Deadshot makes clear his intent.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christos Gage
Art: Raffaele Ienco
Colors: Guy Major
Letterer: Josh Reed
What They Say:
Deadshot holds all of the hostages and all the cards…and then issues a shocking ultimatum to Batman.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we hit the penultimate issue of the series, Christos Gage gets to the meat of the matter when it comes to what Deadshot wants and how he’s going to prove it. It’s a kind of limited question in a way because even if it plays out as he wants it’s not something that really radically changes anything in the grand scale but rather just for those who want their own position reinforced. We get a pretty tense issue here and Raffaele Ienco delivers very well with it as the angle from which it unfolds is great and the back and forth along with the expressions ratchets everything up nicely. Of course, the big visual that you really don’t see often is Batman with a gun and he gets that scene just right.
With Alfred as the main hostage and everyone else wired up, Deadshot’s got the upperhand in a basic kind of way here as he faces off against Batman from a minor distance. If he doesn’t get what he wants, Alfred’s dead and it’s onto the others one by one or just a big explosion for them all. Batman does try to figure out a way to disable things quickly here with a creative plan involving morse code that has a nice bit of old school “low tech” aspects about it and it plays in well to Alfred’s background, which is talked about as Batman does his best to talk down Deadshot from doing anything to someone that tried to stave off what happened in the past. But the reality is that for Deadshot, everything is simply hugely personal here and it has little to do with Thomas Wayne anymore. They’re more just tool to the end goal now.
The intriguing part that we get down to is that Deadshot has figured out Batman’s aversion and distaste, to say the least, toward guns. His intent is to get Batman to shoot him with one in order to show that heroes are no angels and he gets his cathartic end himself, though likely he has some sort of out planned if Batman actually does shoot. It’s presented as a no-win situation for Batman but it’s also one we’ve seen before in other works, so we know there are ways out. But as presented, Deadshot lays down a tough challenge for Batman early in his career here where he really does have to stand by his principles or realize just how difficult it is and it’s not just some low level thug that he can easily dispatch. It’s someone with pain similar to his own channeled in a much different way but still just as intense. Of course, how it unfolds will have to wait.
In Summary:
As we move in on the finale for the series, the big setup is put into place here and Batman faces a pretty good challenge to his principles and to the safety of many people. Christos Gage gives it some good resonance and impact while Raffaele Ienco just continues to delight with the visual presentation, something that I really wasn’t sure I’d connect with at the beginning but have come to really enjoy. It’s solidly put together overall and it gives us a look at the kinds of things Batman would face early in his career and help define the real path that he’d follow for years to come.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 4th, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
