TOOLS OF THE TERMINATOR: The Ikon Suit

When the character designs for the DC Rebirth Deathstroke series by ACO were released, it was assumed by many that the new, streamlined look was simply a cosmetic choice designed to differentiate the series' look from the heavily armored, Liefeldish motif used in prior series. But, in issue #2 of Deathroke (2016), the world was introduced to the "Ikon Suit."

The Ikon Suit was designed by Deathstroke's former special ops associate, David Isherwood. Once Isherwood presented the prototype suit to him, Slade casually dismissed using it, instead choosing just to store it in a footlocker. Isherwood would go one to perfect a version of the suit, which he used to fight crime in Canada as the hero Doctor Ikon. Isherwood's completed suit would find its way to Jericho, Isherwood's former lover, after Isherwood's apparent suicide. Jericho continues to use Isherwood's own suit for his own superhero activities. Slade would later be manipulated into donning his prototype Ikon Suit complete with an artificial intelligence system programmed with his old friend, Wintergreen's, voice and personality, which Isherwood included simply to irritate Slade. Deathstroke now wears an upgraded version of his Ikon Suit.

According to the encyclopedia entry on the DC Universe streaming service, the “'Ikon' suit absorbs kinetic energy and blocks it, making it impervious to bullets or the fist of a superhuman opponent."

The Ikon Suit in action against Superman

Art by Carlo Pagulayan

The FANDOM-hosted DC Database provides even more details:

The Ikon Suit is a gravity sheath, a point defense system which creates a gravitational tidal effect: the greater the surface area, the weaker the defense shield. The suit is virtually impenetrable against anything around the size of a human fist. It is controlled by gestures — along with the EEG (Electroencephalography) leads in the mask. By overclocking the system, one can even attain flight. The suit also has a sophisticated A.I. programmed into it. The Ikon suit also has a major drawback: each suits' programming can be manipulated by any other suit with the master programming. This allows one Ikon suit user to activate or deactivate other suits at their discretion.

Another fault point of the Ikon is it's [sic] Gravity Sheathe can be disrupted and penetrated by Inertron, a heat and light absorbent material that has anti-gravity properties which easily enable it to penetrate it's [sic] point defense shield. Dr. Isherwood developed the Ikon Suit for Deathstroke. He gave the prototype a glance and tossed it into his footlocker, not taking their work seriously at first. A more advanced version of the Ikon Suit is currently worn by Slade, while Jericho proceeded to use the model that Ikon wore.

In any event, Deathstroke's Ikon Suit is one of the cooler additions to the Terminator's mythos.


UPDATE: This post was originally titled "Ikonic: Deathstroke's Ikon Suit."

DC Essentials Deathstroke Figure by Entertainment Earth

Entertainment Earth has produced a new line of DC Essentials action figures, which includes pretty cool Deathstroke. This Deathstroke figure is notable because of its depiction of the Ikon Suit from Christopher Priest's DC Rebirth Deathstroke series. Also in the series is Batman, featuring the Greg Capullo designed bat-suit (pictured below), Superman, Brainiac, the Red Hood, Cyborg Superman, Supergirl, Aquaman, Black Manta, Nightwing, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Cheetah, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Green Lantern, Shazam, and Black Adam.

The product description for the Deathstroke figure from the Entertainment Earth website reads as follows. "The DC Essentials line of 6 3/4-inch scale action figures based on DC characters with universal appeal, accessible to both long-time collectors and those just starting out. This DC Essentials Deathstroke Action Figure goes back to basics with amazing detail and designs based on the designs of Jason Fabok all with an impressive 19 points of articulation."

The Deathstroke figure (Item Number: DC05009) is currently in stock and priced at $22.95.

Image Source: Toyark.com

Gunfire...RIP!

Deathstroke ally, Gunfire (Andrew Van Horn), is confirmed to be one of the victims of the Sanctuary Massacre in issue #3 of Tom King's Heroes in Crisis. Sanctuary is a therapeutic retreat built somewhere in the U.S. Mid-West to be a therapeutic retreat for heroes, and some villains, who suffer from PTSD and other forms of emotional trauma as a result of their participation in the "never-ending battle" of super-heroics. It's unknown at this time why Gunfire was a patient at Sanctuary, but we do know he had only been there for six days. Updates will follow as new information becomes available.

Gunfire's confessional
Art by Clay Mann

Gunfire's body
Art by Clay Mann

Wilson Family Casting Call for Titans Season Two

It seems that Slade Wilson and his two surviving children are slated to appear in the upcoming season two of DC Universe's Titans. The show's producers have put out casting calls for the following:

The family, Wilson is coming to Titans season two
Image Source: DC Comics

• Jericho: "Male, 21-24, Mixed Latino or Mixed Asian. As a young boy, Max was a kind-hearted soul who never measured up to the expectations of his domineering military father. Bullied by his peers, he retreated even further inward." The description for the part continues that "He’s a misfit who’s always longed for acceptance and love, but never found it, always suffering betrayal by those he dared to believe in most. As a result, he’s grown into a young man who now longs to inflict pain on all those who have caused him pain..." The producers go on to state that, "Because of the context of the role, we would really like to look for actors who are deaf or hard of hearing, and are fluent in ASL."
• Slade Wilson: "Latinx, Asian or Caucasian men between the ages of 40 and 55" to play "a military man with a family but whose demanding nature tore that family apart" and is "a dedicated and patriotic soldier," but at some point was forced to retire from military service. 
• Rose Wilson: "Latino or mixed Asian actress between the ages of 18 and 21" to play “a strong, yet damaged woman looking to put her past behind her and find a new family to replace the one that her father destroyed.”

Titans season two is scheduled to begin filming in February 2019.

Deathstroke Co-Creator, George Pérez, Retires from Comic Book Industry

Comic book legend, George Pérez
Image Source: TV Tropes

Citing health reasons, comic book legend, George Pérez announced his retirement from the industry in a press release on January 9, 2019. Pérez, along with writer Marv Wolfman,  co-created Deathstroke, the Terminator as the primary antagonist for their revival of the Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans in 1983. Deathstroke would emerge as a breakout character for DC Comics due in no small part to Pérez's bad-ass character design as well as his realistic, yet emotionally charged and dynamic art style.

In an official press release, Pérez explained that "I’ve been dealing with a myriad number of health issues (diabetes, heart ailments, vision issues, etc.), they have indeed have forced me to, for all intents and purposes, formally retire from the business of creating new comic stories." Pérez still plans on attending a handful of comic book conventions, but can no longer do live sketches for fans. However, he still intends to do photo and autograph sessions.

Pérez impact on the comic book industry cannot be overstated. He has had critically acclaimed runs on such titles as the aforementioned The New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans, Justice League of America, The Avengers, The Brave and the Bold, JLA/Avengers, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Who's Who, Wonder Woman, Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu, The Fantastic Four, Ultraforce, and Marvel Two-In-One. Later in his illustrious career, Pérez was charged with writing and penciling DC Comics' 2011 rebooted Superman title as part of the New 52 and then launched a creator-owned title, Sirens, for Boom! Studios in 2014.

Just to further illustrate the impact that George Pérez has had on the comics industry as a whole, just imagine today's comics landscape without the following characters and concepts that were at least co-created by him. (List not exhaustive.)

• Deathstroke the Terminator
• The Anti-Monitor
• Ares
• Blackfire
• Brother Blood
• Captain Ultra
• The Crisis on Infinite Earths/New Earth
• Cyborg
• Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi)
• The Fearsome Five
• Harbinger (Lyla Michaels)
• Henry Peter Gyrich
• H.I.V.E.
• Jericho
• Jocasta
• "The Judas Contract"
• Lady Quark
• Maxima
• The Monitor/Monitors
• The New Teen Titans
• Nightwing (Dick Grayson)
• Nova (Frankie Raye)
• Pariah
• Plasmus
• The Ravager (Grant Wilson)
• Raven
• The Silver Swan (Valerie Beaudry)
• Starfire
• The Taskmaster
• Terra (Tara Markov)
• The Texas Twister
• Trigon
• White Tiger (Hector Ayala)
• Wintergreen
• Vigilante (Adrian Chase)
• X'Hal

Thank you for everything, George Pérez.