Deathstroke Inc. #10 Review

 Year One Begins! 

Year One - Part 1 

Writer: Ed Brisson 
Artist: Dexter Soy

Colorist: Veronica Gandini

Letterer: Steve Wands

Editor: Paul Abernathy
Cover: Mikel Janin 

Year One begins, as Deathstroke joins the list of DC character with a Year One storyline.

To start off, this is the first time we see Slade's origin by his own eyes, his own perspective and feelings about it. We also getting details for the first time about his daily life. Slade feels human here, real, speaking in a more personal way, he had the same job I have now. Crazy coincidence but it really helps making the character... relatable. Anyway, this is a love letter to the character for sure, references to Wolfman and Priest runs. Besides the references, everything feels cohesive.

The art is spectacular, the colours, the pages layout. Outstanding job.

This genuinely has the potential to be one of the best things ever done with the character.

Deathstroke's extended origin

 As Deathstroke Year One approaches I decided that would be fun to look at Slade basic origin and some details that seen forgotten. As you know, the basics are that Slade lied his age, got in the army to run away from his abusive father, and quickly became one of the best soldiers there. He meet Wintergreen, his best friend, and Adeline, his future wife. Slade got into an experiment, sometimes referenced as Project X, that made him into a super soldier. However since Slade entered a comatose state for weeks after it it was deemed a failure and the project was scraped. Sometime later, Slade found himself with superhuman capabilities but made it a secret and became the mercenary Deathstroke the Terminator. 

There is much more to that! 

Before anything, let's talk about Slade's half brother, Wade. Yes, it's almost what it seems. 

Wade is a mercenary, in a red costume, yes, and Slade's half brother. They share the same father. Wade used to date Adeline, 4 years before Slade meet her. Hating Slade for being more successful than him, Wade took the name Ravager, becoming the third person to use this name, and hunted his brother. If you're feeling a deja-vu, yeah, this very similar to the second Ravager, the Jackal. Now let's get to the real interesting parts!

Slade's time in the army

Besides the most well known events during that time, we can find other elements like this, Slade served with Lois Lane's father, Sam Lane. He even got to meet Lois as a kid. I'm personally a big fan of this detail since it makes Deathstroke more connected to the rest of DC's universe besides the Titans. 

But I think the most important event during Slade's time in the army was the "death" of one of his rivals, John "Dragon Rider" Rogers, A.K.A. Drago. The character didn't die for real, he showed up to be an antagonist for Deathstroke, but Slade believing he was dead, started thinking about leaving the army to be a mercenary. Making this quite relevant for Deathstroke's origin. 

After the army 

When Slade was discharged he searched for people to train him in martial arts, sword fighting and more. One of his masters was an assassin called Natas. So, contrary to popular belief, Slade isn't just a soldier. Green Arrow went after Natas to learn how to be a better fighter as well.

We also get some explanation to why Slade wears a costume. Similar to Moon Knight, we wants attention to better intimidate his targets.

High changes of this not even being canon, but Slade also took a contract to kill Bruce Wayne at one point. And of course, it was a failure. But, again, since there is a good change of this not being canon we can ignore that. 

That lead us to the New 52, where Deathstroke got a new origin but things were messy for him. From time to time you could see details changing, it's confusing. But today we'll be only talking about small details. 

Probably the most well known change was Slade participation on Team 7, the group originated from the Wildstorm universe but was one of the elements that DC introduced in their main continuity. Team 7 is a black ops military unit, Slade fought alongside Dinah Drake and Amanda Waller during tha time, with some other characters of course. 

Another notable detail during this era is the introduction of Lawman, someone who Slade fought alongside in his early days as a mercenary. 

Now we can go to DC Rebirth, where Slade once again had some details about his origin changed. Everything was made more cohesive and easy to understand. We learn how Slade got his sword, in a poker game basically, and the full details about said sword. He got the name Deathstroke after the sword too. 

We also see Slade's first contract and first time using his iconic mask. Still in the army, Slade got a bounty on the head of a General called Dragas.

We learn that in his early days as a mercenary Slade also had a team to back him up. The group was composed by Wintergreen, his best friend, Isherwood, responsible for weapons and gear, Rax and Frederic.

Frederic is not in this image. 

There was also this joke about Slade in one of his first missions getting an address wrong. Not really important but funny to mention.

Later DC would try to introduce a new set of characters, among them, the Silencer. DC's true deadliest assassin. She and Slade would have fought in his early days as a mercenary, with Slade losing. Ok, I do have problems with this. When we meet Slade, he's presented as the mercenary who never failed a contract, so this does not add up. 

In another character breaking moment, we would learn that Slade accepted a contract to kill Robin and fought Batman. One of the first things we learn about Deathstroke is that he does not want to mess with super heroes, since he believes that if you mess with one of them, the rest will come after you. He only went after the Titans due to personal reasons. 

Obviously, Slade also failed this contract. But at least this comic gave us the excuse that he simply covered up his failure. Still, very character breaking and incoherent.

And things get even more confusing, since Slade had been seen trying to kill Batman way before he had a Robin. 

And yes, this is also character breaking. Besides Slade's rule about not going after super heroes, Slade has expressed he absolutely does not want to kill Batman out of respect for him. And, for the third time, this is a contract Slade failed. Oh, the inconsistencies. 

And that's it, some small details that make Deathstroke origin more rich and some inconsistencies, because comics. I do not expect Deathstroke Year One to follow said details, i fully expect some retcons and changes and that's fine by me, some of it needs to be change in my opinion to restore one of Slade core aspects, he's the mercenary who never fails. Or at least he was and should be again. 

Thanks for the time and I hope to see you again here next week as we will be talking about Deathstroke Year One part 1. Have a good one. 

Does Slade deserve a happy father's day?

 Is Deathstroke a good father? The answer is way more complicated than you think.

Due to the nature of comic books, characters flip flop personality traits almost all the time. Slade was show to be a good father and a absolute horrible dad multiple times. Let's take a look at some classic moments. 

At the beginning, Slade was show to be a good father, when we first see his origin the comic tries to sell us this idea. Fun note, in Deathstroke #50 by Christopher Priest this moment is referenced making it still canon. 

However, later when we see how Joseph lost his voice, we learn that was Slade's fault. Now, is it fair to call this man a good father? One thing we can be certain, or at least for now, he does love his kids and has no problem showing this, the problem is that his ego, his pride as a mercenary, gets in the way. 

Later he would have to kill Joseph, something that haunted him for the longest time. Making him even think he does not deserve to be alive. But Slade would get a second chance as a father when Rose was discoverded. 

Wade DeFarge, Slade's half brother, tried to kidnap Rose in order to get to Deathstroke, after that storyline, Rose was sent to live with the Titans for her protection. This would end with her decision to live a normal life, away from her father's world. And that would be a good conclusion for her character, if not by Geoff Johns Teen Titans and nature of comic books. 

Slade would make her his "sidekick", wanting backup to hunt the Titans once again. There is a lot of things wrong here, both Slade and Rose are character assassinated and regressed during this run. Anyway, point is, for now Slade is 100% a terrible father.  No plot twist changes this. 

Yes, this comic had the audacity of having a plot twist, Slade didn't want to kill the Titans, he wanted to make sure they would take care of rose. I don't think i have to explain how unnecessarily convoluted this plan was and how the plot twist does not change the horrible things he did. Moving on. 

Some time later, Slade would create his own Titans(again) and go into a series of almost suicidal missions, all in other to revive Jericho, this time well and stable. Did he make a series of horrible acts during this? Yes. Does all of that make him a terrible human being? 100% Yes. But this proves, he loves Joseph, we would risk his life for him. He cares for his kids, but Slade is so twisted he can't show that in a normal manner. 

And then Flashpoint happened. 

The whole premise of Deathstroke mini series during this event was he searching for Rose, the plot depends on how much he cares for her. And again, he's doing a bunch of horrible things during it. 

Intermission: The father of Deathstroke

During the New 42 we got a whole issue dedicated to Nathaniel Wilson, Slade's father. This is probably the best issue from the N52 series, showing why Slade is the way he his. Due to his father abusive nature, Slade grown up with an inferiority complex and anxiety. 

Slade's father would get "rebooted" as a CIA agent later but since that recton is no longer valid will be skipping that.

The New 52

The New 52 are kind of a mess, and a repetitive one. At the beginning both Jericho and Ravager I are shown as antagonists for Slade, but later that would be changed, Grant would simply be forgotten and Jericho would go back into being a good guy. Well, at the end, the same conclusion as the last exemples, Slade cares for his children, but, this time he's a "hero"(?). He did nothing during his N52 series besides saving the world and helping people. No evil schemes until Deathstroke Annual 1. 

Again, comics are weird. 

Rebirth 

Here, things get really complex. The whole series is about fatherhood. And we get somewhat of a definitive answer to this post question earlier. Slade loves his children but he has no idea about how to show this. This is the most cohesive conclusion possible for this side of the character at this point. 

He wants to do the right thing for his kids, even if it costs his own life. He's just clueless about how to do those things without acting like a super villain. 

A while back, Slade discovered Respawn, a clone made with his and Talia's DNA. Immediately he saw the kid as a another chance of being a good father for once. But in his own way, he wanted to train Respawn, make sure he would be able to protect himself. Unfortunately things did not end up as he intended, but i already talked about how awful what happened was in another post. 

In Conclusion

Slade went from being a good father who let his ego get in the way, to an horrible dad, to a good day again and then to a father with good intentions but incapable of showing this in a healthy way. I guess the reader is the one to decide here, due to complexity of today's topic. To me, the answer is not back or white, but gray.  

Well, that's it for now, happy father's day! 

Slade Wilson : Contract Journal - Part 2

 Better late than never

The New Teen Titans #9 Like puppets on a string! 

Writer: Marv Wolfman 
Artist:George Perez

Colorist: Adrianne Roy

Letterer: Ben Oda

Inker: Romeo Tanghal 

Editor: Len Wein 
Cover: George Perez 

10/10 cover by the way 

Going to be brief with this one, since we're only here for the last page. This issue is(almost) a murder mystery, and Beast Boy is the leading character. Teaming up with Robin, they search for Puppeteer, as the cover kind of spoils who is the villain. This is a great issue, seeing Gar take the lead is always a good thing, since the character has more layers than most people think. Especially considering what happens in the next issue. Another positive aspect is the action, Perez always lands great action. The only possible problem is how things end, one could call this an abrupt ending.

And at the end, Deathstroke steals Promethium, making him even more of a threat. It's important to note that project Promethium was talked about before so it feels tied to the main plot.

The New Teen Titans #10 Promethium Unbound! 

Writer: Marv Wolfman 
Artist:George Perez

Colorist: Adrianne Roy

Letterer: Ben Oda

Inker: Romeo Tanghal 

Editor: Len Wein 
Cover: George Perez 

The comic opens with Slade studying the Titans, besides following the last issue ending since he was the last character seen there, here we have a clue to why the character became so popular. To put it simply, he's not like any other antagonist so far. He seems smarter and more human than anyone we have witness before on this series. He's also very similar to Batman. We get some dialogue explaining what's going on with Deathstroke during this time in a very natural manner, making this easy for new readers to follow. Comics that do this always have positive points with me. 

We also get to know Beast Boy more after, definitely a plus. The main plot begins with Deathstroke kidnaping Sarah Simms, Cyborg's love interest/friend and attacking Starfire. Thanks to his superhuman capabilities and the promethium, he manages to put a fight against her. In other words, he's one tough bastard. Anyway, Slade's plan was to put a speaker on Kory to give the Titans a message. He wants to make a deal, the Titans would have to be at ground zero of a bomb test or Sarah would die. Which is very "mustache twirling" villain-esc from Slade. 

However, knowing the truth about the bomb, the Titans plan out a way to survive the explosion and they confront Slade. As Slade tries to run, Gar goes after him and something quite unexpected happens. Deathstroke kills Beast Boy, for real. One could argue that this was obvious due to how much development Gar had, but the fact that there is nothing on the cover hinting at this makes it a shock anyway(Of course, he comes back, but still). 

 This is a great comic on its own. The art, the story progression, the characterization of the Titans, and of course, what it says about war as a business. I didn't talked about this topic on my review since i wanted to focus on the main plot, but this is a subject this comic touches, one more example of why this is such a legendary run. Good characters, good art and the will to talk about real life issues. 

That's it for today, if everything works out, next month I'll be finally talking about the X-men crossover. Thanks for the time and patience, have a good one. 

Happy Superman day!

 The history between the Man of Tomorrow and the Terminator! 

Slade and Superman actually have a pretty good record when it comes to crossovers, Deathstroke is not one of Superman's rogues but the two definitely have history together. Let's take a look. 

Superman: Panic in the sky! 

In 1992, DC did this big crossover with all Superman titles and for good measure, DC also put some of its most popular characters during that time in the story. And of course, due to his 1991 series, Deathstroke was among them. Brainiac with WarWorld poses a big treat, since the Justice League ins unavailable, Clark needs to assemble a group with anyone he can find to help him.

Unfortunately, this is not a read I would recommend, the story feels very empty, robotic, something the editorial had control over the writers and artists. Still, something worth mentioning. 

Sins of the Father

This Superman/Deathstroke crossover sees the two titular characters in collision course. Slade gets accused of shooting an innocent woman at Metropolis airport. That woman was Lois Lane sister. 

We also get some really great backstory about Slade's time in the army, we see that he fought alongside Lois Lane father, Sam Lane. And of course, Slade battles Superman, and loses. After all, he's Superman. But in a nice twist Slade gives himself in, feeling bad for what happened, and wanting to the right thing for his old friend.

This is a must read for Deathstroke and Superman fans, starting in Superman #68, Deathstroke the Terminator #12 and ending in Deathstroke the terminator #13. This crossover is also a set up for Teen Titans Total Chaos. 

Superman Critical Condition

After falling into a Kryptonite trap, Superman gets in, you guess it, critical condition. With superman's allies trying to cure him, such as Superboy, Steel and Supergirl, in the meanwhile, Slade can be seen going after a character named Encantadora. However, Slade is nothing more than a joke of a character during this storyline. Not a bad comic but nothing you need to read. 

Deathstroke: Godkiller

Slade is hired to kill a greek god during this storyline, ends up in Wonder Woman's island and due to chaos he creates Superman shows up too. Another disappointing story but it has its high points. For instance, the comic creates anticipation for Superman arriving at the island really well. 

Slade, with a magic sword, manages to do some damage to Superman, but as you can expect, Clark beats Slade again. After that, Wonder Woman explains what's happening and he helps the two. Not my type of comic, but I can see people having fun with this. Maybe a recommendation here. 

Deathstroke: The Professional

One of the best Deathstroke stories ever told, Slade finds out a contract has been put to kill his daughter and investigates further into it. At the climax, Superman is send to stop him. This is nothing but pure tension. Slade has no problems cheating and playing dirty. The best thing is how the two talk, lots of questions regarding some mature topics and I appreciate how this comics treats its reader about it. 

Once again, Superman beats Deathstroke. This is a must read for Deathstroke fans, and a fun read for Superman fans as well. 

Superman: Breaking Point 

During this time, the post crisis Superman was going around instead of N52 Superman, so, people like Amanda Waller didn't knew this Superman. In a effort to get to know him a little bit better, Waller hires Slade to see if this Superman is willing to kill. At the same time, Lois is looking for Deathstroke in the hopes of writing an article about the mercenary. 

Not a must read but a short and fun read nonetheless. Slade and Clark fight but with no clear winner since Slade runs away at the end. 

Superman and Deathstroke have been seen together in many DC events, such as Dark Nights Metal, No Justice and others but nothing worth mentioning here. As you saw, Slade never won a single fight against Superman, Sups actually has beaten Slade 4 times. I guess you can't beat the Man of Steel without some plot armour. 

That's it for today, have a good one. And remember, Superman is and always will be the face of superheroes. 

Deathstroke #30 variant cover celebrating 80 years of Superman. 

Dick Grayson vs Slade Wilson, the history

Nightwing vs Deathstroke is something that most, if not all, DC fans enjoy. So here's a quick rundown with the various battles between the two. 

Today... The Terminator! 

Deathstroke first appearance, and since I've already did an entire post about it, this will be a brief mention. At the end of the issue, there is a big fight, Deathstroke and Ravager I(Grant Wilson) face off against the Teen Titans. But, it appears that Dick and Slade don't even fight directly, there are just at the same place during this confrontation. Moving on. 

The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans

Not sure about this since it's most likely not canon(but since DC's continuity lately is a nightmare, why not?). Slade, with ease, defeats Dick. But let's not give this too much weight, since Dick has become a better fighter since then. 

The Judas Contract 

Probably the most famous storyline from Teen Titans, and maybe even the most iconic confrontation between Dick and Slade. Deathstroke surprises Dick and shows some advantage and it comes to physical skill, but Dick manages to surprise Slade by doing something he didn't expect and runs away.

However, later Slade can be seen knocking Dick out  with ease. But I will not be counting this, since Dick was tired and distracted. 

If this be Chaos

In one big move of false advertising, this issue promesses a big fight with the two, but Slade is refusing fight back here. Taking place after Jericho's death at the hands of his own father, Dick is angry at Slade for this act. And so is Slade at himself. 

But as Deathstroke gets tired of Dick's talking, he ends the "fight" in one move. 

Total Chaos

Following the events from Deathstroke the Terminator, everybody is going after Deathstroke for a crime he didn't commit. I know, what a set up, huh? Anyway, Dick goes after Slade here and they fight again, this time a real fight. Deathstroke destroys Nightwing, no arguments about this. 

The Hunting Moon

Slade is hired to capture Man-Bat, but of course, Dick is not just going to let this happen. They fight, Dick tricks Slade in a similar way to what he did back in Judas Contract and manages to save Man-Bat. It's important to mention that Slade did not fail his contract here, he did manage to capture Man-Bat for a while and got his money for it. 

Venn Diagram

Home of that famous painel where Dick pays Slade who was hired to kill a cop, and again, Dick can't let that happen. No winner here again, but its made clear that Dick is not capable of beating Deathstroke. Or at least up to this point. 

The Devil you know 

Ok, I'm not even going to try hiding this, I have issues with this storyline, lots of issues. To put it plainly, Slade's characterization is off, everything here feels weird and inconsistent. The worst thing here however is how Rose is handled. Poor writing at its finest. But, this isn't a review, so moving on. Slade asks Dick to take care of Rose and of course this ends up being a ploy to do some evil things because evil. They have a very brief encounter at the beginning that I'm not even considering.

Infinite Crisis

At the end of this event, all the heroes and villains are at the same place, so a big fight is inevitable. Nightwing with Batman and Robin's help beats Slade. 

Fix you

Nightwing goes after Deathstroke due to the events of Infinite Crisis and the previous encounter between the two. The have a fair fight with no clear winner. Slade bombs the place and Dick disappears.

Titans East 

At the end of this storyline, as you can expect, all major characters involved battle, Dick, in some moments with others helping him, tries taking on Slade. But even with help, Slade is unstoppable, Deathstroke is having a walk in the park with them. 

After being sure his objective was completed, Slade disappears.

Batman vs. Robin

During this time, Dick Grayson was Batman. Slade and Talia tried controlling Damian's body to attack Dick, he survived the attack and went after the two. Slade was debilitated and Dick takes advantage of that to have a little bit of a revenge against the mercenary. And of course, not counting this one, I mean, just look at it. 

Family Reunions 

Deathstroke breaks in Arkham as part of his plan to create a new body for Jericho. Dick, as Batman, shows up to stop him. They have their best fight yet, with Dick posing a challenge for Slade since he's mimicking Deathstroke's own fighting style. Slade ends up putting some Arkham guards in danger in order to distract Dick and then he runs away. 

Dark Crisis

Issue #2 promised a big fight with the two and, personally speaking, what a let down. The fight is just 2 splash pages and we get zero dialogue or anything about their fight strategy. Dick beats Slade so easily that is almost funny. Deathstroke is supposed to be a big threat during this event and here he is getting his ass kicked on the second issue. Points for Dick. 

In Conclusion

As you can see, they don't really have proper fights, most of the time just random encounters with one or the other running away. Anyway, Slade has beaten Dick once, while Dick has beaten Slade two times. 

Now, the same question with my history of Batman vs Deathstroke post, if i had to pick a "champion", who would it be? I don't know, heh. But what do you think? 

That's it for today. have a good one.