What would happen if M. Night Shyamalan made a comic
First of all, I would like to explain my point of view. I was following all the titles involved here, I genuinely loved Robin, I thought Batman was not amazing but good and Deathstroke was ok if not good too. Williamson hyped this on twitter as a Batman vs Deathstroke event and I was all in for that, Batman inc. vs the society of Super Villains with Slade as the leader? Please, inject this on my veins. And then this came out. What a waste.
First of all, this isn't really a war, it doesn't feel like one. Batman: War of Jokes and Riddles is a war. This is a quick, unespired and lazy story. Shadow Hunt would be a better name, but I guess the word war means more sales.
The original premise is completely ruined by an unnecessary and lazy plot twist. Imagine a similar story but with Deathstroke really killing Ra's and Batman, Robin and Talia going after him. But then a actual war happens, not just the League attacking and huting Slade, a war, that lasts for months. But enough talking about what this could have been, let's talk about what it is.
Shadow War makes poor use of it's characters. Only Talia and Brion feel like real characters(but not good ones), the rest is just people to be put on covers to sell.
The new character, Angel Breaker, is a waste of time. She's there in the hopes of making some easy money for the writer if one day they pick her up for something else. She kills a character that already existed for years, Deadline, to show she's serious and thats it. About Deadline, did Williamson read the previous Deathstroke book? Why does he likes Slade now? What about his hand? Anyway. Also, about Slade, just like in Deathstroke Inc he continues to be just a punching bag, and an empty one. He's not a character, he's a plot device. On top of that, he's super out of character. According to Superman himself, Slade is the world's best tactician, but here, he's show as just an idiot with a sword(since that's easier to write). Batman almost does nothing here too, he has a good reunion with Damian but most of the dialogue with the two is insanely forced. Damian almost has a good conclusion about his story with Respawn but then Respawn dies to move the plot. Yes, in 2022 a character gets friged to motivate others. Good job! And we have Geo-force... The character that dies for real here is him. Character assassinated for an unnecessary plot twist.
The art is just ok if not bad at some points. Some characters like Respawn can be seen out of model and others with clothes that they should not be using(like, what was that cape with hood Slade uses? Did the artist confused him with the impostor Deathstroke?)
How it all ends is ridiculous, characters getting defeated in contrived ways that should not be possible. Slade dies again, but this time he needs the Lazarus pit to come back? Did Williamson also not read his own Deathstroke series? This is also supposed to lead in to Dark Crisis but it does a poor job at that too, the connection to Dark crisis comes in only one page at the end that just raises questions which answers keep flip flopping.
There is also a short story that breaks continuity and makes it so that Slade fought Batman first, therefore, impling he's a Batman related character. And that's super pointless, since after that he's put again as a Titans related character in Dark Crisis. What I'm trying to say is that most of the stuff here has no reason to exist. It has no vision, no purpose, no planning, no consistency.
The tie ins are also pointless, making everything feel like a joke even.
This is nothing but another soulless crossover.
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