Cold Days is one of my favorite stories of recent years. Visually, it's perfect, and maybe my only ultra minor complain is that there's a picture in a wall of the room where the case is discussed that shows a scene from Batman Annual #2 that takes me out of the story for one second. I know it's pretty common to fill screens and pictures in comicbooks with panels from other issues, covers, panels from the same issue, etcetera, but I think some criteria is at hand when it goes against the logic of the fictional world it is in, with exceptions, of course. In this same arc there's a copy of the Batman/Elmer Fudd cover with alterations by Tom King that I think works better and is a nice easter egg.
Aside for that harmless little detail, I enjoy everything in this short story. The dialogue is great and the points discussed are important not just in the narrative, but outside of it. The images that Lee Weeks uses to carry the dialogue don't come up as filler, but as well thought compositions and with a structure of their own.
The Better Man is a nice one and done that sadly received some controversy thank to DC's decision regarding the coloring. I would have liked to have seen the original colors, if just for my opposition to dispose of art that has already been done. As an artist, to see that what you did (and intended to be published from square one) will not be seen by the public must suck. The story itself is cute and fun and Matt Wagner did a good job, but I don't think the modern process of coloring fits his style and certainly he has done a better work in many other Batman stories. The cucumber sandwiches metaphor is kinda silly, but funny in the tone of the story
Beast of Burden has become a much better story with the passing of time thank to the short tale gaining new significance in the issues to come. The buildup to the headshot works, even when I hate the whole Ric fiasco, and I think this storyline may be one of the most straightforward of the run, but a pretty entertaining one. The grunting in the final fight sometimes is way over the top, with some combinations that I have no idea how to pronounce. Tony S. Daniel does a good job, but sometimes he mistakes which side the prosthetic arm of the KGBeast is in, which is something I can't forgive