Oh sorry looks like we’re back at talking about The Dark Knight. See, I do have a love/hate relationship with this film.

This is so retarded that it has to be brought to your attention, a writer for the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post (publishing since 1908) wrote a piece about his discomfort on the portrayal of Hong Kong in The Dark Knight.

The writer expresses sadness that money gets laundered in HK (it does, by much richer men than the mobsters of Gotham), a place where only criminals hang-out and that Nolan and crew only went for the Infernal Affairs HK mythology. (Which I prefer as its much closer to the truth than the Enter the Dragon comparison, no, nobody is kung fu fighting in the streets.)

For what its worth, Nolan mentioned that he did in fact write a draft of The Dark Knight in Hong Kong as the city inspired him, and was inspired enough to return to film a sequence in the city; kind of as a ‘give-back’ – but in typical Hong Kong mentality, people complained anyways: complained that Christian Bale didn’t wear the Bat-outfit when they were filming, complained that there wasn’t enough of HK in the movie, complained when they were asked to leave the lights on for the night when they filmed that big B-52 sequence, and for what?

Nolan gets props in my book for even BOTHERING with this at all (even though I thought it should have been cut) unless it truly is a marketing trick for HK and China to get better box office. Don’t laugh, this is how and why the Robert Deniro/Al Pacino of Japan: Ken Watanabe was used for in Batman Begins. As you recall, Watanabe was used for all of 5 minutes in the first movie as the decoy Ra’s Al Ghul. American audiences might not care, but when you go to see a movie to see your local celebs in a big US movie you expect a little more. And don’t start me on Edison Chen’s supposed cameo in The Dark Knight – the Justin Timberlake/Paris Hilton of Hong Kong. (Go ahead and Google him, NSFW though)

The South China Morning Post is a paid site – but we were able to get a clipping of it below:

Film Studies: cinema city
Clarence Tsui
Updated on Jul 24, 2008

It’s a city where American mob money can be stashed, laundered and toyed with to maximise returns for its shady owners; an international legal black hole in which wanted felons can simply disappear, as the city’s authorities would never extradite “one of their own”. And don’t trust the cops, either: they’re in the pay of criminal overlords who bemoan the police for being slow to come to their aid despite the fact they’ve been in the underworld’s pay for so long.

Viewers across the world are transported to this city in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s latest outing in the Batman franchise. But if you’re thinking of Gotham, think again, it’s closer to home than that: welcome to 21st century Hong Kong (pictured).

It’s ironic that The Dark Knight has succumbed to Hollywood norms about how to portray Asian cities, given that it’s an otherwise thoughtful study of the complex nature of heroism and social justice – and a great story with nuanced characters and superb acting.

With the blockbusters Nolan now produces, perhaps he hasn’t got the time to reach beyond Infernal Affairs and the Election diptych for inspiration. Then again, it’s not as if he’s the only filmmaker who has bought into the well-worn urban iconography of Hong Kong.

Likewise the landlord of the building that Batman jumps off is PISSED that they didn’t get more mention even when the movie made them look like incompetents having Batman just swing in there and take off:

Well, we’ve heard talk that a certain major landlord was disappointed about not getting credited in the movie. Also, there have been mutterings that some of our more spectacular buildings, such as the IFC2, were shown for only a few seconds while most Hong Kong landlords had complied to a request from the movie makers to keep the lights on well into the early morning for a week during filming last November.

One landlord even complained: “The movie makes us look stupid security-wise. We are not a major crime city but our security is much better than portrayed in the film.”

When the Batman crew decided to film around IFC2, many Central property owners were encouraged by Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan to co-operate for the good of the city. At the time, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SEHK: 0016) was keen to comply but not Henderson Land (SEHK: 0012).

The movie makers did thank the people of Hong Kong at the end but we suppose it’s hard to keep everyone happy.

Here’s a 3 minute clip from the press conference back in November 2007 in Hong Kong – watch it for info on a scene that was cut figuring on the dumping of Batman into the HK harbour:

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Even though most of the current Batman films owe alot to director Chris Nolan and David S. Goyer – it seems you cannot deny the input by younger brother Jonathan Nolan.

I am an avid listener of the Creative Screenwriting magazine podcast where host Jeff Goldsmith does a lengthy Q&A with the screenwriters after a special screening of a current film. This week he has a 1-on-1 with Jonathan Nolan on the script development of The Dark Knight and through it he explained alot of the choices the 3 of them made when writing the script for this film – it also explained a bit more of their thinking behind some of the issues I had with it.

Its a definite listen for any fan of the film, and for those that want to learn more about the filmmaking process.

The magazine site is here and the podcast can be downloaded here and as well as within iTunes.

Or if you don’t have iTunes for some reason, watch this piece of screenwriting inside information with David Goyer – what? He wrote Crow 2?!!!??

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Hey the big boss of KFR is in San Diego so he asked me, Lucas, the true commissioner of Gotham, to guest blog for him for a few days.

My first order of business is to push out a Top 5 list of what irked me about The Dark Knight movie – nitpicks if you will – but none the less they brought me out of the story. I did enjoy it, but I can’t by any means call it a masterpiece:

if you haven’t seen it stay away from the spoiler heavy text below:

1. Lack of Action – where was all that cool tight Krav Maga martial arts from Batman Begins? The 2 fights I remember were very weird – one of them was in a full room of people at the Harvey Dent fundraiser party where the Joker walks in and in a brightly lit room Batman shows up – in front of all his friends, no less and gets his assed kicked. Huh? That scene pulled me out of the story.

The second one was when Batman was beating up people in a night club…another ‘huh?’ moment. Also not enough of the batmobile and the batpod cycle thing which was cool.

2. The whole Hong Kong sequence – yup, we really needed to see Bats catch the accountant otherwise it wouldn’t have made sense.

3. Harvey becomes Two-Face pretty quickly - Not only does the man who has had the flesh and hair burned off his face, and takes NO pain medication for it run around the streets of Gotham hours after the tragedy but, basically is flipped by the Joker in 2 minutes to go against everything he stood for in the first 2 hours of the movie??!!! I didn’t mind that the Joker could break him but I was hoping it would take more than a face melting and a dead girlfriend after they set him up as this white knight character – Batman wouldn’t have broken so quickly. The only reason I do kind of let this go is for the sake of the allotted time of the movie…but again if #2 was cut you could have had 10 more minutes of Harvey truly becoming Two Face.

4. Not Enough Batman – TDK reminded me more of Batman Returns where Bats is relegated to a supporting character so that the Penguin and Catwoman can have more screen time. TDK felt the same way

5. The Unphased Batman Body – I don’t care how good his bat-suit is at absorbing shock, this happened twice in the movie and pulled me out completely, the first time is when Batman goes down with the batpod, Gordon comes out and nabs the Joker but huh? Where did Batman go – he just isn’t there anymore…and what happened to the bike? The second time is at the very end when both Bats and Two Face fall and in total amazement I saw Bats get up and actually run away.

The thing is they tried so hard to make it realistic and yet it made all the unrealistic stuff look even worse. The fact that Joker didn’t kill anyone in the camera’s view (yes I know its PG-13) and that 2 grown men are having a chat on the roof with a guy in a bat-suit, c’mon that is just the silliest thing ever, especially in the context of this “Nolan-verse.” You can’t have it both ways, set the rules and follow them or else teetering back and forth isn’t fair.

In my mind, this was NOT a comic book movie, just like Transformers isn’t a “toy movie.” Other than the fact that it has Batman in it, everything else about the comic was changed – Joker and Two Faces origin specifically – I felt like I was watching a Halloween version of The Untouchables (one of my favorite movies) with Joker as Al Capone and Two Face as Elliot Ness with Batman sprinkled in there to remind you that it is in fact a Batman movie. This is also kind of how many felt about last year’s Transformers movie, why exactly was it called Transformers? Only the names and 1 voice were the same, they should have called it Michael Bay’s Robot Wars instead. At least Batman Begins followed more of the comic story than this one…

Or forget all this and I’m as two-faced as Harvey Dent, I did love it and this might just be nitpicking because of what I was hoping the movie would be. Jack Nicholson, while a bit overweight for the character, brought the “comic book” Joker to life – his performance in the 1989 movie and his plot was pulled right out of the comic. So I guess my problem with The Dark Knight was that it was too far from the source for my taste, and everyone knows I am the furthest thing from a ‘purist’ you will ever find.

To balance it out the 5 things I did love:

1. Bale’s Batman voice: anyone who has a problem with this has never dressed up at Halloween and gone to a party with friends…
2. Two-Face CG face was great and Joker’s make-up, especially when it was running down his face, was amazing.
3. Busting the Scarecrow at the beginning – he did ride off crazy on a horse in the first one.
4. That The Batman is now seen as the villain – which is the way he should have always been. I hate the part when he kicks all the CSI out of the room. Imagine if that happened on The Wire?
5. Rachel Dawes died – someone had to – I was thinking Lucius but it makes sense they killed the girl. But after that whole cellphone craziness at the end, maybe they should have killed him.

Anyways, I’d love to hear from you dear reader – I found it very hard to find any negative remarks about this movie anywhere online – but I’m sure there are some people who feel like me out there? Maybe?

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Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.

The student described the person as 6 feet 3 inches tall and possibly male.

“We’re assuming it was male, although they did have a mask on,” Clark said.

I told Bruce not to ingest peyote, shrooms, AND acid at the same time, but man, he can just be so insistent sometimes.

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Eric: I?m still processing I just don’t know how I feel about it yet. It could be positive, it could be negative. War Games, as a whole, I would give a 2 out of 5 rating, but there were individual issues that were better than that.

Britt: I’m leaning more towards negative in some aspects. The story really did nothing more than make Batman seem more like a head case than ever before. Whatever mythos that was there previously has vanished. I need to start reading the Neal Adams HCs to recover. In total, I’d give it a 1.5 out of 5. I liked the Ten Cent Adventure and a couple of other titles that actually did something while also moving the story along. The others just seemed like filler.

Eric: You?re right. This event was overly long. If it had been done over the course of a month and plotted more tightly, I think I would have enjoyed it more. In the end, yes some big things happened – Orpheus died (although how many times has he appeared since his mini up until they built him up again in the Detective backup prior to War Games) Spoiler died, Black Mask become Boss of Gotham, Batman’s relationship with the cops went south, but did it really require 3 months and 25 comics to accomplish? I’m not so sure.

Britt: Exactly. Sure, stuff happens in this crossover but was it really necessary to drag out the death of Tim’s girlfriend almost four issues? Was the inclusion of Catwoman necessary at all? Her three stories really brought nothing to the table.

Eric: I can understand what they were attempting to do, but some of the books that were included ended up being mere “POV” – story that had already been told in another book being retold from the point of view of a different character. Darla Aquista is one of those characters who was seemingly created for no other purpose than to be cannon fodder. We never really got to know her. And to be honest with you, I’m sort of surprised after using four issues to chronicle her death it didn’t have more immediate impact. I’m sure Tim will reflect on both Darla and Stephanie’s deaths in the future, but it seems like Darla was gone and forgotten in the blink of an eye.

Britt: Darla reminds me of the young unnamed Ensign who would come down with Kirk, Spock and Bones and always seems to get killed at the first instance of a fight. She was doomed to be killed off as soon as she was introduced as a gangster’s daughter.

Eric: And we didn?t even have a red uniform to warn us! I was really hoping for more Catwoman involvement. She definitely got short shrift as far as the crossover goes. Yes, she got to win a decisive victory over Zeiss after being beaten by him so badly last time, but that’s a rivalry tied into the regular continuity of her book that didn’t necessarily have to tie in to War Games.

Britt: Is that previous beating from the current story arc (with Gulacy)? Since I dropped the title, I didn’t know much of the previous history which is a perfect example of why it could’ve been done at another time that had more meaning.

Eric: Yup, Catwoman was nearly killed by Zeiss in her own title a few months ago. Thankfully, she was saved by mysterious Ninjas before he could finish her off. Seriously.

Britt: As far as included books, they could’ve skipped both Catwoman and Legends of the Dark Knight. Catwoman, they could have left out for both my reasons above and because it was never really mixed in tightly with any of Bat titles previously. Legends should have remained what
it was originally intended to be: non-continuity stories.

Eric: I would agree with both of these assessments. I’m not sure that LOTDK has gained much by being pulled into continuity. There are plenty of Bat-titles telling current stories without mixing it in as well.

Let?s Go back to what you were saying about Batman’s continuing “head case” status, I agree. This is disturbing. However, this is something that seems to have been emphasized more and more over the last few years and has been happening for a while prior to War Games.

Britt: Yeah, just not really a good time to be a Batman fan – comics wise, that is.

Eric: Well, I think part of the problem is that after all of the hype around Hush – which I felt was deserved – it’s hard to hit that bar again immediately. Part of the popularity of Hush, in my opinion, can be attributed to the fact that it only ran in one title and didn’t ask readers to pick up a bunch of books to get the whole story. War Games, and I just keep coming back to this, was just too broad. The idea was pretty solid, but the implementation came up somewhat lacking. “Officer Down” was a more satisfying crossover in my opinion.

Britt: “Officer Down” was done better since it was more of a low key, character piece on the inner-working relationships between Gordon and Batman, Gordon and his men/women, the police and Batman. Plus, it set up the very underrated series, Gotham Central. “War Games” is more of a “popcorn” summer movie.

Eric: That?s a pretty good comparison way of looking at the differences between those two crossovers. I don?t think I can come up with anything better than that. So, now, the big question. What are they going to do with things now? Obviously they’ve left a lot of story opportunities available, but it’s where they go from here that will really determine for me whether this is “successful” or not.

Britt: The fractionalization of the Bat-team is somewhat disturbing.
While Batman doing solo stuff might be good, the way his character is being portrayed makes him just this side of the Punisher, which is very bad. The whole thing about Batman is that he’s the only superhero who tries to emulate a family environment in his costumed life. Removing that piece diminishes his character overall.

Eric: He did show some tenderness to Stephanie in the final issue, while she lay dying. A scene that I actually found kind of touching, but you’re right. He was pretty callous to everyone else throughout War Games and has been for quite some time. Batman is a serious character, I wouldn’t want him any other way, but I know that his team are more to him than soldiers and I wish he’d let that show a little more from time to time. He doesn’t have to a touchy-feely new age dad, but he could be a more caring “father.”

Britt: Maybe I went somewhat overboard with the showing of the love between the Bat-family but if you didn’t have any real back story on Batman and his team, most people would wonder if his control over them would borderline on being abusive. And I’m not saying a swing back to the 50’s Batman but still, there are ways to show caring without being touchy-feely.

Eric: Too true. Why bring all of these other heroes into the fold only to keep them at arm’s length? He’s become the uncaring father of a group of especially loving children. You would think he’d recognize this. Of course, he couldn’t even recognize his own plan as the blueprint for what was going on around him, which I also found to be incredibly out of character.

Britt: Right. What type of devotion does he earn from these kids by being an uncaring hard ass? I’m not saying he should be Dr. Phil but he doesn’t have to be the Great Santini all of the time.

Eric: I don’t know, Britt, Dr. Phil can be kind of a hard ass, too!

Britt: But with that southern drawl, Dr. Phil sounds more like Col. Sanders than Col. Nick Fury. He’s so out of character that it’s off putting. Hopefully, Dave Lapham will bring some of the ?Detective? back to the book.

Eric: You know who I feel sorry for? Tim. Robin is just taking a beating lately. He lost two girlfriends in War Games and his dad in Identity Crisis. That isn’t going to be easy to live with, you know?

Britt: Yeah, what are they trying to do – make him Spider-Man? If they were thinking of doing that, they could’ve spaced it out over a couple of years. All at once is a case of too much, too soon.

Eric: It’s certainly got to have some sort of impact for Tim. That is an awful lot of tragedy in a very short period of time. DC solicits seem to indicate that Robin will be moving to Bludhaven in the near future. Fresh start?

Britt: Yeah, I’ve heard. So is Batgirl, I think? What happens to Nightwing? Does he go back to Gotham with his tail between his legs after the whole Blockbuster? Why not move Robin to another place altogether? Right now, some of these moves are rather suspect.

Eric: And I guess we’ve got no choice at this point but to “wait and see!”

Britt: And time to organize FANATIC:

Fans
Against
Nightwing
As
The killer in
Identity
Crisis

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This review contains spoilers.

WBGK is covering the whole Gotham upheaval. Their man on the street, Arturo Rodriguez, explains to the whole Gotham viewing audience that the whole gang war has devolved into a violent and destructive free-for-all. Rodriguez goes on to say that he has talked from Gotham?s Finest who told him that they had everything under control until Batman took over which only exacerbated the conflict. The anchorman asks if Rodriguez knows if Batman deliberately tried to make things worse. Rodriguez responds by saying, ?It?s too early to say, Chet. But on thing?s for sure, The Batman?s doing more harm than good.?

In another part of town, Batgirl is putting down some various thugs. After she?s finished, she?s contacted by Oracle who tells the youngest Bat team member that she thinks that Onyx is in trouble and asks her if she can help. Batgirl asks the location of Onyx as she launches her Bat-grapple. Oracle says that she?s in Gibson Square and goes on to say that Onyx is saying that she?s fine but Oracle was not convinced. Batgirl confirms that she received that last message. Oracle then asks her if she has noticed any patterns in the gang activity since initially the thugs were acting very random but now it appears that there?s some sort of direction that is controlling them. Batgirl validates Oracle?s thoughts and continues to her destination.

Meanwhile, Onyx is getting pummeled by Killer Croc?s crew of henchmen as they are trying to get some info from her about his location. During the crude interrogation, Onyx tells the lead thug that she doesn?t know where Croc is, ?but I hope he?s never coming back.? She follows her words by a head butt to the nose of her oppressor which causes him to fall back. Onyx presses on as she starts to thrash this punk until she?s clubbed in the back of the head by another crew member who brings her to her hands and knees.

The now bloodied lead ruffian realizes that she won?t give up the location of Croc but asks her if she knows how to find the Bat which causes the mob to chant ?Where?s the Bat? Kill the Bat! Kill the Bat!? A voice comes from an alley saying ?You want the Bat? Come ?n? get it.? A female Bat silhouette appears from the shadows ready for action. The henchmen realize that their confronter is Batgirl and is confused on whether they should attack her. The lead punk says, ?You ain?t the Bat!? Batgirl responds, ?Oh, yeah? Try me.?

The gang run head first into battle and are met with a flurry of Batarangs which hit their intended targets. Batgirl is putting the boots to anyone in her way while a couple of thugs observe that she kind of looks like the Bat and fights like him as well. One gangster says that he?s never seen a chick move like that. While being held down, Onyx laughs at them and says, ?Don?t get out much, do you, boys?? The lead hoodlum tells her to shut up while he reaches in his back to get his Glock. He then yells at Batgirl, ?Hey Bat-chick!? He then points his gun at Onyx?s head and bellows, ?Back off, freak ? Or I blow her head off!? Batgirl eases up when she notices that Onyx is ready for this hood.

Onyx then flips and knocks out one of her captives while taking another one down with a well-placed boot to the groin. This move makes the lead henchman to freak out and howl, ?You?re dead, Freak! Dead!? As he fires his gun, a Batarang snags his shirt sleeve of his hand that holds the gun. As the stunned gangster looks at Onyx, she asks him, ?Ever seen a chick do that, tough guy?? Then, she drops him with a right cross to his jaw.

Batgirl runs up to Onyx who has collapsed from a combination of her wounds and exhaustion and asks her if she?s okay which Onyx responds rather huffily that she?s fine. Batgirl tries to tell her that she needs to get her wounds treated. Onyx fervently disagrees and then tells Batgirl that she?s noticed that something has changed. She doesn?t know who but ?someone?s taking control of the situation and it ain?t us.?

Across town, the cops are in a fire fight with some of the gangsters. As the casualties start to mount, a lieutenant radios the Gotham HQ and tells them that at least three different groups have converged on Seguin Street. While the fight is still going on, three gang members from different gangs (Ghost Dragons, Escabedo and Odessa) are conversing about what fraction they belong to. All three of them confirm that they?re supposed to rendezvous across the street from Gotham Central. As they discuss the reasons for the meeting, a bearded gangster yells at them to stop talking and fire back that the cops or it will mean their deaths.

Just then, the cops notice that there?s another wave of criminals coming from the side. The police then realize that they are more than outnumbered and the order is given to retreat to Claude Street. The three goons see that they?ve got the cops on the run and should go finish the fight. The bearded gangster disagrees with their suggestion and tells the rest of the mob to move out to the rendezvous place. As the throng of villainy disperses, the Odessa gangster wonders aloud who?s in charge of gang. The Ghost Dragon thug responds, ?That remains to be seen…?

In another part of town, Black Mask is walking around and reveling in the destruction and death and sings, ?I?m on my way? From misery to happiness again…? He then stumbles upon WBGK?s man on the street, Arturo Rodriguez, in the middle of a report back to the station. Rodriguez is telling the audience that it appears that a large number of armed men are converging on Old Gotham with an indication that an attack is planned on Gotham?s main police HQ.

Before Rodriguez can utter another word, Black Mask interrupts the broadcast and tells them to continue filming as he?s giving them the scoop of their lives. The stunned reporter asks the violent criminal, ?What are you?? Black Mask responds by saying, ?My name is Black Mask. As for the what? Well, that?s simple? I am the new undisputed absolute crime lord of Gotham City. I am everything this city deserves and more. I am the darkness that fills the heart of every living soul in this sordid little town including the blackest most twisted soul of all?? Black Mask grabs Batgirl?s batarang that she used on to subdue Killer Croc?s head henchman and coldly states, ?I think you know who I?m talking about.?

Meanwhile, Barbara is trying to figure out where all of the criminals are moving to and what is controlling them. After becoming frustrated, she rubs her eyes and sighs, ?My brain is like jelly? So tired?? Nevertheless, she trudges on and says, ?Okay, okay. Let?s assume they?re heading for Gotham Central. But why? Surely they know the G.C.P.D. wouldn?t??

Before she can finish her though, the TV that was on in the background interrupts her as Black Mask is still waxing maniacal by saying, ? For years, all of Gotham has been terrorized by that sick, psychopathic Halloween reject, with his ridiculous bat tights and cape? In the name of his self-proclaimed ?War On Crime? this lunatic has beaten, tortured and crippled countless individuals?? Barbara is freaked out by the fact that this sadist is being covered on live TV and wonders, ?What the hell??

Black Mask continues, ?I mean ? excuse me? So it?s not a crime when a masked vigilante brutally assaults a ?suspected? burglar or drug addict? Let?s not kid ourselves, people. The Batman?s no different from Scarface, or the Joker, or even yours truly. The man is a menace. A dangerous criminal. Worst of all ? he seems to think this city belongs to him. Well, I?m here to tell you, Batman ? Gotham is no longer yours. From tonight and forever more? this city is mine. I have summoned the entire criminal population of Gotham ? followed, no doubt, by those fine boys in blue ? here to witness the end of an era and the rise of a new power in Gotham City.?

As the camera pans away from Black Mask, he continues his fanatical tirade, ?My beloved thieves, killers, cops, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you?? Barbara shrieks, ?Oh my God? as Black Mask says, ?The Bat Cave!? and shows his revelation to the viewers of WBGK and points to the Gotham Clock Tower.

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This review contains spoilers.

Tarantula and her Ara?as run through the streets of Gotham – the GCPD still in pursuit. One of the gang members, Felix, comes to a halt and says that he wants to stop running – he wants to stand and fight. Tarantula tells him the she can guarantee if they do that “it’ll be the last fight you get into. And you’ll lose.” Just as Felix is telling Tarantula he’s not afraid of the cops, bullets ricochet off the ground near their feet. A group of police in riot gear armed with machine guns have caught up with them. “Well they’re not scared of you either, Tarantula says. Come on!”

At Gotham Central, Commissioner Akins is holding a press conference with the press. Things aren’t going well for Akins, the reporters are giving him quite a grilling: has he been asked to stand down, why are there no arrests, are the police even capable of handling the situation, when are they going to do something? Akins can’t get a word in edgewise as he’s continually deluged with more questions.

After the conference, an enraged Akins tells his men that he wants a win, he wants arrests, he wants to show everyone what the force is capable of. One of the men tells him that they have word that S.W.A.T. has one of the groups cornered – Las Aranas. “I want them. Whatever it takes,” Akins tells him.

At the Ara?a hideout, word comes down to the officers on the scene to take the gang down by whatever means necessary. S.W.A.T. begins to move in, but they find that the perimeter of the building is booby trapped – the hard way. One of the officers trips a tripwire that is attached to a bomb. The officers call in for backup. Tarantula looks out and sees that the officers have tripped the bomb. She smiles and says “Well, as long as they’re out there and were in here, we’ll be…”

“Bam, Bam, Bam, the windows shatter and one of the gang falls. The GCPD aren’t using rubber bullets any longer. They’re firing on the gang using live ammo. Tarantula promises that she’ll get them out, but it’s apparent that even she isn’t quite sure how.

As the streets of Gotham burn, Black Mask walks through enjoying the sights, with new allies Killer Croc and Scarecrow in tow. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” He asks them. Croc asks him what’s next and Mask tells him the rest – all of gotham. He instructs Croc and Scarecrow to gather everyone that they can and get them to the North End of the city. They ask Black Mask what’s in the North End. “Oh just a little hole-in-the-wall place someone told me about. I guarantee you’ll LOVE the decor.

Back outside the building where Las Ara?as are holed up, the police have regrouped and resume their assault. They fire a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher into the building, shattering the floor that the gang are standing on in a split second. Felix falls deep into the bowels of the building, Tarantula unable to catch him in time. Over their bullhorn, the police tell them to put down their weapons and leave the building – “You have five minutes before we take action.”

Tarantula tries to raise Batman on her communicator, but is startled by sniper bullets striking a piece of stone near her head and drops the communicator into the abyss below her. She goes down after it, but at the same moment, the S.W.A.T. team begins their advance on the building. “Batman, where the hell are you?” Tarantula wonders.

Batman is preoccupied with a mission of his own. He’s trying to find out what happened to Spoiler. Simultaneously, he’s wondering how he let everything get so badly out of control – unable to recognize his own plan – a plan that hinged on Orpheus, now deceased.

Tarantula reaches her Bat communicator, but the area it fell in is already swarming with police. “I better get hazard pay for this,” she says quietly to herself. Just as she retrieves the communicator an officer gets the drop on her from behind. Tarantula leaps for the shattered rafters and swings up to the floor above, but not before the officer opens fire and radios that he’s got a “bogey on the second floor.”

Batman reaches Orpheus’ hideout and finds blood and pieces of Spoilers purple costume on the floor. He has Oracle check all the area surveillance cameras and shortly, Oracle sees spoiler on the roof of a nearby building. “She doesn’t look good,” Oracle tells Batman. As Spoiler limps along, broken and bleeding, Batman reaches her just before her legs betray her. Batman holds her to him as she whimpers, “I just wanted to help.”

Tarantula and her gang run for their lives through the lower levels of their building. She tries to radio Batman, but Oracle answers. “Batman’s busy. What’s up?”

“I got a situation here,” Tarantula says.

“How bad.” Oracle asks.

“Very. Where’s Batman?”

At the Thompkins Clinic, Batman asks Leslie to save Stephanie, who is lying on a gurney at the edge of consciousness. “I’ll do what I can,” Leslie says. “Just…save her. Please,” Batman tells her.

At Gotham Central, Akins asks for an update on the Tarantula situation. They tell him that there are already two S.W.A.T. teams on location and a third on the way. One advisor says they need to act now before the gang can regroup. Akins tells them to send them in. “All of them.”

Spoiler awakens in her hospital bed to find Batman at her side. “Is Orpheus dead?” She asks. “Don’t worry about it,” Batman tells her. “Tell me. Is he dead?” She asks again. “Yes, he’s dead.” Batman says, grimly. Stephanie tells Batman that she’s failed, she’s ruined everything. Batman tells her that for everything she’s done and everything she’s been through the city owes her – and so does he. The quiet moment is broken as Oracle comes in over Batman’s communicator. “Batman! It’s Oracle. I found Tarantula.” She tells Batman she’s at the old McNulty warehouse and needs help. “How much help?” Batman asks. “A lot,” Oracle replies.

Back at the warehouse, Tarantula and her gang look to the skies above them where half a dozen helicopters and 20 or more officers descend upon them.

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This review contains spoilers.

After making the tough decision to return to his role as Robin, Tim Drake takes to the streets with a vengeance. ?I?m Robin again! And it feels right!? He thinks to himself as he battles The Ravens, who are trying to commandeer and arms shipment at Gotham?s Port Adams. He banters with his two female foes throwing one-liners along with punches. The Ravens aren?t much of a match for the reinvigorated Robin and as soon as he?s got them on the ground he radios Oracle for his next assignment.

Oracle tells Robin that Mr. Fun is in Cathedral Square and Trickster is in Grant Park. ?Which one do you want??

?They?re close enough together I?ll take both,? Tim says.

As Robin heads out, he thinks to himself about the role Robin plays in the Bat family. ?One of us has to be willing to shine a light on all of these shadows.? Alfred had told him that Stephanie, in her extremely brief tenure as Robin, had a brightening effect on Batman. Robin figures that perhaps he should try and do the same. ?I?m not too proud to learn from Steph ? even if I do resent her trying to take my place,? he thinks, but he?s worried about her and hopes she?s staying out of harms way.

Stephanie is far from out of harm?s way. Across town, Black Mask still has her cornered in a closet. As any good megalomaniacal villain does, he speaks to her of his intentions. ?We were having such fun together before I had to excuse myself?and now to find on returning that in my absence you?ve left me??

He follows the blood trail to the door and walks through. He apologizes for having to interrupt their torture session and asks her forgiveness. Spoiler swings down from above the doorframe delivering a solid kick to Black Mask?s head in the process. ?You?re on sick monster!? She says as the blow lands.

Spoiler may still be in trouble, but Batman is already looking for her. He tells Oracle that he?s on the way back up to The Hill. ?Her trail begins at Orpheus?s office.? He asks Oracle how Tim is doing and she says that he?s ?on fire? but she?s concerned that he?s overdoing it. Batman tells her that he trusts Tim?s judgment and she has more to worry about than wasting time psychoanalyzing Tim.

Oracle radios in to Robin and asks for his location. ?Gotham River,? he says, ?conducting a daring high speed chase. Or I was. The suspect just abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the bridge.?

The suspect is the Trickster and he abandoned the vehicle to go running off into the air on his levitating shoes. Robin manages to get his Batrope around Trickster?s ankles and tells him he made two mistakes: he kept running parallel to the bride even though he could have run over the water where Robin could have reached him, and if he can make shoes that let him run on air, why be a cheap hood when he could sell them and make a fortune?

Back at Black Mask?s hideout, Spoiler is doing a pretty good job of asserting herself against Black Mask. ?If you?d fought this well last time, you wouldn?t be in the shape you?re in now,? he tells her. He wonders why she?s fighting with such renewed vigor and she tells him it?s because it?s the first time she?s ever realized that her life is really on a line. ?This isn?t a game!?

Stephanie gets Black Mask down, but he?s able to pull a gun from the rubble. She quickly knocks it from his hand and turns it on him. He wonders if she actually has what it takes to pull the trigger.

Robin, having taken care of the Trickster radios to Oracle for the current whereabouts of Mr. Fun. He?s still at the Cathedral and apparently in a standoff with the cops. Oracle tells Robin she?d like him to stand down and take a break. He tells her he doesn?t need it, but she tells him it?s an order. Tim disregards the order and takes down Mr. Fun anyway, thought he feels a bit bad about being snotty with Oracle.

Stephanie continues holding Black Mask at gunpoint. ?So, are we going to sit here all night?? He asks her. Black Mask taunts her, telling her to consider all the lives she would save by killing him. She tells him she could do it and maybe should, but that would be against what Batman taught her.

Black Mask takes advantage of this moment of doubt and snatches the gun back. He tells her that she?s stupid for letting him get a second wind and that he had high hopes for her, but now he just wants her out of his sight. He shoots her from behind through her upper shoulder and chest. ?That?s what you should have done to me,? he says. He kicks her out the door and tells her he?s going to let her go, but to tell Batman thank you for sending poorly trained children after him.

Finally taking Oracle?s advice, Tim stops on the roof of his building to talk with his father, Jack, for a while. Jack asks him if he?s done for the night. Tim tells him likely not. Tim asks if Jack is done for the night, but he says he?s not, either. He?s waiting for supplies for Leslie?s Clinic.

Jack tells Tim that he worries about him and the danger he gets into, but that he?s proud of him. Time tells him he knows. Suddenly the phone rings. ?That?s my call, I?ve got to go,? Jack says. Tim says he needs to go too. As the father and son head their separate ways, Tim says ?Dad, I??

?Me too, son. Me too,? Jack replies.

After an appreciable slowdown through most of Act Two, Act Three of War Games seems to be quickening the pace again. In my opinion, this is one of the stronger issues of all of act Two and Three not only because it drives the storyline forward, but because it?s equally character driven. Both Robin and Spoiler go through a certain level of character transformation in this issue, with Robin thinking perhaps he should lighten up, while Spoiler realizes that her chosen profession is indeed deadly. Hopefully, neither one of them will go too far overboard in either direction.

I also really enjoyed the art in this issue. I?ve not read many books penciled in a standard ?Superhero? style by Thomas Derenick (I had seen his more realistic ?Smallville? stuff), but I could see a variety of influences in his artwork: a bit of Norm Breyfogle, some Jerry Ordway, even a little Ed Benes in his Barbara Gordon/Oracle, but it never looks derivative. Besides, that?s some mighty good company. As inked by Robert Campanella, who I consider to be one of the best inkers in the business, it?s a good looking book to my eye.

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