DEATHSTROKE BY: Jericho by Phil Cho

Given both that it's Pride Month and his upcoming roles in both Deathstroke (2016) as well as the greater DC Comics' "Year of the Villain" mega-event, I thought that it would be appropriate to spotlight Jericho in this edition of DEATHSTROKE BY. With that said, the U.S. artist, and huge DC Comics fan, Phil Cho is doing some really interesting work, many examples of which appear in his DeviantArt gallery. Cho's Jericho piece (posted below) is from a larger commissioned series that features many characters from the Wolfman and Pérez era of the Teen Titans. The full body portrait depicts Joseph Wilson in full, classic super-heroic gear with his trademark black and green eye effects indicating that the viewer is about to experience a rather weird couple of minutes. Cho's art style is reminiscent of that which is used in animation cells utilizing color shading rather than the standard comic book line shading the effect of which adds a sense of motion to an otherwise static super-hero pose. Hats off to Phil Cho for a nice bit of art dedicated a much-underappreciated character.

Cyborg From 1985's Who's Who #5

Regardless of specific comic book continuity, Victor Stone, aka Cyborg, became the symbolic embodiment of the future's promise to overcome the challenges and tragedies of today through the continued advancement of knowledge and technology. Even though he was created in 1980, it's apropos that a character born of state-of-the-art technology has really come into his own in the twenty-first century. Two years before the real world's Jarvik 7 artificial heart was implanted in a human, Marv Wolfman used cutting-edge technology to reconstruct over half of Victor Stone's body following a catastrophic lab explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs. Now, in a world of routine artificial hip replacements, cochlear implants, and voluntary embedding of microchips in the human body, a character like Cyborg seems more prophetic that fictional.

Even though he has been associated with other superhero groups, like the Doom Patrol or more recently the Justice League, Cyborg will be forever linked with the New Teen Titans. Cyborg lengthy tenure with the began with the team's revival, putting him squarely on a collision course with the original Ravager, Grant Wilson, and his father, Deathstroke the Terminator. In fact, Grant's first ever act as the Ravager from New Teen Titans (1980) #2 was an attack on Cyborg, from which he needed an unexpected assist from the Terminator to avoid defeat. This event made Cyborg the first Teen Titan to cross figurative swords with Deathstroke. Posted below is a scan from Cyborg's 1985 Who's Who entry from issue #5 (V) featuring art by both Deathstroke's and Cyborg's legendary co-creator, George Pérez, and Romeo Tanghal.

Art by George Pérez and Romeo Tanghal

Deathstroke Animated Series to Air on CW Seed

A funny thing happened at this year's broadcast and cable television industry trade exposition, known as The TV Upfronts. During a live presentation to prospective advertisers, CW Network President, Mark Pedowitz announced that an animated series starring none other than Deathstroke is currently in development and was on its way to the CW Seed digital streaming platform. In the past few years, the CW Seed has a put together a strong track record of developing other animated series based on DC Comics' television properties such as Vixen (2015), Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017), and Constantine: City of Demons (2018). Though unconfirmed, it is speculated that the animated series will draw its inspiration from the television version of Deathstroke that appeared in the CW's Arrow, which was portrayed by the fan-favorite actor, Manu Bennett.

A promo image for the animated Deathstroke series in development
for The CWSeed digital streaming platform.

Pedowitz was light on details like voice cast members or even a premiere date, but he did drop some interesting nuggets about the series premise. The show will "follow Slade [Wilson] as his family is threatened by the murderous villain Jackal and terrorist organization HIVE." It certainly sounds like the animated series' developers are borrowing heavily from Deathstroke's early appearances in New Teen Titans (1980) and the "Full Cycle" story arc from Deathstroke the Terminator (1991), all of which was written by Deathstroke's legendary co-creator, Marv Wolfman. If the image above is any indication, it appears that Deathstroke's look will resemble the bulky New 52/Arrow-style armor rather than the sleek and stealthy Ikon Suit. 

As more details about Deathstroke's CW Seed animated series emerge, you can be sure that The Deathstroke Files will bring them straight to you.

Happy Birthday, Marv Wolfman From the Deathstroke Files!

Happy birthday to Deathstroke's
co-creator, Marv Wolfman!

Today the Deathstroke Files celebrates the 73rd birthday of Deathstroke the Terminator's legendary co-creator, Marv Wolfman. Wolfman's first professional work was in 1968 as a plotter for DC Comics' Blackhawk (1956) #242. Marv has worked as a writer and an editor for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics and continues to put out great stories to this day.

He has written some of the most important comic book titles ever published in the United States including DC Comics' House of Secrets (1956), Green Lantern (1960), Superman (1939), Action Comics (1938), Adventure Comics (1935), Batman (1940), The New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans (1980), the landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Vigilante (1983), The New Teen Titans/The New Titans (1984), and of course, Deathstroke the Terminator (1991). 

Wolfman also made significant contributions to the Marvel Comics Universe, not only as its one-time Editor-in-Chief, but with seminal runs as a writer on titles such as Amazing Spider-Man (1963), Daredevil (1964), Fantastic Four (1961), Marvel Two-in-One (1974), Nova (1976), and Tomb of Dracula (1972).

In addition to his mainstream work, Wolfman also had successful runs on some independent comics like Sable (1988) for First Comics, a creator-owned series The Man Called A-X (1994) for Malibu Comics' Bravura imprint (volume 2, however, landed at DC Comics), both Rob Liefeld's Brigade (1992) and Darren G Davis' 10th Muse (2000) at Image Comics and Defex (2004) for the Aftermath imprint of Devil's Due Productions. The man's work is prolific!

Wolfman has left comics at times to make some pop culture contributions in other genres of speculative fiction. After the release of Transformers: The Movie in 1986, fans and many parents were outraged at the death of Optimus Prime and were resistant to his successor, Rodimus Prime during season three of the animated television series. To assuage angry fans and toy buyers, in Wolfman was charged with co-writing a two-part story that aired in early 1987, which resurrected Optimus Prime after the original season finale had aired in 1986. In 1999, Wolfman developed the series Transformers: Beast Machines to air on Fox television. In addition to his work in television, in 2005, Wolfman wrote a prose novelization of his watershed comic book, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then he novelized the film, Superman Returns in 2006, which almost by most accounts was the superior way to experience the story.

Wolfman is still putting out excellent comic book work today. He returned to his New Teen Titans creation, Raven, for two well-received limited series, Raven (2016) and Raven: Daughter of Darkness (2018). Originally written for the ultimately canceled Superman Confidential (2007), Wolfman's Man and Superman 100-Page Super Spectacular (2019), which Wolfman himself describes as “...the best Superman story I’ve ever written,” was a critical success as evidenced by a 9.6 rating on comic book review aggregator, ComicBook Round Up.

No matter how much I write here, I can never come close to doing Wolfman's career justice. With that said, happy birthday, Marv Wolfman! 

THERE'S NO "EYE" IN TEAM: Deathstroke on Team Entropy

Cover to Justice League: No Justice
(2018) #2 featuring Team Entropy
Art by Francis Manapul

This is the first of a new feature series that I'm calling "THERE'S NO 'EYE' IN TEAM." This feature will explore Deathstroke's varied (but admittedly brief) tenures on super-teams. Some teams were fighting to save the world. Some teams were trying to take over the world. Some teams were all about the money. But whatever the team's purpose, 

When it was clear that Scott Snyder's insane Dark Nights: Metal (2017) was a smash hit, Snyder and DC wanted to investigate what other crazy directions stories could take in Metal's wake. Snyder had a wealth of tales to tell that spawned directly from Metal, but they would require the entire Justice League cast, and then some. DC had Christopher Priest wrap up his run on Justice League (2016) to make room for Snyder's post-Metal upcoming Justice League (2018), but Snyder first needed to set the stage. Enter Brainiac and Justice League: No Justice (2018).

In Snyder's No Justice, Brainiac abducts numerous heroes and villains from Earth and informs them that because the heroes' actions during Dark Nights: Metal broke the Source Wall, the universe was now vulnerable to numerous threats of universal proportions that had been locked safely behind the wall. The first of these threats to emerge was the celestially powerful Omega Titans. Each Omega Titan was powered by one of the four aspects of sentient life; wonder, mystery, wisdom, and entropy and held that their specific aspect to be superior to the others and devised a way to test these notions. The Titans planted four seeds, one containing a different aspect of sentience on myriad planets that had yet to develop sentient life. Over millennia once sentience and civilizations had evolved on these worlds, the Omega Titans would return to see which of the four aspects had become the dominant one on that world. With the superior aspect determined, the "winning" Titan would then consume the world. This process would continue until all sentient life in the universe had been destroyed. 

Brainiac successfully convinced his assembled metahumans that he had formed a plan to stop the Omega Titans. On Colu, wisdom reigned supreme rendering mystery, wonder, and entropy weaker there. Brainiac reasoned that in order to stop the Wisdom Titan from destroying Colu, that the other aspects would need to be strengthened. To strengthen the weaker aspects, teams would be sent to the "Cosmic Trees," which grew from the aspect seeds that the Omega Titans planted eons before. To further "motivate" the abductees, Brainiac also informed them that if they failed on Colu, he made sure that The Omega Titans would target Earth next as he placed Titan Seeds there to attract them.

To succeed on Colu, the collected heroes and villains would have to abandon their previous alliances and rivalries and assemble into new teams of Brainiac's design. Brainiac regrouped the abducted heroes and villains based on the personal attributes that aligned best to each specific Titan aspect. For the Entropy Titan, Brainiac formed Team Entropy composed of Batman, Lex Luthor, Lobo, Beast Boy, and, of course, Deathstroke the Terminator.

Team Entropy initial design art featuring Beast Boy, Lobo, Batman, Lex Luthor,
and Deathstroke the Terminator
Art by Francis Manapul

Unfortunately, before Brainiac could communicate details about what to do at each tree location, his head literally exploded due to the foolish interference of Amanda Waller, who was trying to covertly extract all the knowledge held within Brainiac's mind from Earth. This turn of events left the assembled teams on Colu with clearly defined destinations, but without clear courses of action for when they all arrived. Luckily for each team, the costumes that Brainiac made for them contained "nodes" that drew each team to their designated Cosmic Tree.

Team Entropy was drawn to the Entropy Tree, which had sprung up in the middle of Colu's mega prison, the Ultra Penitence. Lex Luthor reasoned that the Entropy Tree, "must feed off of the chaos inside" the Ultra Penitence, therefore to boost the Entropy Tree's power, per Brainiac's plan, Team Entropy had to cause as much chaos as possible by freeing all of the prisoners. Once Team Entropy began freeing prisoners, they met resistance in the form of guard drones. While Batman called for an orchestrated counterattack, it was Deathstroke that suggested a more chaotic approach as illustrated in the image below.

No one thinks violence quite like Deathstroke.
Art by Francis Manapul

Team Entropy continued to fight deeper and deeper into the Ultra Penitence, but the farther they infiltrated into the prison, the noticed that the robotic drones were guarding one cell in particular. Surmising that this prisoner was the true source of chaos, Team Entropy focused their efforts on that cell as the key to their mission. But once they open the cell door, what Team Entropy found inside was none other than Brainiac's son, Vril Dox, aka Brainiac 2.0. Needless to say the introduction of Vril Dox to this already seemingly impossible equation only served to further complicate matters for our ad hoc team of protagonists, but I'm not going to spoil the ending to this tale. To see how it all turns out, I suggest reading Justice League: No Justice for yourself.

Though I love that Deathstroke was chosen for this event, I wouldn't say that he stood out. I know that it is impossible for every character to be a star in an ensemble cast, but it felt like Snyder chose Deathstroke simply because he was a popular character rather than for any reasons pertaining to the story. Deathstroke has outstanding leadership and strategic sensibilities, they can never be exploited to their fullest potential for any team on which Batman and Lex Luthor were members. Like the other characters, Deathstroke's inclusion on Team Entropy made sense given the squad's theme and objective, but for no bigger role part than he played in the overall story, Deathstroke's role could have been filled by any number of other entropic/chaotic characters, such as the Creeper, Deadshot, Plastic Man, or even the Heckler making Deathstroke's inclusion here feel somewhat forced. At the very least, Snyder represented Deathstroke competently and respectfully, though his dialog vernacular seemed at times to be lowbrow compared to his usual characterizations by Marv Wolfman or Christopher Priest. In any event, Justice League: No Justice is a worthy read regardless of its use of Deathstroke as a "look, he's here too" background character.

DEATHSTROKE COVERED: Neal Adams' Deathstroke (2014) #15 Variant Cover

Neal Adams
Image Source: ComicVine.com

Neal Adams role in the history of American comic books is without question. Beginning his career as a newspaper comic strip artist, Adams soon garnered a stellar reputation because of his realistic, mature artistic portrayals within the context of a supposedly "childish" medium. He soon enjoyed seminal runs providing dynamic and emotionally expressive artwork to such iconic characters as Deadman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the X-Men, and the Avengers. Adams also brilliantly penciled the now legendary, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) one-shot, which holds a special place for him personally. In 1984, Adams formed his own comic book company in Continuity Comics, which brought us the adventures of new heroes like Ms. Mystic, Megalith, Samuree, and Valeria the She-Bat.

Though Continuity Comics folded in 1994, Neal Adams contributions to the industry did not. Adams returned to DC in the 2010s to continue the adventures of some characters with which he is most closely associated. From 2010 to 2012, Adams wrote and penciled volumes one and two of Batman Odyssey, in 2016 he produced Superman: The Coming of the Supermen, and then he returned to his own co-creation for Deadman (2017).

For April of 2016, DC Comics commissioned Adams to create a series of variant covers for many of its current-running titles. These variants were homages to some of Adam's most famous covers of the Silver age. His cover for Deathstroke (2014) #15 was inspired by his own cover for Strange Adventures (1950) #207, featuring Deadman. The Deathstroke variant cover, the original cover that inspired it are posted below.

Art by Neal Adams

Neal Adams' cover for Strange Adventures (1950) #207

I don't know if the people in the Strange Adventures cover were based upon real people that Adams knew, but the people in the Deathstroke cover certainly were. Posted below is an image of the finished artwork for Deathstroke (2014) #15 without title graphics to obstruct any of the faces. A key to the faces is provided below the image. Oddly enough, though Deathstroke co-creator Marv Wolfman is included, missing from the background headshots is Deathstroke's other co-creator, the legendary George Pérez.

Finished art without title graphics.
Art by Neal Adams

Background Headshot Key:

Top Row: Bob Haney, E. Nelson Bridwell, Jenette Kahn, Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert, and Marv Wolfman
Second Row: Dan DiDio, Paul Levitz, and Julius Schwartz
Third Row: Bob Kane, Jim Lee, and Jack Adler
Fourth Row: Len Wein, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, and Jerry Siegel
Bottom Row: Archie Goodwin, Karen Berger, Denny O’Neil, and Joe Shuster.

Template for the Terminator: Takao Saito's Golgo 13

The Golgo 13 logo; a
skeleton wearing a crown
of thorns.

Deathstroke the Terminator is widely recognized, if not universally accepted, as the greatest assassin in the colorful and over-the-top history of the comic book medium. But just shy of 12 years prior to Deathstroke's debut in New Teen Titans (1980) #2, another elite contract killer exploded into comic book existence in Japan. On November 29, 1968, Takao Saito unleashed Goglo 13 upon an unworthy world in the pages of Shogakukan's Big Comic #196901. Describes by fans as "Japan's James Bond," Golgo 13's continued appeal is evidenced by his starring in the longest continually-running manga in history, which continues to this very day. This stone-cold killer plies his grim trade much the same way that Slade Wilson does by employing strict personal rules of engagement and a near-slavish adherence to his, somewhat twisted sense of professional ethics. This post will examine Goglo 13 as both a character in his own right and as a prototype for the kind action that Deathstroke fans have come to love.

Like Deathstroke, the mysterious Golgo 13's reputation as an assassin is sterling as he is described as the "professional's professional," referencing his uncanny success rate in fulfilling his contracts. His primary assassination method is sniping with a specially modified M-16. His sniping ability is preternatural as he has made shots from over a mile away, through a hotel room's bulletproof window, and even by ricocheting a bullet off of waves in a swimming pool to achieve an "impossible" killshot...twice. He also carries a Smith & Wesson snub nose revolver when the action turns up-close and personal. Hand-to-hand, Golgo 13 is a supremely conditioned athlete as well as is an elite-level boxer, wrestler, and judoka. He is also well-versed in Sambo, Kobudo, T'ai Chi Chuan, and other exotic martial arts.

The personal name he uses, Duke Togo, is almost certainly an alias devised to disguise his true origins. "Duke" is a Western name that brings with it connotations of nobility, while the surname "Togo" suggests that he is Japanese, though conflicting accounts, which are most likely circulated by him, serve to confound these notions. Even the professional nom de guerre, Golgo 13, carries dark and foreboding implications. "Golgo" is short for Golgotha (a Greco-Roman corruption of the Aramaic word "gulgulta," which translates literally as "place of the skull"), the mythic hill near Jerusalem where Jesus of Nazareth is believed by some to have been crucified. The number "13," of course, has been associated with bad fortune or other sinister happenings as far back as the ancient Persians. But, no matter what he is called, it means very bad news for some unfortunate soul.

Neither of these points of view is particularly healthy for the viewer.
Art by Takao Saito and ACO

I have no idea if Marv Wolfman was familiar with Goglo 13 before he created Deathstroke, but the similarities between the two elite killers are remarkable. Their professional reputations as assassins are unquestioned. Like Deathstroke, Golgo 13 carries out every contract he accepts, without exception doing whatever it takes to complete the job. But unlike Slade, Golgo only meets with a client once and is never in contact with them again, while Slade has no problem with repeat business. They both demand complete honesty from their clients as any dishonesty from them will result in fatal consequences. Both Deathstroke and Golgo13 command seven-figure fees, lead emotionally empty lives filled with the finest of material things and are unrepentant, serial womanizers. Both men have fathered multiple children, at least one of whom has died. Both assassins are independent contractors, but while they do take contracts offered by governments, neither man is officially aligned with any government because their particular distrustful of them (especially the U.S. government). 

While Deathstroke is a very popular comic book character today, make no mistake; he is a villain. Without any doubt, this can also be said for Golgo 13. While Deathstroke and Golgo 13 occasionally work alongside "good guys," they are cold-blooded, remorseless killers who will murder anyone, for anyone, if the price is right. While these characteristics are usually incompatible with fictional protagonists, they are the lynchpins of these characters' successes, serving to separate them from the overcrowded roster of "white-hat" comic book heroes. While Golgo 13's and Deathstroke's actions are never admirable, they each possess a certain dark charisma that has attracted millions of fans for decades. If Deathstroke the Terminator is successful today, it is due in part to Takao Saito and Golgo 13 for showing the world that people were indeed ready and willing to root for the bad guy.

If anyone is interested in checking out the adventures of Golgo 13, Amazon.com and other retailers carry most of the English language media that feature him, which are listed below.

• Manga
• Golgo 13 volumes #1-13 by Viz Media (Be prepared to pay a pretty penny for vols. 1-5 as they are currently out of print and independent sellers have jacked-up the price tremendously.)
• Anime
• Gologo 13: The Professional (1983) Blu-Ray
• Golgo 13: Queen Bee (1998) OAV Special Edition DVD (Jacked-up prices too!)
• Golgo 13: The Complete Series (2008-2009) Blu-Ray 6-Disc Box Set (All 50 episodes)
• Live Action Films
• Golgo 13 (1973)
• Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977) DVD
• Video Games
• Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode (1988) for the Nintendo Entertainment System
• The Mafat Conspiracy (1990) for the Nintendo Entertainment System

For your perusal, profiles of both exceptional killers are juxtaposed below. For best results open the images in their own tabs. (Warning: Golgo 13's profile deals with some adult themes.)

Text by Carl Horn
Art by Takao Saito

Text by Marv Wolfman
Art by George Pérez

NIghtwing's Who's Who Entry from 1986

When Dick Grayson debuted in 1938's in the pages of Detective Comics (1937) #38, he originated the role of Batman's colorfully dressed teen sidekick, Robin. Grayson would carry this mantle until 1984's "The Judas Contract" story where he (along with Marv Wolfman and George Pérez) forged a new crime-fighting identity in Nightwing, during which his rivalry with Deathstroke really took off. I know that DC and Comixology recently re-released a digitally remastered version of the series, but posted below is a scan of the original 1986 Who's Who entry from issue #17 (XVII) featuring art by the Nightwing persona's co-creator, the legendary George Pérez.

The Terrible Tale of Marvel Comics' Death-Stroke

Yep, Death-Stroke just said that $#!+.
Art by Steve Leialoha

If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Marvel Comics writer, Chris Claremont must have really loved Deathstroke. In 1981, Claremont was more than five years into his seminal run on Uncanny X-Men (1963), which had experienced a revival and was one of the most popular and best selling comic book titles of the late 1970s and into the early 80s. 

But in the fall of 1980, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez relaunched DC Comics' Teen Titans with the New Teen Titans (1980). Wolfman and Pérez returned popular DC teen characters such as Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash in addition to a newly renamed Changeling, the angst-filled Cyborg, the dark and mysterious Raven, and the alluring alien sex-symbol, Starfire. And by issue #2, Wolfman and Pérez introduced an extremely charismatic, one-eyed, Terminator in blue and orange battle gear. The popularity of the New Teen Titans heroes (and a certain bad-ass villain) skyrocketed the title to the top of the sales charts and made itself serious competition to Claremont's band of mutant heroes.

By 1981, in addition to his duties on Uncanny X-Men, Claremont also wrote Marvel's Spider-Woman (1978) title. In Spider-Woman #39, Claremont decided to poke a little fun at his "distinguished competition" by lampooning Wolfman and Pérez's breakout villain, Deathstroke. Claremont's "master assassin," Death-Stroke (the hyphen means it's original), was contracted by Yakuza gangsters to murder Dan Ishima, a friend of Spider-Woman's alter ego, Jessica Drew. To assist Death-Stroke in his deadly work is his murderous crew of mercenary assassin named, the Terminators (that's correct: Death-Stroke and his Terminators). Once Spider-Woman arrived on the scene and engaged Death-Stroke in hand-to-hand combat, she made relatively quick work on him, despite his use of self-described "snazzy moves," and an always dangerous, "energy blade" that was capable of slicing a steel girder in twain. Death-Stroke would not make another appearance until his final one about a decade later in 1991 in the pages of Captain America (1968) #395 where he was killed while auditioning for a spot in the Red Skull's Skeleton Crew. That's right, Death-Stroke died during a job interview.

Whether it's his cleverly (?) hyphenated name or the ease of his defeat at the hands of Spider-Woman, Death-Stroke was clearly Claremont having a bit of fun at Wolfman, Pérez, and DC Comics' expense. Marvel apparently got the joke as evidenced by his ridiculous death. But I suppose as a parody character Death-Stroke isn't the worst I've seen. I mean he's no Red Tool...or Death Masque for that matter (I know; I'm sorry). In any event, enjoy the eight panels of glory that was Death-Stroke vs. Spider-Woman posted below.

Art by Steve Leialoha

THE TERMINATOR TAKEAWAY: Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)

This post may be a few years too late, but I recently had the opportunity to re-watch DC Universe Animated Original Movies' 28th offering, 2017's Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. Unlike 90% of folks with much bigger digital platforms, I fully understand that I am not even remotely qualified to review films, so I'm simply going to treat this post as more of a commentary.

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is an animated adaptation of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez classic 1984 Tales of the Teen Titans storyline of the same name (Tales of the Teen Titans #s 42 - 44 and Annual #3), and is also a continuation of the story that began in the 2013 DC animated film Son of Batman. Those of you who have not yet seen the film or are unfamiliar with the classic Judas Contract story may wish to stop reading this post now as spoilers will appear below.

SPOILERS BELOW!! SPOILERS BELOW!!

For those of us familiar with the source material, it is strange to see the Damian Wayne Robin and the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle in this context, even though a verbal exchange between Damian and Deathstroke (recounting the events of Son of Batman) does seem to somewhat validate Robin's involvement. It is also puzzling that Brother Blood and his Chuch of Blood appear in this film as the church was merged with H.I.V.E. for no other reason than to justify Blood's role as the film's big bad rather than Deathstroke. It seems to me that the story would have a bit more emotional resonance were Deathstroke the main villain as he was in the source material, but then again I am biased toward Slade. Deathstroke's son, Jericho, was even relegated from an important character making his big debut, to a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Easter Egg, though this was somewhat remedied by a post-credits scene.

The central plot points of the original story are still present in this adaptation. A troubled Terra is taken into the Titans' fold, though most of the Titans, save a smitten Changeling/Beast Boy, are cautious of her stand-offish nature. Terra is revealed to the audience to be a traitor to the Titans in the service of Deathstroke. Though she is definitely enamored with Slade, her sexual advances are deflected by him as he strings her along with promises of a true and full relationship after the job of destroying the Teen Titans is done, unlike the original version where it is clear that their relationship is a sexual one. One hallmark of the comic's version of this story that was wonderfully recreated in the film was the iconic "super window jump" scene as Deathstroke crashed through a plate glass window to ambush Nightwing in his civilian identity leading to what was easily the best fight scene in the entire film.

Any analysis of this film would be incomplete without mentioning some key performances from the voice cast. Deathstroke was brilliantly brought to menacing life by the late character actor, Miguel Ferrer, in one of his final roles. The talented Christina Ricci also masterfully portrayed Terra as both heartlessly ruthless and emotionally fragile. Stuart Allan is also to be commended for making Damian Wayne, a character I personally find difficult to stomach, sympathetic and, dare I say, likable.

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is a flawed film that at times suffers from being stuffed into a box of animated universe continuity that just doesn't fit. Story elements and characters that were randomly added, or fundamentally changed do little to contribute to the overall enjoyability of the film. But with the basic plot from the source material intact, strong voice performances for key characters, and some pretty cool action sequences, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract can still be a pretty fun way to spend a weekend afternoon.

Jericho's 1990 Who's Who Entry

Here is a scan of the 1990 Who's Who entry from issue #1 for Jericho with text by comics legend and Deathstroke and Jericho co-creator Marv Wolfman, art by Tom Grummett and Al Vey, and colors by Anthony Tollin.

Happy Batman Day 2016!

HAPPY BATMAN DAY! I know what you're thinking, "Hey, this is a Deathstroke blog. Why are you making such a big deal about Batman Day?" There are three reasons.

1. Batman is an important foundational character to not only my favorite comic book publisher, DC Comics, but to the entire comic book industry as a whole.
2. Batman is cool and I like him!
3. No Batman, no Deathstroke. The line of logic goes as follows.
• Batman created in 1939.
• Batman gets Robin as a partner in 1940.
• Robin joins original Teen Titans in 1964.
• Marv Wolfman and George Pérez reunite Robin with former Teen Titans teammates and some newcomers to form the New Teen Titans in 1980.
• With Robin/the future Nightwing specifically in mind, Wolfman and Pérez create Deathstroke the Terminator as an "evil Batman" figure to be a major adversary for the New Teen Titans. The rest is history.

So, thank you Batman for being so awesome that Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns wanted a total badass character like Deathstroke to fight you in your movie.

Deathstroke's 36th Anniversary

New Teen Titans (1980) #2

Deathstroke the Terminator made his comic book debut on the very first page of New Teen Titans #2 on September 11, 1980. In the "Terminator," as he was commonly called, his creators, Marv Wolfman and George Perez, unleashed upon the Teen Titans and the rest of the DC Universe the most deadly and bad-ass mercenary/assassin it had ever seen. Enhanced reflexes, elite combat training, and the ability to utilize 90% of this brain capacity made the Terminator an instant fan favorite full of believable menace and instant dread at first sight. Deathstroke even previewed 1980s grim and grit five years before Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns defined the decade in comics.

Wolfman and Perez's Deathstroke clearly influenced the work of many aspiring comics creators. Rob Liefeld, for example, said in a 2012  interview with Comic Book Resources that he had "always been in awe of...Deathstroke -- and  'always' means since I was a child." This affinity for Slade was evident in many of Liefeld's future creations such as Cable, Deadpool, Shatterstar, Chapel, Battlestone, etc. as they all share more than just a few similarities to Deathstroke's look, methods, or personality. Liefeld loved the character so much that he even wrote and penciled Deathstroke's title for a while not even a year after the New 52 era began.

Yet Deathstroke was more than just gunplay and hand-to-hand combat. The Judas Contract storyline in 1984 (Tales of the Teen Titans #s 42-44 and Tales of the Teen Titan's Annual #3) demonstrated that Slade's strategic mind was just as deadly as any of his guns, swords, or round-house kicks. Slade played the long game with the Teen Titans having the unbalanced Terra infiltrate the team to gain their trust and the feed information about the Titans' personal lives to Slade with devastating results. Deathstroke has proven to be the villainous total package capable of tormenting the likes of the Teen Titans, the Suicide Squad, and the Justice League as well as being a credible rival for Batman, Green Arrow, and Nightwing. He continues to be featured prominently in comic books, television shows, video games, and soon-to-be feature films some 36 years after his dynamic debut.

The first comic book panel ever to feature Deathstroke

Deathstroke's 1991 Who's Who Entry

Here is a scan of the 1991 Who's Who entry from issue #9 for Deathstroke the Terminator with text by comics legend, and Deathstroke co-creator Marv Wolfman, art by Steve Erwin and Willie Blyberg, and colors by Anthony Tollin.

Deathstroke in the House...Ad

Check out Deathstroke's first feature house ad from 1991 promoting the launch of Slade's first ever solo title: Deathstroke the Terminator (1991) written by Deathstroke co-creator, Marv Wolfman with art from Steve Erwin and Will Blyberg. The ad ran in both black and white, and in full color utilizing the cover art from issue #1 by the series' cover artist Mike Zeck.  Both versions are pictured below.

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.