Batman: War Games
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| "War Games" | |
 Cover of Batman: War Games volume 3 collected tradepapeback edition (2005). Art by James Jean. |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
|---|---|
| Publication date | October 2004 - January 2005 |
| Title(s) | Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure Detective Comics #797-800 Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #182-184 Nightwing #96-98 Batman: Gotham Knights #56-58 Robin #129-131 Batgirl #55-57 Catwoman #34-36 Batman #631-634 |
| Main character(s) | Batman, Black Mask |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Devin Grayson, Andersen Gabrych, A. J. Lieberman, Dylan Horrocks, Bill Willingham |
| Penciller(s) | Raymond Bachs, Pete Woods, Brad Walker, Mike Lilly, Sean Phillips, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jon Proctor, Thomas Derenick, Kinsun, Paul Lee |
| Inker(s) | Raul Fernandez, Rodney Ramos, Nathan Massengill, Cam Smith, Drew Geraci, Troy Nixey, Andy Owens, Sean Phillips, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Robert Campanella, Aaron Sowd, Adam DeKraker, Brian Horton |
War Games is a comics story arc published by DC Comics between October 2004 and January 2005. It appeared in all the DC titles set in and around Gotham City: Detective Comics, Legends of the Dark Knight, Nightwing, Batman: Gotham Knights, Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman, Batman, and Gotham Central. In addition, the prelude was published separately as Batman: the 12 Cent Adventure.
[edit] Synopsis
The plot revolves around a gang war involving all the major criminal groups in Gotham. It starts with one of Batman's most ambitious contingency plans involving one of his aliases, Matches Malone. In preparation for a possible outbreak of uncontrollable gang violence, Batman developed an elaborate scenario that would unite all of Gotham's underworld under a single crime boss: Matches Malone.
Unfortunately, this plan was discovered by Stephanie Brown, aka Spoiler, who was serving as Robin at the time and who was unaware that Malone and her boss were one and the same; she simply believed that Malone was an "employee" of Batman. When Brown was fired from the Robin position, she attempted to regain Batman's trust and confidence by implementing the contingency plan without Batman's knowledge or participation. Thus, Matches Malone was not present when Spoiler assembled the leaders of all of the gangs into one place. The meeting ended disastrously, with all of the gangs in Gotham going to war with one another.
In the chaos of the city-wide gang war, The Black Mask prepared to seize control of all the gangs. To do this, he kidnapped Stephanie and tortured her for the information she possessed. With that knowledge, his plans succeeded, making him the ultimate crime lord of Gotham City. Stephanie would later die from her torture at Black Mask's hands, a tragedy that Batman holds himself responsible for.
[edit] Aftermath
Besides the aforementioned death of Stephanie Brown, many other side effects came about from this event. The biggest of these included Black Mask becoming the single crime boss in Gotham, something that would remain until his death at the hands of Catwoman. Another would be Commissioner Akins effectively making all vigilantes criminals, a move that would stay in place for over a year until the return of Commissioner Gordon to the Gotham City Police Department. The more controversial effect, though not seen until the follow-up story War Crimes, was turning Leslie Thompkins, a doctor and a close ally of the Batman, into, essentially, a murderer by allowing Stephanie Brown to die from her wounds as Batman's "punishment" for allowing children into his war on crime. Finally, the citizens of Gotham City no longer consider Batman to be an urban legend (which has been in place since Zero Hour), as he was caught on camera trying to save the life of a wounded student at the end of Act One.
Stephanie's death at the hands of the Black Mask and Dr. Thompkins would also led to a mystery of her later appearances in the pages of Gotham Underground and Robin, as a mysterious female vigilante wearing the Spoiler costume later unmasked to be Stephanie herself.[1][2] On Robin #174, Stephanie's death has been retconned by writer Chuck Dixon as Dr. Thompkins switched her body with a deceased victim who has a similar body type, as Dr. Thompkins actually did treat her however in secret.
[edit] Reading order
Act One - Outbreak:
- Prelude: Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure #1
- Part 1: Detective Comics #797
- Part 2: Legends of the Dark Knight #182
- Part 3: Nightwing #96
- Part 4: Gotham Knights #56
- Part 5: Robin #129
- Part 6: Batgirl #55
- Part 7: Catwoman (2002) #34
- Part 8: Batman #631
Act Two - Tides:
- Part 1: Detective Comics #798
- Part 2: Legends of the Dark Knight #183
- Part 3: Nightwing #97
- Part 4: Gotham Knights #57
- Part 5: Robin #130
- Part 6: Batgirl #56
- Part 7: Catwoman (2002) #35
- Part 8: Batman #632
Act Three - Endgame:
- Part 1: Detective Comics #799
- Part 2: Legends of the Dark Knight #184
- Part 3: Nightwing #98
- Part 4: Robin #131
- Part 5: Gotham Knights #58
- Part 6: Batgirl #57
- Part 7: Catwoman (2002) #36
- Part 8: Batman #633
- Epilogue: Detective Comics #800
- Epilogue: Batman #634
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