This volume's a bit of a mixed bag if I'm being *completely* honest, but I think there's way more good than bad. I noticed a pretty significant shift in the art this volume (it's not bad, there's just some VERY weird posing that looked very *ahem*...gratuitous compared to last volume), but I still love how Simone writes Barbara Gordon. Barbara's ability to show empathy, even to those who minutes prior tried to hurt her, is surprisingly endearing and really sets her character apart from the rest of the Batfamily. The new origin for Batgirl is miles better than the original and the direction Simone took the story revolving around one of Joker's henchmen was surprisingly touching. I was not expecting that from a story related to Killing Joke. The one-shot story revolving around the Court of Owls was really cool too and referenced a real life event from WW2 that I didn't know existed. Knightfall's dialogue was pretty hammy at times, but she's probably the best of the villains so far. Most of the flaws from volume 1 are still here, but the highlights are still here too and that's good enough for me.