The following story and photos are from Giant Panda King's book,
Gotham 1919-1939 by Russall S. Beattie, available from www.giantpandaking.com.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Farran Lawerenz was born in a small German town. While the town may have been small, his family
was an important one within it. They were heavily involved in the politics of their home country,
and Farran’s father was an important man. As the eldest child, much was expected of Farran.
He found himself constantly struggling to live up to his father’s expectations; his father was
a very demanding man and berated him quite often. It tore the young boy apart every time his father
raised his voice. Farran’s only comfort in his childhood was his younger brother Edward.
One day, having been fed up with his father’s verbal abuses - and filled with rage after a
particularly nasty encounter - he decided to murder his father. Farran went to his father’s
room and stole his rifle. He went outside and climbed a tree, taking up a position that gave
him a clear view of his family’s home. Training his sights on the kitchen window, he waited until
he was sure that it was his father standing in the window. Breathing in, Farran fired the rifle.
The shot went through the window, striking the figure inside.
He rushed back home feeling a mix of fear, thrill, and freedom, until he arrived at the house.
Instead of his father’s body, he discovered his brother,
dead and bleeding in the kitchen. He had killed Edward, his brother, his only friend.
Terrified, Farran fled his parents’ home and never went back.
With this failure, Farran made himself a promise: he would never miss his mark again.
He joined the newly formed German army and began training. He honed his marksmanship skills,
becoming the top of his class. As the Great War arrived, he became a sniper in the German ranks.
He was responsible for many kills in the Great War. His days consisted of crawling into the no
man’s land between German and English trenches in the early morning. He would find an optimal spot
and stake it out all day. Utilizing a makeshift kite with English writing scrawled on it, he would
snipe British forces whenever a soldier raised his head over the trench to read the message.
Farran preyed on their assumptions that a fellow soldier needed aid.
He received many commendations from his superiors during the war. After the Great War drew to a
conclusion, Farran distanced himself from his military life. He could not find much in the way
of work; his skill set was a very specific one, and being a day laborer did not appeal to him.
He would’ve stayed in the military if not for the unsurety Germany’s government faced in the wake
of the war. He turned to mercenary work, taking on many bold and dangerous contract killings.
He was responsible for the deaths of numerous politicians in Germany in the years leading up
to World War II. It is also speculated that he was involved in the infamous “Bloody Sunday” that took
place in Ireland on September 21st, 1920. He may have opened fire on the British police forces,
causing them to open fire on a crowd of people watching a game of Gaelic football. British police
forces would claim that someone in the crowd had opened fire on them. Farran also changed his name
to Floyd Lawton. He was starting a new life as a mercenary, and he wanted a new name to go with it.
His notoriety in the world’s criminal organizations grew and the nickname “Deadshot”
began to circulate throughout it. Floyd liked this name and began to use it professionally.
Criminals in America also began to take note of Deadshot as his reputation grew.
Many of the gangsters in Gotham would enlist his services,
with the chief amongst them being Oswald Cobblepot, otherwise known as the Penguin.
The Penguin had a problem, one that Deadshot jumped at the chance to take on. The Bat-Man
had been a thorn in Cobblepot’s side, and the gangster wanted his bat problem dealt with.
Deadshot spent weeks hunting and observing the Bat, eventually taking his shot in an attempt
on the masked vigilante’s life. The Bat-Man was wounded, but not killed. His injury severe, the
Bat, as Bruce Wayne, would turn to a close friend of his, Dr. Thomas Elliot, to treat his wound.
Dr. Elliot patched Bruce up, advising him not to exert himself too much over the next few weeks.
Bruce agreed, but Bat-Man immediately took to the streets again. He had to find this new threat to
Gotham before anyone else got hurt. Deadshot, having thought that he had killed his quarry,
was surprised when he was reengaged by the Bat-Man while receiving his payment from the
Penguin’s men. Their battle was heated, with Lawton utilizing his concealed wrist revolver.
It was a contraption that he had designed himself. By pulling a string, he could fire rounds directly
at his quarry at close range. In spite of his diabolical ingenuity in creating this device,
the Bat-Man proved to be the better combatant. Deadshot was stopped,
and Floyd Lawton was arrested and incarcerated in Blackgate Federal Penitentiary.
It struck a major blow to Deadshot’s reputation, let alone his freedom to continue with his work.
Though not many knew Deadshot had even come to Gotham, he was one of the more formidable of
the Bat-Man’s enemies. His reputation and infamy worldwide made him one of the more
dangerous ones as well. Their battle had happened before the Bat’s clash with the Court of Owls,
and well before the events of the Shadow War would take place.
The Penguin would dodge the law in this instance, providing an alibi and even scapegoats to the
GCPD. Deadshot was one of those scapegoats. Lawton stayed in Blackgate for years, biding his time.
He was one of many inmates to begin receiving letters from a mysterious correspondent,
“Endymion.” Lawton proved to be a model prisoner at the penitentiary, but it wasn’t out of his own
good graces. These letters promised freedom and a chance at revenge against the Bat-Man.
He could not know that his mystery benefactor was in fact the leader of the League of Assassins.
He was not a member of their ranks, but they had had their eye on him.
The League was always looking for new recruits. And so, Floyd Lawton was well behaved because
he knew he would one day have his chance. Deadshot would not miss his mark this time,
and his unfinished contract on the Bat-Man’s life would be completed if he could help it.