batman: war games volumes 1-3

batman: war games, act 1 - outbreak
batman: war games, act 2 - tides
batman: war games, act 3 - end game
graphics/crime
writers:
ed brubaker, adersen gabrych, devin grayson, dylan horrocks, aj. lieberman, bill willingham
artists:
ramon bachs, al barrionuevo, giuseppe camuncoli, paul gulacy, kinsun, mike lilly, sean phillips, brad walker, pete woods, jon proctor, thomas derenick, mike huddleston
dc comics
published 2004

Gotham City's underworld families respond to a mysterious summons for a summit.  Fear, suspicion and paranoia get the better of them and bullets fly fast and furious.  As familiar warlords fall, a new wave of chaos engulfs the city.  Batman must use every available asset - Oracle, Batgirl, Nightwing, Orpheus, Onyx and Tarantula - to preserve life and contain the trouble, while determining who is the mastermind behind the conflagration.

It's hard to review stuff like this without giving away key plot points that make the story is great as it is.  There are moments here where I thought 'oh crap, didn't see that coming!' and I don't know if it's because I'm not as immersed in this era of Batman or if it really was an 'oh crap, didn't see that coming!' moment for others who read it as well.

I'm not so versed when it comes to Orpheus or Onyx and I didn't even really remember there was ever another Batgirl besides Barbara Gordon so there was a lot of new material for me to digest.  There is a lot of drama in this collection and this was one of those collections where I felt like I should have read the issues before these, but that's a lot of backstory and until I can get my hands on all 630 Batman issues before this one I'm probably always going to be behind.

Nonetheless, this was an engaging, gripping series.  There were a few times when I was a little lost as to who was speaking, but that was usually cleared up pretty fast.  I would surely recommend this one to anyone who was looking to get into the Batman world.  It's got some pretty big moments...