I was skeptical about a new Deadshot miniseries, especially one by a guy coming in from TV writing. Would this be a story that treated a favorite character of mine as something he wasn't, an archetype with no history for the purposes of a generic vigilante tale? Imagine my surprise when it was not only true to the character built in the pages of Suicide Squad, but the story built further upon the character and developed him, and was also a pretty damn solid vigilante plot. Cummings and Palmiotti have matched Gage's script with some terrific action storytelling, and the result is a Deadshot miniseries good enough that not only am I happy with this story, but I've resolved to seek out further stories from these creators using any character.
The defining aspect of this issue is a battle between Green Arrow and Deadshot. It's an obvious pairing, so obvious that nobody else has ever done it before, and Gage delivers on all the promise inherent in this conflict. Deadshot shooting arrows out of the air, Green Arrow using his trick arrows to get an edge in the fight and even an ending to the fight that resolves based on both men's personalities. The action sequence in this issue is great, but the rivalry and bonding between Deadshot and Green Arrow afterwards is actually better. Without making the hero look like a wuss or a hypocrite, Gage manages to set up a situation where a hero would give a former villain a pass, with only a warning not to screw up.
Here's the real trick with Deadshot, though, and it's a balancing act that I'll have to say the last issue of the miniseries to know whether or not Gage can pull it off: He's at his best when he's crazy and unhappy. This issue sees Floyd Lawton making major steps toward normalcy. His interaction with his daughter is weird and uncomfortable and yet... kind of sweet. The same is true of the developments in his relationship with the girl's mother. I'm very curious to see if Gage can avoid the obvious ending, the one that makes the most sense, which is also the most tragic and unfortunate, given that I kind of like these positive developments and these new characters.
I give a lot of credit to Gage for walking what I consider to be a lot of difficult lines with this character. However, that's not to take away at all from the work that the artists are doing on this book. Cummings has some weird face issues (his four-year-old girl looks strangely like an adult girl's head on a shrunken body, and Lawton often looks a little off as well), but I've got no quibbles with his storytelling. The fight between Deadshot and Green Arrow is a lot less straightforward than the two of them just shooting it out, and Cummings and Palmiotti do a great job with the characters in motion, scenery blowing up, the real side effects of two guys fighting it out in the street.
Much as I like Deadshot, I can't even imagine the character at the head of his own series. Or at least, I couldn't before this miniseries came around. This is still really only enough plot and motivation to support a limited series, and I'm glad that it's just that instead of an opening arc, but these guys get the character so well, and are telling such an entertaining story with him, that I wouldn't mind seeing them do more with him in the future. At any rate, I'm certainly looking forward to the final two issues of the miniseries, and would recommend that all Suicide Squad fans (not to mention fans of good action storytelling) give Deadshot a look. 9/10
