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.
