Michele -- that is what happens when you have an idea while you're typing something. I realized later that if BoP were later than DC then my suggestion couldn't be true. I suppose that Babs is just going nutsy.

Some information on the characters in "War Games" and some observations:

Orpheus is a costumed vigilante who was originally a singer and dancer who toured the world and decided to do something about poverty and injustice. He settled in Gotham City and was funded and outfitted by a secret organization that wanted to help solve the world's problems. He settled in Gotham City because there was a lack of black superheroes in the area and focused his attention on the neighborhood he now controls. His origin was in a 5-part mini-series in 2001 called Batman: Orpheus Rising. Batman helped establish Orpheus as the leader of the gang (something Hill) as a way of keeping tabs on Gotham's underground.

Stephanie Brown was fired in the last issue of Robin because she disobeyed a direct order from Batman (after having been specifically warned that doing so would result in dismissal). Oh, and she lost the Batplane while doing so (even if she was trying to save Batman). Batman told her that he didn't want to see her doing anymore costumed vigilante work again in Gotham City. Last week's issue of Batgirl revealed that she would continue to patrol as Spoiler in the hopes of regaining Batman's approval (shades of the Huntress there). I thought that this first issue seemed to be trying to make Stepahnie be unsympathetic and dim, but the ending, where she realized how far out of her depth she was, cancelled that out and made it much more of a character exploration.

I recognized most of the gangs that were at the meet as mostly background actors in the Bat-saga. The Lucky Hand Triad and the Galanter family are probably the most fleshed out. The Galante family ties into Catwoman's title, and I'm sure there are many Huntress ties as well.

As far as tying in the BoP storyline timewise, I have no way of telling where this fits. It does seem that the BoP events are happening after at least the first stories we see in "War Games", since Dick was in Gotham to visit Babs at the hospital.

I thought the call that Nightwing received at the end of the last NW issue was the call from Alfred in the 12-cent adventure

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable opening to the mega-crossover. I guess I'm a sucker for big-time crime dramas.

I thought that this first issue seemed to be trying to make Stepahnie be unsympathetic and dim

Well, it failed miserably, cause I found her very sympathetic. That may be a function of seeing from her perspective, but still. You say you changed your opinion of the intent at the end, but I was with her the whole time, pretty much.

BoP's timeline has seemed, at least over the last couple of months, to be slightly ahead of where the related books are, such as Dinah having dumped Ollie before we'd seen the actual dumping happen. Which leads me to determine for myself, to unbreak my brain that War Games is starting sometime around or just after the next issue of BoP.

For Ult. X-Men, I'm also with the Gambit hair hate. And what's with that blue leopard print shirt? Add a big, feathered hat and he could be a 70's pimp.

For Ult. Spidey, Aunt May's "Not again" made me wonder if she was referring to Ben's death or did this draining thing happen before with Peter's father's research.

I did pick up Ult. Nightmare. Very much a setup issue and kind of confusing.

I'm in the corner for Hating Gambit's hair. It's soo....godawful isn't the right word. It looks like he should be in a bad 80's hair bad. It looked a little bit like the leader singer of Whitesnake's hair. Only much worse.

I have a question for Ultimate X-Men readers familiar with the Storm of old:

I was understandably excited to see Storm hack her hair off and change her wardrobe due to a crisis that caused her to question why she did what she did. I'm having a niggling suspicion that in this go-round of her persona, the crisis turns her into more of a pacifist, instead of loosing her from her vows like it did the first time.

Think so?

Oh! In 12-Cent, did anyone else immediately think "ita!" when we saw Onyx?

You're gonna make me go look this person up, aren't you?

I'm trying to find her in Google, ita. (For the record, it's Onyx II, I'm pretty sure.)