(Hitman #1) - Ringo Chen was a kind, intelligent man who just so happened to be a hitman. He’d completed hundreds of contracts in Chinatown before relocating to Gotham City. He was a regular at Noonan’s, a bar that catered to hitmen. Ringo caught poker night with Sean Noonan, his nephew Pat, Hacken and Hitman Tommy Monaghan. Ringo suspected something had happened to Tommy, noting that he always wore sunglasses and started accepting hits on superhumans. Pat knew his secret, that he’d gained superhuman powers after being attacked by a space parasite, but chose to stay silent. Ringo was the only assassin Hitman considered to be his equal.

(Hitman #5) - Hitman introduced his pal Natt the Hatt to the regulars at Noonan’s. Sean Noonan was pleased to show off his new billiards tables, and Sean, Hitman, Natt, Pat, Ringo and Hacken settled in for a night of games. Natt mentioned that he became friends with Tommy during their service in the Gulf War, and seeing Hacken’s Desert Storm t-shirt he assumed he was a veteran as well, but Hacken admitted he got the shirt from a videogame he ordered. Hacken invited further derision by insisting using a laser-scope in pool was perfectly legal. Pat kept taunting Hacken until he punched him in the mouth. Hitman and Natt drew their guns, and Hacken said that Pat would be sunk on his own, and that he always relied on his friends to get him out of the trouble he caused. Hacken’s words hurt, but Pat knew he was speaking the truth.

(Hitman #8) - Hitman and his crew played pool at Noonan’s during the Final Night, when the Sun-eater extinguished the sun. They boarded up the bar and decided to ride things out. Power went out in Gotham, there was lootings, and the crew passed the time drinking and talking about their various brushes with death. “Cannibal Kevin” broke into Noonan’s with an axe, calling himself a raider of the apocalypse. The crew pulled their guns on him, but when they recognized him as neighborhood man Kevin Flynn, they told him to pull himself together and go home to his wife and kids. Hitman realized that despite his recent losses and the fact that they might be witnessing the end of the world he was enjoying himself.

(Hitman #9) - Hitman, Natt, Sean, Ringo and Hacken attended Pat’s funeral, and passed around a bottle of whiskey. Hacken said he’d heard about how Pat was killed by hitman Johnny Navarone after he refused to give up information on Hitman, and said he’d really come to respect the kid for his bravery in the end.

(Hitman #13, 14) - Hitman, Natt, Ringo and Hacken played a baseball game behind Noonan’s when Sean told Hitman he had a call coming in. Jackson, a scientist from a Gotham research center, met with Hitman and Natt. When Pat Noonan was alive he handed out Hitman’s info to various power plants and science labs, knowing metahumans and monsters that would have to be taken care of often emerged from them. Jackson was part of Project Wormwood, along with Dr. O’Hearne and Dr. Oswald Minett. They’d developed a nerve agent that could resurrect the recently dead as zombies. They got their funding from the Pentagon, but the zombies they created were mentally unstable and the government planned on pulling the plug on the project. Minett was determined to demonstrate the effectiveness of the gas, and after an argument with O’Hearne Minett murdered him and stole several canisters of the nerve agent. Jackson wanted Minett taken down quietly, fearing reprisals if the government learned Wormwood Gas had been taken from their facility. Hitman and Natt tracked Minett to the Gotham Aquarium, where he heated up the water tanks to kill all the animals within before turning them into zombies. They ran into Ringo Chen, who’d been hired by Wormwood’s directors to kill Minett. Hacken showed up with a chainsaw, having overheard that Chen got a hit and hoping he’d cut him in on it because he was broke. Natt noted how tense things always were between Hitman and Chen. They both fancied themselves the best killers in Gotham, and half-hoped and half-feared one day facing off against each other. The hitmen were confronted with a mob of zombie octopuses, seals, sea lions and penguins. The hitmen went into battle guns blazing, and a zombie seal bit Hacken’s hand. He was worried that he was infected and would turn into a zombie, asking Hitman to cut off his hand with his chainsaw. Hitman told him he’d watched too many zombie movies, but Ringo was happy to perform the amputation for him. They made their way to the Shark Encounter area, looking to flee the aquarium. Minett surprised them by dumping a bucket of chum on them. He said a video of his zombies killing several dangerous hitmen would be the perfect demonstration for the Pentagon. Hitman asked him if you could turn into a zombie after being bitten, and Minett dismissed the idea as ridiculous. A zombie shark full of bloodlust crashed through its’ tank and bit Minett in half. The hitmen avoided getting eaten and fired on wave after wave of zombies. The Wormwood Gas revived Minett, who said being dead hurt, and Hitman put him away with a bullet to the brain. The Gotham research center burned the aquarium to the ground, covering up the incident. Hitman and Ringo got drunk at Noonan’s, disturbed at having to slaughter so many animals, and they decided to donate their money to Greenpeace.

(Hitman #21) - Hitman, Natt, Ringo Chen, Hacken, Sixpack and Baytor spent down time at Noonan’s. It was a slow week, and the highlight for everyone was seeing Hacken spill scalding hot coffee on his crotch.

(Hitman #29) - Ringo Chen arranged a meeting with Hitman and Natt and Mr. Martindale, the head of the Third World Concern agency, at Noonan’s. Martindale represented President Kijaro, the ruler of the African nation Tynanda, and admitted they weren’t a charity, they were a private military company looking for security advisers. Tynanda was in a constant state of civil war, and Martindale said Kijaro’s military was faring poorly against rebels who ran an opium trade. Ringo, Hitman and Natt would be paid one million dollars for acting as NCOs whipping Kijaro’s military into shape. Hacken was eavesdropping on the conversation and begged to be hired. Hitman vouched for him, saying his credentials were impeccable and he used to be a ninja. In Tynanda the crew got to meet the soldiers they were training and Third World concern senior officer Captain Gerheim, who warned them their troops would only be getting on the job training fighting rebels. Hitman struck up a conversation with NCO Bob Mitchell, who served with the British Airborne, and was interested when Mitchell said he served in the Falklands, but was shocked when Mitchell showed him a picture of his old friend Sgt. Eddie Baker. Hitman was about to tell Natt they had a problem when President Kijaro arrived with his superhuman bodyguards Scarlet Rose and Skull. Hitman and Natt weren’t sure they were fighting on the side of the good guys.

(Hitman #30, 31) - Hitman, Natt, Ringo and Hacken met at camp and thought the soldiers they were training showed little promise. Ringo learned from his men that half the military, including most of the veterans, had defected to the rebels. Bob Mitchell disliked the Walker M33As they’d been provided, noting they were in rough shape and a bad fir for new recruits. Mr. Martindale and Captain Gerheim overheard them and warned them to know their place and not discourage the troops. After a rebel attack on a nearby village Gerheim ordered Hitman and Mitchell’s troops to get moving. Hitman and Mitchell made a plan to flank the village, but Gerheim demanded a frontal assault, saying they wanted to make a show of strength. After they subdued the rebels Gerheim accused the villagers of being rebel sympathizers and told Skull and Scarlet rose to make an example of them. Skull took a newborn baby and killed him and Rose was ready to massacre the village. Hitman couldn’t believe what he was seeing and opened fire on Skull, although his superhuman durability meant he was only scratched. Gerheim called Hitman a traitor and ordered the Tyandan troops to shoot him. Mitchell was on hitman’s side, and after shooting Gerheim in the arm he helped Hitman flee. Scarlet rose finished off the villagers by impaling them on rose tendrils. Gerheim told Ringo, Hacken and Natt that their friends had been killed by rebels. He assigned NCO Sgt. Karkov, a Russian soldier, to track Hitman and Mitchell in the desert and kill them before their friends found out they were alive, fearing they’d talk about how Gerheim and the Third World Council found war crimes acceptable business. Hitman and Mitchell walked through the desert and discussed why they signed up with Third World Concern. Mitchell said he was never cut out for being anything except a soldier, bemoaning that in civilian life people didn’t value their friends or their duty. Hitman admitted being a hired killer, but Mitchell said he couldn’t be all that bad because he saw no hesitation in Hitman when he tried to keep the villagers from being slaughtered. Karkov and former Delta Force soldiers Watts and Grover caught up with them. After a brutal fight Karkov, watts and Grover were all dead, but Mitchell was mortally wounded after Karkov stabbed him. Hitman knew he was dying, and wanting to get it off his chest, told him he was responsible for Sgt. Eddie Baker’s death, but Mitchell just laughed, saying there was no chance Hitman could take out someone like Baker. Hitman dug a grave for Mitchell and put up a cross with the parachute regiment’s hymn “God is Airborne” written on it. Ringo Chen started having suspicions about the Third World concern, and after breaking into Mr. Martindale’s files found out that he was a consultant for Walker Firearms Inc., stirring up international conflicts to sell his weapons. Hacken, Natt and Ringo ambushed Martindale, and he admitted he worked for Walker, but tried to make excuses about genocide not being so bad, and they decided to execute him. Martindale pleaded for his life and told them hitman was still alive, but that Gerheim was trying to kill him because he’d learned the lengths Third World Concern was willing to go to. With Karkov’s failure Gerheim and some of his troops went into the desert to finish off Hitman, but Chen, Hacken and Natt followed him. Chen executed Gerheim, saying he would not allow himself to be commanded by a dog. Hitman and his crew planned their next move.

(Hitman #32, 33) - Hitman and company began a trek towards Zimbabwe, where there was an American consulate. Ringo Chen had some favors to cash in from the intelligence community and was sure he could get his friends back home. Hacken awkwardly tried to bond with Nat, asking him if he was excited about being in Africa where he could discover his roots. Nat knew Hacken meant well, but told him he was a clueless idiot. They were attacked by a Tynandan gunship that Hitman shot out of the sky, and were then confronted by Christian Ributu, leader of the rebel forces. Ributu asked them to dine with him, and tried to plead his case that Tynanda was suffering under President Kijaro and only his rebel forces offered hope for the country and its’ people. Hitman and his friends weren’t convinced they should work for a major heroin dealer, and Ributu responded that western powers had destroyed a number of African nations by supplying weapons and means of terror so selling poison to them didn’t keep him up at night. After much deliberation Hitman decided he could accomplish the good deed he’d hoped for by helping Ributu depose Kijaro. Hitman and company said they’d help for free as long as Ributu agreed to stop selling drugs and instead seek aid from the U.N. Ributu brought them to a captured army outpost, and Hitman and Nat were excited to see a Tiger I tank, and were itching to try it out because they were both huge fans of Kelly’s Heroes. After an intense firefight with the Tynandan army Hitman and crew cleared a way to Kijaro’s palace using the Tiger I. Kijaro ordered Rose and Skull to defend him. Ros momentarily stopped the Tiger with plant vines, but the Tiger pulled free and rolled over her, killing the mercenary. Skull proclaimed himself a god and attacked the tank, only to be ripped in half by tank fire. Kijaro tried to roll away in his wheelchair, but was rushed. The Tynandan army surrendered to the rebels, and Ributu promised Hitman the country was saved and thta he’d be a benevolent ruler. Hitman said he’d take him art his work, but reminded him he could always come back if he heard Ributu was slipping.

(Hitman #37, 38) - Natt the Hat and the rest of the Noonan’s crew started worrying about Hitman after they hadn’t seen him in three weeks after his return from Ireland. Natt found him in Pat Noonan’s old place, and he admitted he was isolating himself, telling Natt the whole story of how he learned his mother was a prostitute killed by his father. Natt insisted he didn’t need to let his past define his present and cheered him up enough to get him to go to Noonan’s. Sean told Hitman he owed him a long conversation, and they’d have it when he was ready. Hitman, Natt, Ringo and Hacken practiced their shooting skills with target practice in Noonan’s backyard. They talked about the recent earthquake that had turned Gotham City into No Man’s Land, and Hitman thought it was funny that once a year like clockwork a major event occurred that required all of the superheroes to save the world and then everything went back to normal. Sean introduced Hitman and Natt to Maggie Lorenzo, a waitress at Donegan’s that couldn’t find her son Michael after the earthquake hit. Natt and Hitman drove around looking for the boy, finding him at his kindergarten, but he’d been killed by a vampire. The vampire attacked them, but they shot his arms and legs off and when sunrise came dragged him into the sun and watched him burn. He mentioned his friends were going to take over the Cauldron, and Hitman was more than up for vampire hunting. Vampires in cars with tinted windows tried to run them down, so they fled to St. Peter’s church, but were shocked when the leader of the vampires, Darius, was waiting there for them. Darius was trying to establish himself as the new King of the Vampires, and decided the Cauldron section of Gotham would make a good kingdom. He offered Hitman and Natt the opportunity to run the Cauldron for them, saying that if they proved themselves he might one day embrace them and make them into vampires. They were furious that Darius saw their neighbors as nothing but cattle and wanted nothing to do with the vampire lifestyle. Hitman tossed a grenade to the roof of St. Peter’s exposing Darius’ minions to sunlight. Darius was furious, and assured Hitman and Natt that one night fell he’d finish them off since they still had no way to escape the church. Hitman used his cell to phone Noonan’s but was disappointed to get Baytor on the line. He begged for back-up, and despite Baytor’s insanity he managed to pass on the message to Sean. Sean, Ringo, Hacken, Sixpack, and a number of bar patrons came in guns blazing. They gunned down the vampires and Hitman shot Darius in the neck, causing his head to come detached, though he still swore vengeance. Bar patron Pete Kranski brought a bulldozer and demolished the church, and the last rays of the sun obliterated the vampires. Everyone felt like celebrating at Noonan’s except for Hitman, who said he still had to tell Maggie Lorenzo what happened to her son. As a warning to anyone else to dared threaten the Cauldron he posted a number of a vampire skulls on a pike warning visitors to play nice.

(Hitman #39, 40) - Ringo accepted a hit on Tarquin Harcourt, teenage son of British crimelord Sir Richard Harcourt, and after easily dispatching his bodyguards shot the boy as he begged for his life. Ringo reflected that being a hitman was his destiny, and what he was born to do. Ringo and many others considered him to be the best hitman in the world, so he believed that to have chosen any other path would not have made sense. Ringo and his new love interest Wendy were on a walk when they ran into Hitman, who’d once briefly dated Wendy. She was shocked he was a friend of Ringo’s, and seemed incensed. They met at Noonan’s and Ringo was furious, saying he’d been seeing Wendy for some time and was strongly considering pulling a few last jobs so he could retire from the life and be with her. That opportunity was gone, because she dumped him, correctly realizing any friend of Hitman’s was also a paid assassin. Ringo made some vague threats, and Hitman said he knew people kept expecting them to square off one day like the two top gunslingers in a town, and he wanted no part of it. Hitman admitted he knew Ringo would kill him, and Ringo said he wouldn’t want his friend to die at the hands of an unworthy opponent. Ringo went to the apartment of Gerald McWilliams, who’d hired him for the Harcourt hit, and was shocked to find his dismembered body. Ringo was confronted by Waterman and his muscle, who worked for Sir Richard. Harcourt had a deal with Anthony Finnucci’s Las Vegas cartel, and Finnucci had Gerald order a hit on Tarquin as retaliation. Waterman had already gruesomely killed Finnucci and McWilliams, so his last task was to murder Ringo. Waterman’s muscle opened fire, but Ringo fled out a fire escape and set off an explosion, killing a number of Waterman’s men, but Waterman was undeterred. Ringo met with Sean at Noonan’s and told him he’d once again had a vision of Death, and he felt his time was short. Ringo asked Sean if he was losing his mind, and Sean said that after all the evil he’d seen perpetrated he saw nothing to contradict Ringo’s view that Death walked and talked just like any other person. Ringo talked about his falling out with Hitman, and wanted to make amends. They both agreed that Hitman was something special, and would go on to do big things. Hitman and company shot pool at Noonan’s, and Ringo tried to talk to him, but he was still upset and left. Hacken saw that Ringo had recently purchased a lot of firepower and asked him if he was in trouble. Hacklen thought of himself as Ringo’s partner and said he’d always be there to back him up. Ringo was about to snap at him, but plaid along, realizing Hacken was overly sentimental and usually meant well. Natt gave Hitman a ride and said that whatever was up with him and Ringo and Sean he needed to clear the air. He told Hitman he hadn’t been the same since his trip to Ireland, and needed to stop focusing on the dead and focus on the living. On a whim Hitman decided to go to Wendy’s apartment to plead Ringo’s case, but all he did was accidentally confirm her suspicions that Ringo was a hitman. Ringo showed up with flowers to apologize to Wendy, but when he saw Hitman there he suspected his motives. They had an argument that escalated until they’d pulled guns on each other. At that moment Waterman arrived with a squad of killers who shot up Wendy’s apartment. Ringo and Hitman agreed that they needed to stop their foolishness and work together. After massacring a number of Waterman’s killers Hitman got Wendy to safety, with Ringo staying behind to buy them some time. Sean agreed to hide Wendy at Noonan’s, even though she was furious that this was the second time Hitman had completely upended her life. Hitman apologized to Sean for giving him the cold shoulder, and Sean told him to keep his head in the game and take care of the Waterman situation, but said he’d be glad to talk afterwards. Hitman went to Ringo’s apartment, and he wasn’t there, but Waterman was waiting for him, and incapacitated him with a surge of electrical current. Waterman was delighted with how corrupt Gotham was, and had commandeered a GCPD precinct for his own use. He threw Hitman into a cell with the injured Ringo.

(Hitman #41, 42) - Waterman set up a two-way video feed with Sir Harcourt so his boss could watch him torture Ringo to death. Waterman lovingly described how painful the torture would be, saying atrocity was his passion. He told Hitman that after Chen died he was going to torture him to death for his own indulgence. After the first round of torture Hitman and Ringo were put back in their cells and Ringo told Hitman his life story, including a defining moment when he escaped a Chinese prison by killing a corporal and wedging a grenade under his body so it killed Major Li, the man who sent him to prison, when he moved it. During the next torture session Ringo antagonized Harcourt, saying he owed him $200,000 for the hit on his son, since he’d killed Tony Finucci before he could pay out. Harcourrt was furious, and had Waterman gouge out Ringo’s left eye with a hook. Back in their cell Ringo told Hitman he’d hoped baiting Harcourt would have led to a quick death, but his gamble failed. They talked about how being killers was the only life they knew, and knew it was wrong, but kept themselves sane by making excuses and fooling themselves into thinking one day they’d leave the game, hoping for a better future. When two guards came to retrieve them Ringo and Hitman killed them and took their guns. Even though Ringo was severely injured he was determined to take down Waterman and his men with his friend. Hitman and Ringo went in guns blazing, massacring Waterman’s men and shooting him a number of times in the torso. Ringo shot the two-way video feed after telling Sir Harcourt he was a dead man. Waterman, badly wounded, got to his feet, shocked and stunned Hitman and lured Ringo into an ambush. Waterman bragged about how he was never beaten and had never failed to kill a target. Ringo realized it was his time to die when he had a vision of death and went out in a blaze of glory, killing most of Waterman’s goons. Hitman spoke to his dying friend, and they agreed they were glad they never had to come to blows to find out who the best hitman in Gotham was. Ringo asked Hitman to help him get his revenge before passing away.  After Hitman left Waterman grabbed Ringo’s lifeless body and started taunting the corpse, but Tommy left a live grenade under Ringo that exploded when Waterman lifted it, killing him. Ringo’s spirit spoke to death and asked him what came next. Death told him his spirit could remain on Earth, go to the afterlife or come work for him.