Deadshot vs. everyone

Instead my normal lengthy introduction, let’s start with some pages:

That’s right — in the comic book universe, good deeds always end up with a mob of supervillains ganging up on you.  Deadshot learns this the hard way.  So in Deadshot #5, volume two, written by Christos Gage and drawn by Steven Cummings, Deadshot gets to end his miniseries in a bang — and a fight against a dozen superpowered supervillains.  I know you’re not really sure who to cheer for — sure Deadshot’s the protagonist, but it’s not like you’d want the Joker or Lex Luthor or Gorilla Grodd to win if they received their own five issues.  Bad guys can’t win, because then the world would suck. But Deadshot got into this mess by wanting his illegitimate daughter and her former prostitute mother to live in a neighborhood free from crime and violence.  And that’s worth cheering for, right?

We can go back to the fight.  While Deadshot doesn’t have any cool superpowers like the snake lady and dude-with-a-mace-for-a-hand supervillains above, he does have plenty of other useful tools like, say, bullets.  But are his skills alone be enough for him to take out a dozen supervillains in the suicide mission for his future and happiness?  See?  I’m getting better at building tension.

Unfortunately, the status quo must be restored, and that includes Deadshot returning to his life of apathetic crime.  Comic book bad guys can’t get happy endings (well, I guess neither can the good guys).  At least in his battle royale, a horde of embarrassing supervillains get taken off the map.  Green Arrow’ll need to send Deadshot flowers after this, just for saving him a good three or four bank robberies of baddies to clean up later.

Skaboom indeed.  Look, I’m not happy about this either.  We’re suckers for tales of redemption, but artistically, the stories always turn out better when the hero has to tragically give up his dreams for the safety of those he loves.  So in retaliation to me having to wipe away my own tears (and to be fair to me, this was five issues of build up leading to this moment), I’m not going to show you the ending of the miniseries.  I mean, I pretty much gave it away, but I’m denying you the satisfaction of reading it yourself.  You need to buy this book — it’s that good.

Next time, some Aquaman stuff!