Polite Dissent

Unlike War Games: Act One, Act Two has very little medicine. Unfortunately, it also had very little of substance occurring at all. Compared to the generally well done Act One, Act Two was mediocre at best.

The first act had two important things that Act Two is lacking: a sense of action and a rewarding climax. In Act One, readers could feel the frantic sense of desperation as the outnumbered Bat-team tried to confront gang after gang after gang. There was a sense of frantic action that is missing entirely from Act Two. The main players in this drama – the warring gangs – are nowhere to be seen in this arc, which is a shame because their cross-purposes and double-crossing made for some entertaining reading.

Act One had a definite climax it was building toward: the showdown at Tim’s school. There was a sense of organized movement. Sadly, this is also missing from the second act. There is no big climax. The big villain reveal was halfway through the storyline – so much for any sense of drama (and the Black Mask – who really cared?). A group of gangs meeting at a park doesn’t sustain the interest like a pitched battle in school hallways, and it doesn’t even happen until the next act.

There were also some moments that stretched believability too far. For instance, I can see Catwoman successfully defeating the Ravens – she has style and ability. But Tarantula handily defeating villains that Batman and Flash have a hard time with? Maybe she could have taken down the new Trickster and that caped guy from last year’s Batman Family crossover, but Killer Croc and Deadshot? No dice.

In terms of supporting characters, it was nice to see the Tim Drake Robin back in on the action. Both Batgirl and Catwoman had two of the better stories this time around. On the other hand, Nightwing has become such a psycho-whiner recently that I wouldn’t care if he did end up as the killer in Identity Crisis. Spoiler? I didn’t like torture being shown in Long Bow Hunters and it hasn’t improved with age. Plus the art in Robin was really ugly, which didn’t help. Speaking of spoilers, I’d like to thank the DC Comics Encyclopedia for giving away too much about certain characters in this storyline.

I hope that Act Three will be able to regain the momentum that this month lost, but I have little hope. DC should have ended War Games after the first month and it would have been a great success.