Batman: War Games: Book One (Detective Comics (1937-2011))

I had heard some mixed impressions of this Batman arc over the years and decided to read it with some fairly tempered expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually quite compelling and enjoyable. The first thing to keep in mind is that this volume does not stand on its own and realistically must be read with volume 2. It is really just one story and nothing will be resolved by the end if you choose to read just this volume.So, considering both books, they are made up of three stories, War Drums, War Games and War Crimes. This Volume collects War Drums and part of War Games.War Drums is a prelude to War Games and provides motivation and context for the events of that story. I think of the three stories, War Games is by far the highlight, but War Drums is not bad either and has some moments that are important to the grander history of some characters.War Games takes place over just a few days, which is an excellent idea for a couple of reasons. First, it allows the writers to really illustrate what a hectic and stressful time this was for all the characters in the story. It allows them to show rather than tell a great deal of details that in many books would be mentioned in a one-liner and forgotten about. Second, it gives the story room to breathe a little. There is space for down time that we often do not get in these kinds of big event stories, as writers need to get through the plot in six issues or so. it's also worth mentioning that the book felt a lot more cohesive than crossover books tend to. Not sure if that was due to good work by the editors or just a coincidence of writing styles, but it would be great to see more like it in comics. There are problems, mind you. some of the plot points are a little far fetched and there's definitely an element of the writers playing for shock value over good writing at times, but overall I very much enjoyed it.This is one of the better books that don't quite make it into the many "best of" lists that are so common for Batman. I would easily recommend it to anyone who has read all the commonly lauded stories and is looking for more. Just make sure to read both volumes.

Great read highly recommend

I Thought War Games was a different story, but this is still such a good story. Very happy that I purchased it.

This is a wonderful collection and I’m withholding the fifth star purely because after even all the issues collected here – there is no conclusion and the ‘Book Two’ is pretty necessary for the full rounded experience.What is here is an engrossing detailed block of expertly put together issues of various titles in a seamlessly flowing story.The artwork varies a little between the titles collected but is never below par and the Batman Family at this point, including a short-lived new Robin, is an interesting andmulti-faceted group of heroes.The ‘War’ referred to is the central spine on which the story and the characters all hang – a Gangland War redefining the underworld in Gotham.There is a large page-count here but I could hardly put it down and I desperately want to tear straight into Book Two’ as soon as I can.Highly recommended.