Batman: War Games

[Jaknife]

Not sure how many people have read this. I'm only in Act 2, so no spoilers. But a few questions to those who might know: Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

Also, there seems to be a new commissioner. What happened to Gordon?

[ShadowTuga]

Not sure how many people have read this. I'm only in Act 2, so no spoilers. But a few questions to those who might know: Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

Also, there seems to be a new commissioner. What happened to Gordon?

Gordon retired from the GCPD some 2/3 years before this arc, iirc.

[ian_house]

Not sure how many people have read this. I'm only in Act 2, so no spoilers. But a few questions to those who might know: Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

Also, there seems to be a new commissioner. What happened to Gordon?

Gordon retired from the GCPD some 2/3 years before this arc, iirc.

Yeah he had a pretty bad time with his wife leaving and quit the force for a while I think, is this also when he got lung cancer from smoking? This was before he got shot, 'Officer Down' arc, so pretty sure it wasn't related to that.

[ShadowTuga]

Not sure how many people have read this. I'm only in Act 2, so no spoilers. But a few questions to those who might know: Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

Also, there seems to be a new commissioner. What happened to Gordon?

Gordon retired from the GCPD some 2/3 years before this arc, iirc.

Yeah he had a pretty bad time with his wife leaving and quit the force for a while I think, is this also when he got lung cancer from smoking? This was before he got shot, 'Officer Down' arc, so pretty sure it wasn't related to that.

Now I'm confused. Maybe it was after No Man's Land when Sarah Essen dies?

[ian_house]

Not sure how many people have read this. I'm only in Act 2, so no spoilers. But a few questions to those who might know: Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

Also, there seems to be a new commissioner. What happened to Gordon?

Gordon retired from the GCPD some 2/3 years before this arc, iirc.

Yeah he had a pretty bad time with his wife leaving and quit the force for a while I think, is this also when he got lung cancer from smoking? This was before he got shot, 'Officer Down' arc, so pretty sure it wasn't related to that.

Now I'm confused. Maybe it was after No Man's Land when Sarah Essen dies?

Ah I thought it was much earlier, but clearly not. Sorry I've just confused things!
After No Mans Land where he shoots and wounds the Joker he himself was shot in an Batman line wide arc called Officer Down. At which point he retired not returning until 1 year Later.
Think War Games must take place during that retirement.

[Steve Topper]

Why does it seem like Batman is new to Gotham. One reporter keeps saying things like "He's real!", etc. Shouldn't Batman be well known by this time?

While Denny O'Neil was the Group Editor for all of the Bat-books, he insisted upon the conceit that Batman was an "urban legend"; that people wouldn't really know if he truly existed or not. This in spite of him appearing with the Justice League, the Outsiders, and just about every crossover throughout the DC Universe.

Of course O'Neil is also the editor who thought No Man's Land was a great idea (that the United States would just cut off a major city like Gotham because of an catastrophic East Coast earthquake.) And that Batman never solved his parents' murder. And that Superman and Batman couldn't/wouldn't be friends. And that Bruce Wayne was a mask worn by Batman, not the other way around. He had a lot of asinine ideas of what and who Batman was that contradicted years of stories and he implemented those ideas because he was the editor.