DC Comic's War Games Discussion/Questions (spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Being new to the Batfamily, I’m both really enjoying this introduction, and really frustrated with it. I’m getting used to a whole slew of new characters (to me), many of which are in the midst of a mid-life crisis of sorts (Spoiler, Tim Drake, Com. Gordon). I gave it a re-read this week, and I think I’m much more used to it than I was before.

Now for some questions:

  1. On the way to Tim’s high school, Batman sends Batgirl a message: “The ‘secret toy’ is on the roof waiting for you.” What? Was this revealed before War Games, or is this a secret that’s being held for later?

  2. What’s the deal with Blockbuster/Tarantula/Nightwing? I understand that Blockbuster is Spoiler’s father, correct? Is there any chance he’s not dead? Because if not, he’d be a fantastic culprit in this, and would fit smack in the middle of nearly everything going on.

  3. Selina’s just an opportunist, not a bad guy, right? She helps out where she can, and horks the goods when she can is my understanding. She makes a great 3rd party to this story.

2

Nightwing is Dick Grayson.

Lives & operates in Bludhaven, a corrupt city about 300 miles away.
He’s helping Bats on this one.

3

Right, that much I knew. But got any insight on those questions I posted?

4

The Quizmaster is the Spoiler’s father. B or C villian, a rip off of the Riddler. She spoils his riddles, yep.

5

:smack: Thanks.

6

Nope. The Cluemaster, Arthur Brown, is Stephanie’s father. Or rather he was until pretty recently, when he was killed as a part of Suicide Squad.

7

  1. Tarantula is a Bludhaven-based vigilante. Dick was teaming up with her for a little while, mostly to keep an eye on her, to keep her safe, and too keep her from going too far. Didn’t work out. At the climax of a battle with Blockbuster, she blew his brains out in front of Nightwing. Not much time has passed since then and Dick has barely had time to deal with it. He was in a daze afterwards, nearly got dragged to a New Jersey wedding chapel by Tarantula, and was bailed out at the last minute by a call to come join the Wargames. Batman apparently has his suspicions about what happened to Blockbuster, so every minute Nightwing fails to say anything to him is going to count against him in the never-ending father-son struggle Bruce and Dick have going. Drama!

  2. Yes, Selina is more of an opportunist than a villain. Bruce Wayne recently unmasked to her (what were you thinking, Bats?) and then started sleeping with her (I **know ** what you were thinking, Bats, but it’s a bad idea). They’re not dating, but there seems to be an occasional booty call. I agree that she provides an interesting perspective in this story.

Three more installments of the story are on the stands today! I’ll have them in my hot little hands in just a few hours. Yay!

8

Woo! 500 posts!

9

Thanks for the info, that’s what I was looking for. Good development this week, things are really starting to heat up - and looking at the recaps of Act III, it seems we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

As an aside, I have to say that the artwork in Robin sucks ass. But the Batgirl comic is fantastic!

10

Yeah, I’m not in love with the *Robin * art either. The book is really good though. I recently read the entire run of the book (all 120-something issues that were out up to that point) and I really like Tim Drake as a character. I thought the situation between Tim and his father over his being Robin was resolved nicely. Kid makes a good argument. I can’t blame his father for fearing for his safety, but Tim is extremely competent.

11

I’m relatively new to comics in general, actually. Started reading them shortly after Angel was cancelled.

I thought Batman and Catwoman had been a semi-off-again-on-again item since the Silver Age, actually, but I guess there must have been some Crisis retconning. I also thought Catwoman had been walking the straight and narrow for at least the past few years.

As far as I can tell, Bruce has never shown the best judgement when it comes to women. Hell, he got Ra’s al-Ghul’s daugter pregnant, for crying out loud. Compared to that, I don’t think the occasional unmasked roll in the hay with Selina is all that bad.

War Games is the first major storyline that I’ve actually followed as it hit the stands. I actually started reading the Batman titles about a month before it started, so I knew what led up to it. I figured out by about halfway through the 12 cent adventure that Spoiler had started the whole thing. Holy bad judgement, Batman! Hiring someone you don’t even trust with your secret identity as Robin? That’s just asking for trouble.

I’m really starting to feel for Stephanie right now. I didn’t really like the character in the limited exposure I’d had, and it really pissed me off that she didn’t immediately take Catwoman’s advice and tell Batman what went down at the wharf, and still tried to keep it from him after the gang war started (of course, Batman figured it out on his own, but not soon enough). Nothing like seeing someone get tortured to soften your attitude, I guess. She held out for so long and when she finally did break, she came out with information that she thought was no longer relavant. How wrong could the poor girl be?

I was really bothered by the fact that someone could just sneak up on Orpheus and slit his throat in his own apartment- Black Mask was apparently there before Spoiler arrived. I mean, hello, it’s called security people!!!

So now the big question is will Spoiler be able to get word to Batman that Orpheus is dead before the big picnic in the park. Oh, yeah, and who’s the puppetmaster? My money’s on Hush.

12

Hey there,

Finally found the missing issue of batgirl I needed to complete wargames, and the time to sit down and read them. Decent, I suppose. With a few nice twists (didn’t see the assault on the clocktower coming.) I always like to see the Batman Family working together, and the drama that ensues. Reading it all in 3 sittings really called attention to a few annoyances, though:

  • lots of long, drawn out sequences of: Nightwing, go here, Batgirl, go there, break up the fight between the Nobody Gang and the No-one-cares Gang. Oh, no, the city’s gone mad! I realize that was the point of the story, but I got the point 4 times over.

  • I counted at least 3 (maybe) 4 variations of Oracle saying: “I’m not your damn secretary!” Once was called for (because Bats was being an ass). Twice was ok. Three times smacks of bad editting, and a big neon sign saying “written by committee!”

  • We saw penguin briefly, some Scarecrow, and pointless cameo of Hush. But what are all the other big bads up to? Isn’t this exactly the sort of mayhem Joker would love to be in on? Is the very prettty but bizzarre back-up story of Ivy and Riddler concurrent with this?

So, just a few questions:

  1. Who the hell is black mask?
  2. Where did Orpheus and Onyx come from?
  3. What the heck happened to Scarecrow to turn him into swamp thing? I thought he was just a crazy guy in a mask.
  4. Since I don’t read Birds of Prey, what was the fallout there? Where did babs set up her new shop?