In issue #1 we saw Batman take on the identity of Jim Gordon because he had learned Jim was a target for a group of assassins. The same group killed Boston Brand during his trapeze act, and he finally learned the real reason why he was marked. The worst part? It was just some assassin that was full of himself and wanted to show off. There were no orders to kill Boston, but in finding all this out Boston also was led to Sensei.
Sensei was the one calling all the shots to the group of assassins and Boston has followed him home. As he looks around he sees no sight of Sensei, just a family taking care of their newborn baby. It’s not long before Sensei does make an appearance though. The strange part is he’s in the spirit dimension with Boston and their fight gets pretty intense. The baby senses all this and Boston can tell the baby is dying as a result. That’s when Sensei enters the body of the baby saying that it’s his “living soul.”
Shortly after this insane scene Phantom Stranger appears before Boston. Boston has just reflected on how ridiculous it is that this evil man gets to live by taking over an innocent baby. And, now Stranger offers Boston a chance to retrace his footsteps in order to find balance. So, of course they travel to Hill’s Brother’s Circus where it all began. It doesn’t take Boston long to find a path to the circus, and he starts off by admiring the new name of the act: The Deadmen.
Boston wastes no time to go backstage and observe his brother Cleveland interacting with other family members. Looks like the family has some issues they need to work through, but before too long The Deadmen are on. During this amazing trapeze act one of the performers, Dave is shot. Boston sees the assassin evade capture by police and takes control of nearby circus worker Tiny. Tiny looks to be a bouncer/security for the circus and is anything but Tiny.
Once Boston corners the assassin somehow the assassin is totally aware of Boston taking over Tiny’s body. This is where it gets crazy. Boston does things to the assassin that are worse than torture. Boston more than gets revenge for all the hurt the assassin has caused Boston and his family. I can’t ruin what happens so you will have to pick up this issue for yourself to see how he delivers justice. This issue ends in the same insane fashion it began in. Of course, there’s balance and order to everything in the dimension that Boston exists in. Did you really think there would be no consequences to his actions?
Wow. I didn’t expect this issue to be so action-packed, but it really was. I think any fan of Deadman will want to see exactly how he would exact revenge on his killer. And, you get to see that very thing happen in this issue. There’s also a lot more information that you can gather from the dimension Deadman exists in from this issue to. Phantom Stranger has always been a mysterious character to me, so I was happy to see him make an appearance. I am interested to see what happens in issue 3 now with an ending like that. Pick up this issue today at your local comic store.
Rating: 8/10
