BATMAN #644

4/10

"War Games" part 4 (conclusion). Not sure who to blame for the dismal conclusion to a story that could have been so good. After all, Willingham is writing an EXCELLENT Crisis mini for DC right now. Maybe the editors forced the story, and Willingham just did the best he could. I don't have a problem with the dialogue, but the reveals just suck. I suppose it's only fair to point out that the art was really good. I especially liked the Joker's appearance, and the classic costume that Black Mask wore.

First and foremost, if Batman - the great Detective - is going to piece clues together and formulate theories, how about letting the reader in on the methods? Bats does all his work OFF THE PAGES! It's like an episode of Matlock. We're sure that one guy is guilty until Batman declares, "The REAL killer is-- "

After we learn the motivations of Clue Master, Stephanie Brown's mom shreds the medical records that could shed light on how Spoiler really died. Batman belts out a Vaderific NOOOoooo. As if seeing evidence destroyed wasn't enough, we're reminded (by Alfred, I think) that we'll never know how Spoiler perished. That, of course, is when Batman announces he's been doing some detective work while we were reading the advertisements in our comic.

The big finale: Leslie Thomkins, a killer? Come on! One of the few normal/stable figures in Batman's life kills one of his fellow crime combatants? I like that DC wanted to follow up War Games with tackling the issue of Stephanie Brown, since she started the mess, but this is not at all what I envisioned.