This year’s Batman Day, September 16th, has Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War Prelude introducing the war between the Bat and the Cat! This free DC comic is made up of parts of Batman #137, Catwoman #57, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #1, and includes an original prelude. The first story is by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez. This takes place in the aftermath of the Knight Terrors storyline. The story is preceded by Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battles Lines #1. Catwoman has taken away the goons of Gotham City to train them to be thieves. This sets her against Batman. A hotel doorman lets in two electricians, Carlos, to work on the air conditioning. The duo say it will take an hour or two to fix, late hour to be working, and no hotel workers to fix the problem.
They ask about working on the roof unit and the doorman leaves them to work. One of the thieves, Carlos, notes that with the power down, the alarms will shut off. They enter a room looking for the safe and see Batman in the dark cracking his knuckles! Carlos is hurtled crashing through a door. The other thief is confronted by Batman! A woman, black coat and glasses, looks up to see Batman clinging to an apartment balcony. She is a graduate of Catwoman’s program, Fright, and blows out Fear Toxin as a mist. Batman reaches out from the mist to reach out for her! The art shows the moody Batman acting in the dark! This is a report by Marquise to Catwoman in casual clothes. She explains that Batman took out two more of her goons, Scorpiana and Vox, at the Iceberg Lounge, former club of the Penguin.
Marquise asks her boss how to deal with Batman and she says to distract him by calling Jason. On a rooftop, the criminal Jimmy Milford is captured by Batman. We see the gritted teeth of Batman with a mask half-lit and half in shadow, almost Frank Miller in look. He is qustioned by Robin. The figure of Robin, Tim Drake, is seen in contrast to the almost inhuman Batman. He asks if Batman, now ruthless after Knight Terrors, may be pushing himself too much. Dick Grayson, Nightwing, is talking with Barbara Gordon, Oracle, and Stephanie Brown, Batgirl. Outside on the balcony, Tim, also wonders what to do. Barbara replies that they will help if Selina asks. Jason Todd, Red Hood, is in the next room. He says Batman is driving the henchmen back to violence. The conflict leads to a more deadly group!
Catwoman #57 is by Tini Howard and Nico Leon begins with Batman outside of Wayne Manor. It is a rainy night, but the shadow of Batman falls on the gravestones of Thomas and Martha Wayne! The unmasked Bruce Wayne is on his knees and cries out! Great character work of the agonized face of Bruce Wayne. This is seen by the night vision scope of Catwoman with Marquise standing next to her. They turn to see the assembled army of Catwoman. She snaps her whip to get their attention. The Red Hood faces Catwoman. This is a few pages without dialogue which works with the artwork. The next story is by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Nikola Cizmesija. A man is tossed out of a window and strikes the pavement. Red Hood looks out of the shattered window.
He flips down to the man, a dark figure with glowing, red eyes from his hood. He takes the man and throws him from the alley to the street! He is in the path of a van, but a whip is pulled by Catwoman overhad and pulls him to safety. The leadership is in conflict with Catwoman and the Red Hood going beyond Batman’s methods! The last story, “The Plans Below” is by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Corona. The sun is setting at Wayne Mansion when Alfred checks on Bruce Wayne. At one time, he died, but apparently he got better. He is worried that Bruce has only slept for two hours. Bruce heads to the Batcave to work on the Batcomputer.
He has a thought about the Riddler’s clues, but then grunts and instead activates a hidden switch that opens up another underground room. Bruce puts on his Batcowl and there seems to be joy in his face! Batman is working on some robot in black clothes with his cowl and gloves. He queries the robot's directives. It is to observe Batman and if he has taken a life, to eliminate him! Batman says he is a force of nature and once he kills, he won’t stop! The disturbing part is his conversation with basically himself. He gets into a battle with the robot, to test himself, this is his road to insanity! Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War Prelude gives glimpses of the heroes and villains of Gotham before the begins and Batman falling towards the side of villany!
Four Night Vision Scopes out of Five!
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