The next 3 pages returns to the ho-hum "Bruce Wayne is shmoozing with the politicians" storyline. Yes, he's talking to that Lincoln fella again. You know, they same guy that bored us the first time we met him in the previous issue. There is something interesting here though, as Lincoln starts talking about a "powerful and evil" force that's come to Gotham, but before he can tell Bruce more, he's killed by an assassin! Sound familiar? You bet. They did that in A View to a Kill. And You Only Live Twice. I love James Bond as much as the next guy, but come on now... surely the writer can have a little imagination.

Of course, w e're back to present day now, and the fight with the assassin is pretty ho-drum -- Bruce is kicked out the window, flying down to his death. For some very strange reason, the assassin jumps out the window to go after Bruce, even though the assassin was the one that kicked Bruce out the window in the first place! Even more perplexing is the assassin's ability to break the laws of physics and catch-up-to-Bruce! And if that wasn't enough, not only does Bruce manage to separate himself from the assassin, he also manages to easily catch a gargoyle 100 feet down like he had super-powers... without even pulling a muscle. I know Batman's good, but he's not Spider-Man for crying out loud.

That's pretty much the issue right there. This issue certainly had less "dead spots" than the first issue, and Greg Capullo (pencils) / Jonathan Glapion (inks) did a nice job with the artwork again. But the artwork certainly can't save the very bad storytelling of this issue, and especially can't save the incredibly horrible dialog.

You know it's not a good book when it ends with Bruce Wayne's inner monologue: "Whoever it was that just tried to kill me, he was good. But he made one mistake. He tried to use Gotham's legends against me. But I'm the only legend this city needs."

So... when exactly did Bruce Wayne turn into Duke Nukem?

Final Grade: D+