THE TAKEAWAY: Deathstroke (2014) Annual #2

I don't generally like to comment too much about individual stories because of a few reasons. One reason is that my opinion of a book is no better that yours, so who really cares about my critiques on plot or art execution or my reviews of the final product. Secondly, I don't want to be a "spoiler guy" that is constantly publishing key plot points or story elements before many people even get the opportunity to read the books for themselves. However Deathstroke (2014) Annual #2, written by Phil Hester, is such a great book that I do wish to comment on it to a certain degree and I feel that enough time has elapsed since its release to safely do so without ruining any fan's reading experience.

In a story set after the conclusion of Deathstroke (2014) #20, "The Balkan" takes place in the fictional middle-eastern country of Rhapastan, in a region ruled for generations by the rival opium families; the Rhaqqani and the Wudesh. The action opens with an attack on the Rhaqqani by a savage mercenary called "the Balkan," who made it clear that he was hired by the Wudesh. In response, the Rhaqqani acquire the lethal services of Deathstroke for their retaliation. I won't comment further about how the main plot unfolds, but let's just say that the way it plays out hearkens back to such legendary rival families tales as Akira Kurasawa's Yojimbo.

Hester's writing along with Mirko Colak, Roberto Viacava, and Mike Spicer's gritty art appropriately capture a story set in one of the world's most violent and unstable regions. The story comments on several real world issues such as Western intervention in the middle-east, the cycle of retaliatory violence, and the effect of violence on youth. In regards to the last topic, he character of Adi, in particular, a young man introduced as being surrounded by violence, but not yet a participant as depicted by his hesitation to fire a gun when he had the opportunity. But as events unfold, Adi not only witnesses violent acts, but by the end finds himself starkly in the middle of events that change him in a way that will allow him to pull the trigger when the next opportunity is presented.

This issue feels different than Deathstroke's recent adventures. While situations are still tense, and Slade still does what he does, it was grounded in a real-lifelike way, feeling as real as fantasy fiction can. There was no mega-villain like Odysseus, no fantasy trappings like with the God-Killer arc, no over-the-top, super-gauntlet-styled revenge conspiracy like the recent Lawman/Dead Bastards/Ra's al Ghul arc. This was Deathstroke wreaking havoc in a place resembling the real world. There were no real heroes or villains, just actors on a geo-cultural stage and it worked. Christopher Priest has stated that wants to take the Deathstroke character and story back to their roots, and Hester and company have just shown us all that that approach works.

My First Encounter with Deathstroke

I am not a Deathstroke expert, nor am I one of the lucky folks that can claim that they have followed the character from his first appearance in New Teen Titans (1980) #2. I grew up in a very small town some 35 miles from that nearest real comic shop and even a subscription through the mail was out of the question for me. In fact, the reason I started this blog in the first place was to learn more about the character that had always fascinated me through the years even if I wasn't always able to follow his exploits month-to-month. 

My very first exposure to Slade Wilson wasn't even through a traditional comic book, but rather through a New Teen Titan's black and white budget format reprint digest. I purchased it from a grade school book fair in 1982 for the discounted price of $1.49. The digest featured a forward by Marv Wolfman and an original cover by George Pérez (front and back covers pictured below). It collected the New Teen Titans introductory story from DC Comics Presents (1978) #26 as well as the first several issues of the New Teen Titans (1980), which, as the back cover tells us, included the debut of the "Terrible Terminator" in #2. Even the absence of interior coloring couldn't hide all the Deathstroke coolness from his half-dark mask, to his choice and use of weapons, to the way he completely handled the starring cast. Sadly, my copy of this digest didn't survive the 80s, but if your are interested in a rare bit of comics nostalgia merchandise, copies of this digest are still out there to be had if you look in the right places.

DEATHSTROKE COVERED: Slappin' Leather with Yosemite Sam

Here it is folks! The showdown you've been waiting for between "the World's Greatest Assassin," and "the Hootinest, Tootinest, Shootinest Wild-Tailed Bobcat in the West!" Deathstroke the Teminator has his hands full when he "slaps leather" with Yosemite Sam: The Fastest Gun North, South, East, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand West of the Pecos in this Looney Tunes Variant Cover for Deathstroke (2014) #12 by Ryan Benjamin and Spike Brandt.

Deathstroke's Post-Flashpoint/New 52 Daddy Issues

Originally, I planned to do some silly geneology-styled family tree for this post, but the affairs of the Wilson family are seldom simple. It seems at one point or another everyone tries to kill everyone else (Or at least Slade) due to one unforgivable transgression or another. While Slade manages to reconnect time-to-time with his two youngest children at some level, his relationship with his father is never as repairable. Complicating matters even further is the fact that after the Flashpoint event remade the DC Universe, Slade seems to have more than one father. So let's delve into the issues of Slade's two dads (Yep, I just referenced that crappy sitcom).

Nathaniel Wilson

In Deathstroke (2011) issue #8 (the final issue of Kyle Higgins' run), Slade's father, Nathaniel Wilson, was formally introduced. Nathaniel fancied himself a hardened street-level criminal and con man who always had things going on. In reality, he was a life-long loser who, during Slade's childhood, regularly moved he and Slade from town to town because he owed everyone who was a criminal anyone large sums of money due to the frequent failures of his own criminal enterprises.

When desperate, Nathaniel would stoop to common street muggings just to raise enough cash to keep his illegal "creditors" at bay, though he would still get roughed up as a continual reminder that his debts were far from being paid in full. These violent events often played out in front of a young Slade who would normally then himself pay a physical price as his father's proxy victim after the humiliation of getting beaten up by the mob debt collectors.

Eventually, Nathaniel's debts became more than he could ever pay. To settle a $10,000 debt to the criminal, Rossi, Nathaniel took Slade to secluded area of the Grand Canyon. When Rossi arrived, Nathaniel handed over his own son to him as payment for the debt. It was this particular event that built the fire in Slade to not only begin his own dark business pursuits, but to be the best in the world at them, if for no other reason than to show his father that he was far better at them than Nathaniel could ever have been. To further drive this point home, once Nathaniel became old and feeble, from time to time, Slade would visit his bed-ridden father's home in Gary, Indiana to place cutouts of newspaper articles chronicling his various exploits on a bulletin board facing his bed. As Nathaniel could neither speak, nor could physically remove the articles from the wall, he had little choice but to confront the facts that Slade had indeed far surpassed anything he ever accomplished in his life.

OR...

Charles Henry Wilson,
A.K.A. Odysseus

In Deathstroke (2014) #1-6, Tony S. Daniel introduced us to Slade's father, Charles Henry Wilson, also know as the super-villain, Odysseus. Charles Wilson was a former CIA. operative that went missing after an assignment in Russia went bad. It is revealed that Charles had a metagene that allowed him great physical and psionic abilities and that this gene was passed down to his grandson, Joseph, (A.K.A. Jericho). Somehow Charles' body was recovered by the League of Assassins who in turn abducted Jericho to use his power to bring Charles back to life as Odysseus. Upon his resurrection, Odysseus had the ability to control the minds of large groups of people, as he demonstrated on a groups of fighters in Syria. It is also revealed that it was Charles' metagene DNA that was used to bring about the enhancements of Slade's physical and mental abilities, turning him into the Deathstroke that we all know and love.

Some online Wikis claim that after the Russia debacle, that Charles actually survived and went into hiding by adopting the Nathaniel identity. The problem with this theory is that Nathaniel and Charles simply can't be the same person because, as Slade claimed in Deathstroke (2014) #3, "I haven't seen my father since I was twelve." If that were the case, then who exactly was the Nathaniel Wilson that Slade visited in Gary, Indiana since Slade was clearly an adult in Deathstroke (2011) #8? Furthermore, in Deathstroke (2014) #4, Slade seems a bit taken aback when he realizes that Victor Ruiz and his Dead Bastards group want him to take Odysseus out. Slade states that, "...you want me to kill my own father," and further claimed that if Ruiz hadn't, "monkeyed with my brain. I would have never agreed to it." It seems to me that he might not have been as hesitant to kill Nathaniel as he is to kill Charles, especially after the whole being sold to a mobster to settle Nathaniel's debt bit.

This multiple fathers conundrum may just be a simple case of a retcon, or even just poor title editing. Regardless of which father is the real father, it's safe to say that Slade's father completely sucked. Not that Slade of father of the year material, but then again, he hardly had a descent role-model in in that department. I'm going to continue trying to sort this Nathaniel vs. Charles business out and I will post an update if I am finally able to crack this mystery in the future.

Deathstroke (2014) Goes Out with a Bang!

Deathstroke (2014) #20 is now available digitally and in print marking the end for the third ongoing series to feature Deathstroke. But, this volume goes out with a bang as James Bonny, Paolo Pantelena, and Arif Prianto bring to you The Ravager, Jericho, Victor Ruiz, the Dead Bastards, the League of Assassins, and a cover teasing a Deathstroke vs. Ra's al Ghul clash to the death. This may be the end for this series, but remember that Deathstroke (2016) Rebirth #1 hits digital outlets and comic shops on August 10, 2016.

Deathstroke in 1993's DC Comics Cosmic Teams Trading Card Set

With the success of Impel/Skybox's 1992 DC Comics Cosmic Cards trading card set, a sequel was a foregone conclusion. The following year Skybox released DC Comics Cosmic Teams consisting of 150 normal cards featuring Team Triptychs, DC Flashbacks, 2 checklist cards, and 6 hologram cards. Deathstroke, in a more hero-like costume, is featured in the New Titans Team Triptych card #10 and in a solo hero card #60, all of which are pictured below. Sadly no hologram card for Slade in this set.

Deathstroke: The...Cat?

I'm not a huge fan of internet cat photos/videos so I'm just now seeing this one. Her name is Venus. Wow! Except for still having both eyes, this cat is a dead ringer (pun intended) for the world's greatest assassin. Even the orange and black are on the correct sides of her face. It's been claimed that she is a "chimera," which a single organism made from two originally distinct embryos that fuse together soon after conception. However Columbia University geneticist, Prof. Virginia Papaioannou, explained to  New Republic.com that Venus, while looking like a total bad-ass, is simply a normal calico cat whose genes randomly expressed this way due to something called "X-Inactivation Mosaicism."

I'm certainly no geneticist, but I'll try to summarize Prof. Papaioannou's explaination here. All females have two x-chromosomes replete with a full set of genetic information, but will only need half of it to create a healthy organism (this is why males can be healthy organisms with only one x-chromosome). Because females only need one set of genetic instructions per cell, one of the x-chromosomes per cell randomly becomes inactive. So for females, gene expression is considered to be "mosaic" with half of the genetic information coming from one x-chomosome and half come from the other. In Venus' case, one x-chromosome contributed black fur information and the other contributed orange. The random nature of x-chromosome inactivation per cell resulted in Venus' Deathstrokesque facial markings. I may have been a few years late with this story, but where else would you get the genetics lesson that goes with it? Am I right?

Terra Who's Who Entry from 1986

Here is a scan of the 1986 Who's Who entry from issue #23 (XXIII) for Deathstroke's Judas Contract co-conspirator, Terra with art by New Teen Titans' legend, George Pérez.

Deathstroke in 1992's DC Comics Cosmic Cards Trading Card Set

In the early 90s, comic book properties were showing up in all kinds of products. One of the coolest forms of comic book merchandise were trading cards. After Marvel launched successful card sets, DC released their own trading card set in 1992 from Impel called DC Comics Cosmic Cards. The Cosmic Card set consisted of 180 regular cards, which featured heroes, villains, DC Comic events, classic covers, and two checklist cards. In addition to the normal cards the set also contained 10 Hologram Hall of Fame chase cards. Deathstroke was featured prominently in this set in a number of ways.

First, lets take a look at the packaging. Batman was sadly missing from this set as his trading card rights were still held by Topps. However, featured prominently on the card pack wrappers are the usual suspects of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and...Deathstroke? Yep. Check out the wrapper images below.

Deathstroke was also featured on two different versions of a normal card. His normal card was #44 in the set. Both sides of this card are shown below.

Oddly enough, Deathstroke also has an inadvertanat second normal card as there was a printing error on some cards in which the DC Q & A question was missing (See image below). 

But that wasn't all. Deathstroke was also featured on one of the ten Hologram Hall of Hame chase cards with card #DCH3. Both sides of this cards are shown below.

THE TERMINATOR TAKEAWAY: Christopher Priest's DC Comics.com Deathstroke Rebirth Interview

Deathstroke Rebirth #1 cover art by ACO

Recently DC Comics. com conducted an interview with new Deathstroke scribe, Christopher Priest, called, "Blood Bonded: Christopher Priest Sets His Sights on Deathstroke," in order to give fans a sneak peek at what to expect from the world's greatest assassin going forward. If you wish to read the interview for yourself, you may do so by clicking/tapping here. Here are my takeaways from the interview broken down for blog consumption.

• Priest is writing Deathstroke as a villain, not as an anti-hero. So think Golgo 13, not Wolverine.
• Priest is giving Deathstroke a supporting cast again. Wintergreen returns in Deathstroke #1 after the Rebirth issue with others cast members to follow.
• Priest looks to bring Deathstroke's character more in line with the "evil version of Batman" approach used in the Marv Wolfman and George Pérez days. Less mysticism and more real world action and intrigue.
• Priest is embracing Slade's sociopathic nature and the difficulty it brings to his personal relationships with his children. As the series progresses both Rose (issue #3) and Joseph (later in the series) are mentioned specifically as appearing. Even Slade's long-time right-hand-man, Wintergreen, starts to question Slade's actions at some point.
• Priest will explore the ideas of heroism vs. villainy as well as super-heroism vs. vigilante justice.
• Priest also looks at Slade's relationship with all of the blood-money he has earned over the years as the world's greatest assassin.

I can't wait for Priest's take on Deathstroke to unfold beginning with Deathstroke: Rebirth #1, scheduled to go on sale on August 10, 2016.

Deathstroke: Arkham Assassin is Outstanding!

When people think of fan films, terrible acting, cheesy costumes, and cardboard scenery usually come to mind. But in directors Chris and Larry White's 2014 fan film Deathstroke: Arkham Assassin, viewers are treated to a very good presentation of what a larger budget studio treatment of Slade could possibly be. The 8-minute film takes place just prior to to events of Batman: Arkham Origins video game with crime boss Black Mask putting together a team of assassins to bring down a new-on-the-scene Dark Knight. In Deathstroke: Arkham Assassin, professional-grade camera work, adequate acting, excellent costuming and fight choreography all come together for a really enjoyable short film. But don't just take my word for it. On the filmmakers' YouTube channel (GoingNowhereShow) the comments section tells viewers to, "share our vid if you enjoyed it," so I have done just that here. This short film has been viewed over 1.2 million times as of this writing. Enjoy!

P.S. I suggest watching this at fullscreen on the largest screen on which you can show it.

Jericho Who's Who Entry from 1986

Here is a scan of the 1986 Who's Who entry from issue #11 (XI) for Deathstroke's son Jericho with art by New Teen Titans legend, George Pérez.

Deathstroke and Ravager's DC Rebirth Redesigns

The artist ACO has redesigned the looks of both Slade and Rose/Ravager for the DC Rebirth relaunch of Deathstroke's title. As one can see below, ACO has ditched Leifeld's bulky 90s Youngblood-style armored look for Slade in favor of a sleeker, more modern look. Darker blues with dashes of orange are the idea here featuring streamlined gear and weaponry with the trademark half-black mask/helmet is still intact. Yet with the mask/helmet removed from the new attire, Slade looks less like a middle-aged super-merc and more like a surfer dude in a wetsuit looking to catch a wave. I kid, but I really am digging these redesigns.

This says, "I am modern warfare!"

This says, "Cowabunga, dudes!"

ACO's take on Ravager's new look is clearly inspired by 2016 fitness fashion as Rose is sporting a racerback top, workout shoes, and...wait for it...YOGA PANTS! This is easily my favorite Rebirth redesign and the best one since Batgirl of Burnside. This is exactly what my teenage daughter would wear if she were a trained killer.

Fashionable, functional, fatal.

She just finished a workout and didn't have time to put on her mask before killing you.

This time she went with the mask, but not the upper body armor. A great choice for showing off abs, but not for mortal combat.

The Terminator (A.K.A. Deathstroke) Who's Who Entry from 1986

Here is a scan of the 1986 Who's Who entry from issue #23 (XXIII) for The Terminator with art by Deathstroke's co-creator, the legendary George Pérez.

Welcome to the Deathstroke Files.

This is the very first of hopefully many posts in a blog dedicated to all things Deathstroke. I'm basing the construction of this admittedly modest blog upon the outstanding Aquaman Shrine in which I hope to utilize the one-post-per-day strategy to make this space something of which I can be truly be proud.

So, why Deathstroke? He's bad ass; end of story. Besides, I didn't run across many sites or blogs that paid much attention to him. Plus, with the all the Marvel Zombies (my less than affectionate term for blind Marvel fanboys/fangirls) seemingly obsessed with a certain ridiculous parody ripoff, I felt that the genuine mercenary article could use some well deserved publicity. So, load up the guns, sharpen the swords, and arrange for transport because The Deathstroke Files are open for business.