16 “Deadshot: Bulletproof”

When Deadshot discovers he has a daughter living in a neighborhood plagued by violence, he decides to clean up the area by any means necessary.

Writer: Christopher N. Gage
Penciler: Steven Cummings
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: James Sinclair
Letterers: Comicraft, Jared K. Fletcher

The promising premise is ill-served by a story and script too predictable in its plotting and too heavy-handed in its character moments. As the body count rises, Green Arrow finally confronts Deadshot after he kills a cop – only to have the two of them sort things out over a meal. Yes, it’s a tough one to take seriously. Ultimately, this one feels like a less nuanced DC version of Garth Ennis’s The Punisher.

17 “Bullseye: Greatest Hits”

As interrogators race against time to get Bullseye to give up the location of some missing nukes, the master assassin takes them on a trip down memory lane.

Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Steve Dillon
Colorist: Avalon Studios’ Dan Kemp
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Randy Gentile

This somewhat slow paced, dialogue-driven tale places Bullseye in the Hannibal Lecter role, an unreliable narrator manipulating a desperate captive audience. At times it feels more like Preacher, at other times Garth Ennis’s The Punisher, but it mostly never really feels like Bullseye.

18 “Batman: Death and the Maidens”

A dying Ra’s al Ghul reaches out to Batman for help against a woman who once shared his life, centuries ago. In exchange, he offers the Dark Knight a chance of a lifetime: the ability to speak with his dead parents.

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Klaus Janson
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Letterer: Clem Robins

This story is as much about Ra’s al Ghul and Batman as it is about Ra’s al Ghul’s eldest daughter, Nyssa, and her machinations of revenge against her father. For all the hardships she persevered early in her life, Nyssa comes across as surprisingly unsympathetic while Batman’s purported conversation with his dead parents ultimately feels much ado about nothing. The most interesting character in all of this is the doomed Ra’s al Ghul whose condition is never fully explored.