Delayed Reaction: Batman War Games Act Three

Batman: War Games Act Three (DC Comics), by Various

Why’d I Wait?: The same reason I skipped most of Acts One and Two. The few issues I’d read off the shelf—of those contained in this trade paperback collection, just the Robin and Batgirl issues, plus the final issue of the arc—weren't very good.

Why Now?: In for a penny, in for a pound.

Well?: The (few) strengths and (many) weaknesses of the previous two collections of this epic-length storyline are repeated for a third time here, most particularly the inconsistent art styles and character designs (Oracle seemingly visits the hairstylist between each chapter, while Killer Croc mutates wildly and the Scarecrow changes clothes with about the same frequency).

The entire story is premised on a pretty unbelievable event, that Batman could somehow predict the dumb-ass coincidence of every gang leader in Gotham being dumb enough to answer an anonymous invitation to a meeting and then all accidentally kill one another, but the suspension of disbelief grows throughout this entire volume.

If you weren’t an avid reader of Batman comics and the many spin-offs they’ve given birth to, there are certainly some incredibly random things going on in this book, perhaps the most random being the Scarecrow suddenly transforming into a giant monster for no reason near the climax (it’s explained in Batman: As The Crow Flies…sorta, but not here). If you are an avid reader, you’ll be mildly annoyed by some of the minor inconsistencies (Wait, how is Robin suddenly good enough to take down Mr. Fun solo? How come no one recognizes former Senator Barbara Gordon on TV? Is Black Mask a master of disguise all of a sudden?), and likely pretty damn outraged by the conclusion, which, after a second reading still doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Batman, high on everybody’s top ten list of best fighters in the DC stable, goes hand to hand with Black Mask, a deformed gangster with no martial arts training to speak of, in front of Oracle in her clock tower. For some reason, Batman can’t drop Mask, and instead of lifting any of her very formidable fingers to drop Mask for Batman (or help him out), she simply bitches at Batman—“Stop this! You have to stop! You’re killing each other!”

Batman wastes his breath telling her it’s all right if he gets beaten to death, just as long as he simultaneously beats Black Mask to death.

Finally, O. does the only sensible thing—she sets off a bomb, turning the entire building into a crumbling death trap, thus forcing Batman to let Black Mask get away and save her life, or else continue to beat up Black Mask and see all three of them die horribly.

Yeah, I don’t get anything about this scene. At all. Maybe if Black Mask were, I don’t know, Shiva. Or Bane. Or Prometheus. Or maybe King Snake. But Black Mask? How come Barbara didn’t just beat him silly herself? How on earth is he holding his own against Batman?

This strange chapter of this interminably long story would have been easy to ignore, if DC didn’t make it a major plot point for every Bat-book that’s followed since. This event is what triggered a break in the Oracle/Batman relationship, so that the two longtime allies are no longer even speaking to each other.

Oracle leaves her hometown of Gotham and her place on Batman’s team to devote herself to her own team (the one starring in Birds of Prey), and Batman relies solely on Nightwing for a while, and then, later, solely on Robin.

So Batman, who has always shown a willingness to use any and all available tools and resources in his war against crime, willingly dumps one of his greatest resources, and Oracle, who’s whole life was wrapped up in Gotham City, whose father still lives there, and who was engaged to former Robin and current Nightwing Dick Grayson, simply splits.

It seems like nonsense, but it’s not half as senseless as the weird turns other supporting members of the Bat-family will make within the years that follow this story.

Would I Travel Back in Time to Buy it Off the Shelf?: Hell no.