Besides a vaguely amusing Jesus Christ Superstar reference in this issue, there’s not much else to it. Things continue to go wrong with Batman’s plans for the “War Games” crossover, the sidekicks continue to have panel or two cameos to remind readers to pick up their solo books and Leslie has a scene. Oh, and the new commissioner is stick of Batman.
In other words, the status quo for the crossover.
Batman’s plan this issue involves putting every Gotham supervillain in the same place at once. Did the Batman editors watch The Warriors before they decided to subject the world to this crossover? How Batman didn’t anticipate something going wrong… I mean, Killer Croc is there. It’s an absurd scene.
Gabrych can’t sell it. Woods and inker Cam Smith do okay though.
The Riddler backup finishes. Castillo’s art is a little better, but it’s still a terrible story. Just terrible.
CREDITS
War Games, Act 3, Part 1: Good Intentions; writer, Andersen Gabrych; penciller, Pete Woods; inker, Cam Smith; colorist, Jason Wright; letterer, Jared Fletcher; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. Low, Part 3; writer, Shane McCarthy; penciller, Tommy Castillo; inker, Rodney Ramos; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Nick Napolitano; editor, Wright. Publisher, DC Comics.
It just keeps getting sillier. It’s hard to blame it on Gabyrch–he’s writing a company crossover issue, he had to not reveal the mystery villain, he had to move the pieces. The piece he moves the most here is Tim Drake. He’s quit being Robin because it’s dangerous or something, but then he decides to become Robin again.
It’s a little hard to take this issue seriously. At one point, Batman is shocked the fighting gang members–this issue is part of the “War Games” crossover event–he’s shocked when the gang members abandon people in need. It’s a terrible, terrible scene. Gabrych goes through a lot of trouble for realistic gang behavior, then makes Batman absurd.