timely arrival of Harley and Ivy, who toss BL BM into a giant plant, which continues to break down BL BM with acid every time his ring reforms him. The women decide to take the plant to Slaughter Swamp, where it would be able to eat BL BM in peace. This issue ends with Catwoman's sister escaping from the crazyhouse and swearing revenge on the demon that she blames for the corruption of her sister and death of her husband, Catwoman!

This was definitely one of the better Blackest Night one-shots. There wasn't much not to like here, BL BM was hilarious in an evil, sadistic sort of way, and this issue actually ended in a cliffhanger of sorts. I like the fact that this issue didn't wrap up neat and clean like Starman #81, but that it's a storyline that can easily continue into Gotham City Sirens. I'll definitely be looking forward to the eventual return of Catwoman's crazy sister.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Well, if Catwoman won't say it, then I will. "Black Mask? You can't be here! Catwoman killed you!"

REBELS #12: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Geraldo Borges.

This issue begins by explaining how Starro the Conqueror managed to rid himself of the Black Lanterns who were pestering him last issue(Brainiac-3 teleported them into the event horizon of a black hole). Finally rid of the BL's, Starro decides to begin a massive invasion of Earth, and tells Brainiac-3 to rally all of his forces and send them to the Milky Way galaxy. The Omega Men, who were searching Starro's home galaxy in the hopes that they'd find a way to defeat him, happen across a world that was able to resist Starro's mind control abilities, and begin to search for a rare plant toxin that can counteract Starro's powers. In the meanwhile, Vril Dox splits his REBELS forces in three and sends them all out to locate certain artifacts that he believes will help him kill Starro. One of Dox's groups locate and capture a Dominator Gene Bomb, while the second group heads back to Kanjar Ro's world in search of pieces of the destroyed Gamma Gong. Although the group manages to gather the pieces, Kanjar flips out and runs away from the rest of the group. The final group, led by Dox himself, head to Kalanor which was overrun and conquered by Starro a few issues back. Dox comes across Despero's head, which Starro placed on a pike, and after incapacitating several of Starro's men, Dox takes Despero's head with him after Despero reveals he's not really dead. This issue concludes with Dox secretly plotting with Kanjar Ro and Despero's head apparently against his own REBELS teammates!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, REBELS is one of the best series I read monthly. Hands down. Besides that, Vril Dox is by far one of my favorite characters, not just in the DCU, but in ALL of comic books. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this series to anybody who has an extra $2.99 in their pocket, because I doubt you'll be disappointed. Anyway, back to this comic. While I'm still a bit disappointed that Dox's son(Brainiac-3)is working as a slave to Starro, everything else about this comic was extremely good(as usual). I love the fact that Dox is plotting against his OWN team with the likes of Kanjar Ro and Despero in an effort to destroy Starro. Leave it to Dox to be playing both sides... I know I say this every month, but I'll be eagerly anticipating the next issue of this fabulous series.

Score: 8 out of 10.Despero sure knows how to get ahead in the world! Ugh... I'm sorry for that...

Valentine's Day, night 3: Nightwing gets around!

Let's see, first up is Nightwing and Starfire,then we have Nightwing with Barbara Gordon,followed by Nightwing and Huntress in a sewer pipe... How romantic...And finally Nightwing with Catwoman. Dammit Dick, Catwoman is supposed to be Batman's woman!

These pictures are just the tip of the iceberg! Hell, I could post pictures of Nightwing making out with women everyday until Valentine's Day if I wanted to!

Batman: War Games: TPB #3, The Final Act.

Overall- So this was it, this was the end of the epic Batman:War Games crossover. This TPB contained the final 8 issues involved with the climax and end of the crossover. Before I start to editorialize on this TPB, as well as the entire 25 issues involved in this story, I'll give a quick rundown of what happened in this TPB, Act 3.

We open with Batman, and his allies commanding the Gotham Police Department to surround an outdoor amphitheater where Batman has had "Orpheus", who is actually the Black Mask, bring all the criminals in Gotham City. The criminals arrive by the hundreds, and "Orpheus" follows the words Batman scripted for him to the letter. The plan is for the criminals to unite under "Orpheus", after which, Batman and the G.P.D. would rush in and capture practically every criminal in Gotham.

Unfortunately for Batman, "Orpheus" stops following Batman's plans, and begins ranting and raving at the criminals. As Batman surveys the area from above, he notices Dr. Death hiding off to the side of the theater. While Batman tries to figure out what the hell is going on, Dr. Death begins to pump deadly gas into the crowd of criminals. Batman rushes Dr. Death, and stops the gas, but by this point, the criminals and a mix of scared, angry and confused. Some criminals rush for the exits, while others run over to attack Batman en mass. The entire time, "Orpheus" stands on the stage screaming to the criminals to kill Batman.

The cops, who were waiting for a signal from Batman to storm the theater are taken by surprise by the fleeing crooks, and take heavy casualties trying to unsuccessfully stop the criminals. Oracle calls all hands into the theater to assist Batman who is still trying to fight off dozens of criminals. Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Onyx abandon the overwhelmed cops and rush to Batman's side, helping to clear out the bad guys who were attacking him. Batman jumps up to the stage and punches "Orpheus", destroying his face, and revealing to Batman that "Orpheus" was actually the Black Mask. Momentarily shocked to see a foe he thought had perished long ago, Batman is taken by surprise by the Scarecrow, who decides to help Black Mask make an escape.

Batman and his crew manage to subdue the criminals in the theater, but several hundred bad guys wind up getting passed the police and start to run amok throughout the city. Police Commissioner Akins, fed up with Batman and his actions, orders his men to shoot to kill any masked criminals on sight, including Batman and his allies. While Batman and his crew try to regain the streets, Black Mask returns to his base to change his clothes, and check on his captive, Spoiler.

Discovering Spoiler escaped, Black Mask follows the trail of her blood to the basement, where Spoiler winds up jumping him, beating him and eventually holding him at gunpoint. Black Mask implores Spoiler to shoot him, taunting her by stating that she didn't have the guts to shoot him. Spoiler can't bring herself to shoot Black Mask, and Black Mask winds up turning the tables on Spoiler, knocking her down, and holding her at gunpoint. Black Mask doesn't hesitate, and shoots Spoiler in the shoulder/chest area. He then kicks her down a flight of stairs for good measure.

Back out on the streets, chaos ensues, with criminals running wild, and the police just indiscriminately shooting at both bad guys and Batman and his allies. While battling Firefly, Nightwing winds up getting shot through the leg by the cops, and loses a ton of blood before he manages to get away and eventually is rescued by Alfred. Batman finds Spoiler bleeding profusely staggering around a rooftop, and brings her to Dr. Thompkins to attempt to help save her.

The criminals receive a summons to meet at the Gotham Clock Tower, which is Oracle's base of operations. We discover that Black Mask was told by Hush that the Clock Tower was Batman's base of operations, the Batcave. After commandeering a camera crew, Black Mask leads the villains into the Clock Tower, brazenly filming the whole thing. Oracle repeatedly asks Batman for help, but Batman, busy with his own troubles, disregards Oracle's pleas, not realizing her headquarters was being stormed.

The police arrive at the scene, and surround the building, while Black Mask, Scarecrow, and a small army of goons run through the Clock Tower, looking for Batman's secrets. Black Mask winds up betraying Scarecrow by throwing him into an array of laser beams, which was Oracle's last line of defense. Black Mask winds up discovering Oracle at her position at the control center of the Clock Tower. Black Mask holds Oracle at gun point on live television, demanding Batman shows up, or he'd kill Oracle.

Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Batgirl, Onyx and Tarantula arrive at the Clock Tower, and Batman tells his five allies to stay back and avoid the police unless absolutely necessary, since the cops have already shown they were more then willing to shoot at the Batman and allies as well as the crooks. Batman storms the Clock Tower himself, and attacks Black Mask.

While this was occurring, Scarecrow mutates into some kind of monster, and storms outside, attacking the cops. Robin asks the cops to hold their fire, stating if they do, him and his allies would beat Scarecrow, and then willingly surrender to the cops. The commanding officer agrees to these terms, and the 5 Bat allies make quick work of Scarecrow.

Meanwhile, inside the Clock Tower, Oracle realizes that Batman seems resigned to fighting Black Mask to the death, and she initiates a destruct mechanism in the Tower, hoping that this will snap Batman out of his willingness to die in order to stop Black Mask. As the Tower begins to fall, Oracle begs Batman to save her, since being a paraplegic, she has no way to escape the impending collapse of the Tower. Batman reluctantly saves Oracle, leaving Black Mask behind as the Tower is destroyed utterly. The cops try to arrest Batman and his allies, but Batman manages to convince them to search the rubble for survivors instead.

As this is going on, Dr. Thompkins contacts Batman on his communicator, telling him to hurry to her clinic. Upon arriving, Dr. Thompkins informs Batman that Spoiler was going to die shortly from her injuries, and was asking to see Batman. Batman reassures Spoiler, telling her that she wasn't responsible for the gang warfare that broke out. Spoiler asks if Batman ever truly considered her a Robin, and Batman affirms that she was indeed a Robin, and no matter what happened, she always would be one. Soon there after, Spoiler dies from her injuries as Batman sits helplessly at her bedside. The comic ends with Black Mask being revealed as not only alive, but taking full control over all the remaining crime families in Gotham City, thereby becoming Gotham's undisputed King of Crime.

This TPB was nearly perfect in every way. There were a few logic gaps, such as Spoiler deciding to not escape from Black Mask's base when she had the chance, to the criminals repeatedly listening to anonymous messages telling them to meet in various places. Shouldn't they have learned NOT to keep meeting in the same place by this point? Oracle coming out of this crossover with her ties to Batman still unrevealed was also a pretty big leap of faith.

Now, I am man enough to admit that while I read Spoiler's dramatic death scene my eyes got a little teary. Her death was ####ing sad! If Spoiler didn't wind up coming back from the dead, I would take this time to rip DC apart for the absolutely horrible way Spoiler was made to look in this crossover. Not only was she shown as inept, even though she had been crime fighting with Robin and Batman for quite sometime, Black Mask was pretty misogynistic in dealing with her, beating her up, torturing her, as well as calling her such names as "Stupid Bimbo!". Hell, as a man, I thought Spoiler's treatment sucked in this crossover, and I can only imagine the outrage female fans must have felt after reading the entire story.

Besides Spoiler's mistreatment by the writer's/editor's of this crossover, I loved everything else about it. Even the parts with whiny Nightwing were tolerable... for the most part. He still really managed to get on my nerves, as did the fact that Tarantula, the rapist and murderer was permitted to have such a large role in this crossover. With these exceptions noted, I'd give this TPB a 9 out of 10, and for the whole War Games series(that would be all 25 issues) I would give it a 9 1/2 out of 10. If you can pick up the 3 War Games TPB for a cheap price somewhere, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. The story was compelling from Act 1, all the way through to Act 3. If I didn't make myself abundantly clear, READ THIS CROSSOVER. That should clear up any misconceptions I'd think :-) .

Batman: War Games: TPB #2

Overall- Wow, I am really enjoying this storyline. This TPB picks up where the last one leaves off(boy, if that isn't stating the obvious...). If you haven't read War Games Act 1, or my review of it, it might be a good idea to, or you probably won't have the slightest idea as to what's going
on. Hell, with the way I write, you might have no idea what's going on even if you've read these comics! Anyway, early on in this collection, Tim Drake decides to break his promise to his father, and take up the mantle of Robin again. Although Tim is still(justifiably)miffed at Batman for turning Spoiler into the new Robin after his departure, he decides for the good of Gotham City, he has to work with Batman again.

Meanwhile, the Penguin decides to cut off the power to all of Gotham City in an effort to create more panic, which he could then use to further his own nefarious schemes. Batman sends Tarantula to warn the Penguin to leave town or else. After Penguin watches Tarantula cut through his best bodyguards, he decides to leave Gotham for the remainder of the crime wave.

Besides that, Catwoman takes Spoiler to stay with some of Catwoman's friends due to Spoiler feeling terribly responsible for the mob war engulfing the city. Spoiler stays put for a little while, but ends up taking off to try to find Orpheus, a mob boss Batman has in his pocket, in an attempt to salvage the situation. Spoiler figures that she can have Orpheus take over the remaining crime families in Gotham, which should stop the violence in the streets.

Unfortunately for Spoiler, Black Mask has been killing off all of the crime bosses in the hope that he can unite all the Gotham crime families under his fist. Spoiler arrives and tells Orpheus that he might be able to unite the Gotham mobs if he follows Batman's plans. As Spoiler reveals this, Black Mask slips in from behind the two and slices Orpheus' throat, killing him. Black Mask then manages to best Spoiler in combat, and curious about what he heard her tell Orpheus, takes her to his safehouse, where he tortures Spoiler until she tells him how instrumental Orpheus is to Batman's plans to unite the Gotham mobs under Batman's control.

By this time, Batman realizes that everything happening is going exactly the way he drew it up in his plans to take over the Gotham mobs. After some digging, Batman learns that Spoiler was the last person to access his plans on his computer, and realizes that she had to be the one responsible for the violence that has ensued. Batman decides to meet up with Orpheus to tell him what to do next in order to unite the mobs and end the violence plaguing Gotham. Before Batman can arrive to see Orpheus, Black Mask hides Orpheus' body and assumes his identity, tricking Batman into telling him what steps must be taken to unite the mobs.

Besides those main points, there were a mess of smaller occurrences. Hey, the TPB entailed 8 comic books, it's hard to remember every last detail! Spoiler winds up escaping from Black Mask's safe house, but is in really bad shape, and barely makes it out the door, by the end of this TPB, her ultimate fate remains unrevealed. Batman throughout these comics has also become increasingly nasty, bossing Oracle around and then disciplining her whenever she had the "audacity" to try to state her opinion on things. Batman also tells the Police Commissioner at the time, Michael Akins, that he wanted the Commissioner to give him full control over the Gotham Police Department. Needless to say, Akins tells Batman "Hell No", telling Batman that he has no right to boss him or anybody else around. Batman leaves, and then takes control of all of the police systems, telling the Gotham cops where he wants them and how to do their jobs, going completely over the Commissioner's head.

I don't know about anybody else who might have read these comics, but Batman comes across as a real pompous ass here! He basically talks down to EVERYBODY, and dismisses anybody who dares to disagree with him. The way he was talking to Oracle was pretty telling. Oracle has been working with Batman for years, and Batman speaks to her like she's some lowly toady. On top of that, when he commandeers the police systems to order the cops around, he completely locks Oracle out of her own computers, so she can't interfere with his actions. Holy ####, I don't know how anybody can work with Batman! He was such a #### in these comics! He was so bad that I was actually getting some perverse pleasure out of his behavior. Just when you think he can't treat one of his allies any worse, he does!

I think I'll just skip over the stuff with Nightwing in order to maintain my fragile grip on my sanity... Needless to say, Devin Grayson is continuing to write him terribly, which is basically just a carry over from Nightwing's own comics. Tarantula, the murderer and rapist, is shown in a heroic light, while Nightwing is shown as a sobbing amateur... Good God were Nightwing's comics horrible at this point...

Besides the Nightwing crap, I also wasn't particularly pleased with the treatment Spoiler received in these issues. The fact that Black Mask was able to defeat her in hand to hand combat kind of bugged me, she was trained by Batman even if it was only a short time, and I really didn't like the whole torture routine. Sorry, I don't really dig torturing teenaged girls as a way to garner a villain(Black Mask)bad guy credibility. All Spoiler was used for was a plot device to show how evil Black Mask was, which isn't fair to Spoiler, or her fans. I'll be honest when I say that I really don't know much about Spoiler, what I do know has mainly come from my sister, who is the Robin fan of the family, but I don't think Spoiler deserved the crappy treatment she has received in this crossover. I know if I was a Spoiler fan, I would be pissed off at how terribly she has been made to look in these comics.

Other than that, I enjoyed the stuff with Oracle(as usual), Robin, Batgirl, and Catwoman. I had no idea that Ed Brubaker was the writer on Catwoman's solo comic book. It looks like I know what back issues I'll be trying to get my hands on next... All in all, except for the Nightwing issue and the mishandling of Spoiler, this TPB was VERY solid from cover to cover. For a score, I'll go with a 8 1/2 out of 10. Next up to read is War Games Act 3, which is the final TPB dealing with this surprisingly good crossover.