First, the only good thing about this issue is that we get confirmation that Telos is going the gladiator route when it comes to setting the cities against each other; each city has a list of champions that are supposed to fight other cities' champions. Here, the Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl is chosen, but Black Bat and Red Robin have accidentally been transported with her to the site of her fight. When Catman attacks, it seems like he's her opponent. Then, everything gets weird. Red Robin sees them fighting and approaches...and then forgets why he came? Seriously, he just stands there. Did Telos interfere with him to make sure that Stephanie wasn't getting help? Unknown. Batgirl continues to fight Catman, who exposits that he should really be fighting General Grodd to save his people. Stephanie asks why he's fighting her then, and he admits that it's delaying tactics. But, he never says what he's trying to delay.
Then, Catman observes that Tim is just standing there smiling, and Stephanie hypothesizes that he was "spored by a flower." (She apparently had been "spored" by one at some point.) She figures that Cass wasn't so dumb to get "spored," but, when she goes to find her, she discovers her battling Grodd. Did Catman delay Stephanie so that Grodd could fight Cass? That makes no sense, though, because Cass doesn't count in terms of the tournament; she's there by accident. In other words, if Grodd is his and Catman's city's champion, Grodd would have to fight Stephanie to win. If anything, Catman should've been distracting Cass and Tim. But, it's still not really clear what Catman was doing there in the first place, so I'm not even sure that he was working with Grodd.
Then, Catman observes that Tim is just standing there smiling, and Stephanie hypothesizes that he was "spored by a flower." (She apparently had been "spored" by one at some point.) She figures that Cass wasn't so dumb to get "spored," but, when she goes to find her, she discovers her battling Grodd. Did Catman delay Stephanie so that Grodd could fight Cass? That makes no sense, though, because Cass doesn't count in terms of the tournament; she's there by accident. In other words, if Grodd is his and Catman's city's champion, Grodd would have to fight Stephanie to win. If anything, Catman should've been distracting Cass and Tim. But, it's still not really clear what Catman was doing there in the first place, so I'm not even sure that he was working with Grodd.
Then, we flashback a year where we learn that Stephanie gave up being Batgirl the minute the dome appeared around Gotham, though, again, we don't learn why she did so. She spent the year as a nurse, until Telos chose her name as Gotham's champion. Cass and Tim then helped her remember how to fight, except not really because they didn't have enough time. Then, we finish where we started, with no hint what fight was actually supposed to happen in this issue.
Why, why, why do I keep reading events?
zero of five stars
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