Detective Comics #798
War Games: Act Two Part 1
Writer: Andersen Gabrych
Pencils: Pete Woods
Inks: Cam Smith
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.95

This review contains spoilers.

TV sets across Gotham are aglow with the image of the Dark Knight carrying the body of Darla Aquista out of Louis E. Grieve Memorial High. From the news reports, it becomes clear that Darla is dead, and while the reports do say Darla was a target for the gangs, not just caught in the crossfire, the question continues to be how Batman was involved in the events inside the school.

Elsewhere, Henry Aquista is holding a sit-down to determine his course of action. One of the lieutenants asks Aquista, ?So what?s it going to be, Henry.? Another suggests killing all of the Odessa in retribution. Aquista?s wife asks that he let the bloodshed end.

?Do whatever it takes. Kill them all.? Aquista says.

As the news report continues, the reporter notes that the citizens of Gotham are gathering outside City Hall demanding that the Mayor bring the city under control. Oracle, scanning the crowd from the television feed from her clock tower, spots a familiar face in the crowd. It?s Tim Drake, former Robin. ?God Tim, I respect your decision, but I gotta tell you ? we could really use Robin right now.? Oracle thinks to herself.

At City Hall, Tim is doing some thinking of his own ? wondering what he?s doing. ?I should be out there helping Batman,? he thinks, but he also thinks about how Batman replaced him so quickly and the promise that he made to his father. The promise that he would give up being Robin for good.

Tim overhears as Arturo Rodriguez, the reporter who had formerly been an advocate for Batman, but apparently changed his attitude after seeing him in the flesh, reports ?Once can only hope his continued actions only help and not hinder a speedy resolution??

Oracle reports in to Batman that she?s seen Tim. ?Where the clock tower, is he,? but before Batman can finish Oracle tells him it was on TV ?that he?s at City Hall. Oracle then asks Batman for his location ?Approximately 175 feet above the corner of South Third and Harris,? he says. ?Good, your almost there,? she replies. ?I know? Batman says coldly. ?Save the attitude for your meeting,? Oracle says.

She tells him that they?re still shorthanded on The Hill. Orpheus has to protect his gang not only from rivals but the police, too. Oracle asks if Batman is sure he doesn?t want Spoiler. He tells her that he may not have treated her fairly, but putting her in a situation she can?t handle wouldn?t be fair, either.

Another hotspot pops up on Oracle?s monitor ? this time in Brookline. Oracle tells Batman here hands are tied. There?s no one to send. Batman tells her not to underestimate the GCPD.

But down on the streets, things are looking pretty tough for Gotham?s finest. Things are looking bad at Leslie Thompkins? clinic; too, Casualties are piling up in ambulances outside. Inside, Onyx tells Dr. Thompkins that she needs to get back out on the streets. A police detective walks in, wanting to question patients involved in a gangland shooting. But by the time they arrive at the bed where Onyx had been, she is already gone.

Batman arrives at his destination, the rooftop of police headquarters. He asks Commissioner Akins for the unthinkable. He wants control of the GCPD for 8 hours ? guaranteeing that he will put an end to it. ?Who the hell do you think you are?? Akins asks. Batman explains that he has more experience in Gotham and it?s wrong to not take every step possible to end the violence. Akins tells him that taking the law into your own hands is wrong as well. ?I?ll take that as a ?no? then,? Batman says. ?You?re making a grave error.?

Alexandra Kosov stands in her office, looking out the window. She?s speaking to an unseen figure. ?Why am I listening to you,? she says. The unseen speaker says that everyone?s out to get her, all the gangs, the police, Batman, and they will get her. As the ?camera? pans back two bodies, bleeding from their heads, can be seen on either side of the desk. Alexandra asks what the catch is. The answer? ?For starters you get to walk out of here alive.?

Batman arrives on the scene just a few minutes later. The bodies are gone but the blood is still warm. Alexandra?s perfume is still in the air. ?Just missed her. And she wasn?t alone? Batman thinks. Batman is alerted by the tiniest of sounds just before three mobsters, machine guns firing, burst into the room.

?Nobody?s here,? one of the gunmen says. ?Wrong? Batman says as he drops from the ceiling. He takes down two of the men right away and throws the third out the window ? tethered around the leg by a batarang. Batman gets the man to reveal that he?s working for Aquista. He radios to Oracle ?Akins is a no go, Aquista?s been temporarily defanged, and Ms. Kosov is now M.I.A.? Oracle tells him that the good news is Onyx is hopefully on her way back to Orpheus, but they?re still understaffed.

Tim Drake descends into the Gotham subway telling himself ?I?m doing the right thing? over and over. Tim?s destination is a familiar one. Wayne Manor. He rings the doorbell, but there?s no answer. A car pulls into the drive. Alfred Pennyworth is at the wheel. ?Master Tim. Shall we?? He says.

When we next see Tim, he?s standing atop a rooftop in Gotham looking out over the city. There?s a gym bag by his side. Tim pulls on a black boot. A green glove. A black and yellow cape. ?Sorry Dad?but Gotham needs me,? Robin says.

After a relatively slow build through Act One, War Games seems to be shifting into a higher gear with act two. I have to say that I?m quite surprised to see Tim back in his Robin togs so soon, but it?s certainly a welcome surprise.

Though we now know that Spoiler was inadvertently the ?mastermind? behind War Games (see Catwoman #34), the question remains who is the mystery figure trying to unite selected members of the Gotham underworld? And even with Onyx and Robin back on the streets, does Batman have the manpower to bring the city under control without the direct cooperation of the GCPD? Probably not by brute strength. It looks like Batman will have to formulate a more strategic approach for bringing everything back under control.

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