What I liked is the subtleties, like Fountainhead being one of Deadshot’s favorite books, Deadshot having a contingency to play dead in case he’s taken out, and Batman’s duality of wanting the villains to die but not wanting to kill them. These aspects are pretty good. Unfortunately, the only characters that are even somewhat consistently well-drawn are Deadshot and the other masked man. The interviewer is drawn alright but kind of lazily, Batman’s body proportions just seem off, and the Joker is a monstrosity for most of the issue. His facial expressions are consistently just kind of gross and unappealing, and not in a good way. There’s gross sex joke after gross sex joke, the Joker’s ok with being paid for sex, there are just multiple things going on with the Joker that’s just sick in a bad way. There’s just too much of it going on to look past it and not feel uncomfortable. Maxie Zeus is kind of a boring villain to start with and I don’t foresee him getting better. The masked man is interesting though, and I'm constantly wondering who he is.

Pretty blah. An ending to the story, for sure, but just not spectacular. The fight dragged on because Batman decided his plan would be to wait to get stabbed and THEN fight the masked man even though he could easily beat the crap out of him. Still, there are a lot of interesting questions about the masked man and you’re left wondering a lot. The best part is the exploration of Batman’s no killing rule, but it dragged on a bit. The Joker’s drawing are inconsistent and awful, his beard changes color at one point. The story felt short, unrewarding, the only thing at stake is Batman’s no killing rule, but not even majorly and it could have been avoided. A mediocre ending to a less than mediocre series.

Still loving how little we know about the masked man, figuring out he’s hunting Batman makes it interesting to know why? Why is he hunting the Batman? Why does he kill anyone? By far the most interesting character in this story. Zeus is boring, gross even. I get tired of listening to him talk every text bubble, but his bodyguards are hilarious. Joker was actually funny even though he still wasn’t drawn great. Overall, a huge improvement from issue #1. Almost every aspect of the story felt necessary. I don’t LOVE the Jason Todd disrespect from Batman, but I’ll let it slide.

The art is consistently good, not incredible usually, but good. There are some dynamic and exciting comic panel borders that are used and it adds to the experience and awe of what's going to happen next. I love the exploration of Bruce and Dick's relationship as they joke and smile with each other. The mystery of what's happening at Arkham is gripping, seeing the familiar faces of the Joker and Two-Face is a fun cameo. Etrigan is as brutal as ever, but his motives aren't always entirely clear, which only adds to the experience. Ivy's the same old Ivy, just not as subtle as usual. The mystery of the character who showed up at the end of the issue only makes me want to know more of what's happening. I think it might have been a little too packed with villains since it doesn't seem like any of them except Etrigan were any kind of challenge. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, I appreciated focusing on Batman's investigative side, but no villain except Etrigan seemed like a threat and so the stakes felt relatively low. I'm hopeful for the series, it's off to a good start.

The art style is about the same as the previous issue, not incredible but consistently better than some of Flanagan's other works, which I largely appreciate and applaud. The story is gripping, I feel a deep desire to know what's going to happen next (so much so, I have a hard time writing this right now because I want to read the next). I felt more drawn in with fewer villains to deal with, but the flashback sequence didn't click with me. I didn't completely understand the point as anything more than "Batman doesn't trust anyone", which is something we know and assume about Batman. Felt redundant, but was still fun to see Supes back in action. Overall gripping with an ending that I did not expect in the slightest. Excited for more!

This one has a really solid PERSONAL story. It doesn't try to do too much, it's telling you about what Batman really wants, what he wants to accomplish for Gotham so he can have his own life apart from it. It shows the ways that Batman can grow, which is great for his character development so we can have something to look forward to. I love the chemistry between Bruce and Silver, and I love the jokes that every extra character makes. Tim is hilarious, Aquaman is hilarious, Baphomet's reveal and conversation with Batman are hilarious and incredible, it's an all-around solid world-building story. The art isn't great but on par with the rest of this series. Looking forward to what's next!