Rebirth - Written by Christopher Priest Pencils by Carlo Pagulayan Inks by Jason Paz Colored by Jeromy Cox

#1 “The Professional Part One: Among Thieves” - Written by Christopher Priest Pencils by Carlo Pagulayan Inks by Jason Paz Colored by Jeromy Cox

With the announcement that Deathstroke, played by Joe Manganiello, would be Batman’s adversary in Ben Affleck’s title and date less film, and his continual exposure in TV and video games, his continued presence in DC’s comics line up with a solo title makes sense. It’s the kind of obvious multimedia synergy that Marvel has done so well. But that also belies the fact that his previous solo series sold pretty well for what was an overall anemic Summer 2015-2016 for DC. Current sales numbers for his “Rebirth” and #1 issue have yet to be released; but if it follows the overall Rebirth trend it’ll be pretty good.

So, Deathstroke the Terminator is popular but is he actually an interesting character? That’s a tricky question when dealing with long running characters in general. Deathstroke first appeared in New Teen Titans #2 from 1980, and has had 3 previous solo series. These long running characters can have moments of real invention and intrigue (Genevieve Valentine Catwoman), but they tend to exist somewhere within their generic mean. DC’s Rebirth initiative in many ways has been a valorization of this generic mean, accenting it with interesting twists on new or reestablished continuity. What is there for writer Christopher Priest to explore with the generic Deathstroke character? With his Rebirth, Priest has started with one of the constants of Slade’s existence: that he is a terrible and corrupting paternal figure (the opposite of Batman in that sense).

It isn’t ‘what’ story you’re telling but ‘how’ Priest and the art team are telling it. Priest described his pitch to group editor Marie Javins to do Deathstroke “‘in a character-driven, introspective way, and get inside the character and examine him kind of the way we did ‘Black Panther’ — that would be a really interesting challenge. If it’s just going to be him running around killing people, that’s a little less appealing.’” How this story is being told is almost more interesting then what is being told as it feels completely different from past solo series take on the one eyed assassin.

Monthly floppies are an extremely limiting format, just 20 pages an issue. That’s enough for about 3-4 decent size scenes traditionally. Priest is attacking Deathstroke in a non-traditional manner by writing the book in a non-linear fashion and giving each scene a title panel that feels reminiscent of Jonathan Hickman. In the present day Slade has taken a job to kill the original Clock King, save a friend, and gotten caught up in a vast conspiracy. This thread is accented with brief one to two page flashbacks, stopping the present day narratives momentum, and giving the character a sense of history that I never really found perusing past runs. We see instances of his poor parenting skills with young Grant and Joey on a hunting trip, and the deleterious effect his occupation has on the relationships with his wife and children. We see him and partner Billy Wintergreen on the job. The books temporal styling across these two issues has taken up 10 pages (and 1/3) of the overall 40 released so far. Percentage wise that’s a fair bit but in the act of reading they come and go like a brief recollection. Some of these memories have ties to the present, “Kenilworth” is a code phrase uttered in the Rebirth issues present and then in the next issue the title of a flashback sequence before, the reveal that it’s the SOS phrase between Wintergreen and Slade. The connective tissue between past and present could form some grand narrative tapestry for this “Professional” arc, but mostly it’s their existence and ability to quickly give shading to a character that can become a generic vehicle for spectacular mindless action.

As the “World’s Deadliest Assassin” Slade Wilson easily provides the requisite big action sequence common in superhero books. And the art team, consisting of pencils by Carlo Pagulayan inks by Jason Paz colored by Jeromy Cox render the over the top action in spectacular fashion. The creative team has so far given a pair of issues with excellent flow between past and present as well as action. In particular, the one-page history of Deathstroke from “Professional Part One” that was narrated by Clock King and transitioned into an excellent splash page of the modern Deathstroke surrounded by polaroids of his past that has yet to be discussed. This book is just an easy, yet, dense read.

In an interview with DC Priest describes his lead character as “unquestionably a villain. He’s Darth Vader. He is a bad guy.” Which fits with his villainous past, but as the lead of his own book invariably he will be pushed somewhere into that anti-heroic space. Towards the end of “Professional Part One” it’s revealed that Slade by re-stabilizing the region and gaining US intervention helped save potentially thousands of lives. The lack of emotive potential found in Slade’s bisected mask helps affirm this grey space. Becoming an anti-hero is a byproduct of being the lead, readers simply get to know the character more and if not identify, understand the two faced devil. The big solicit around the new series is that Slade will be challenged by his past and present to reinvent himself. In that same interview Priest notes that the about the first six months will be spent “redefining Deathstroke himself and reintroducing his supporting cast, who have been systematically shot, stabbed and thrown off rooftops over the years.”

These are all interesting questions, ones made more interesting by the overall quality of execution by the creative team thus far. Deathstroke feels interesting for the first time in a long time outside of terrorizing the Teen Titans.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

I love it.

This is a breakdown I did of DS Rebirth #1 and DS #1 excluding the character defining flashbacks and interactions. It's clear Priest is just as focused on telling a dense story with twists and turns as he is about peeling into Slade's pathos and motivations.

Slade was hired by refugees to take out Clock King who's hiding out in a war torn African nation. To get to the Clock King Slade has to deal with Matthew "Jazaki" Bland, the local dictator/warlord responsible for the genocide going down in Africa.

Jazaki only agrees to reveal Tockman's location if Deathstroke can somehow get US Senator Hasgrove relected. Hasgrove's blocking US/NATO intervention so Jazaki can go about his ethnic cleansing and keep ruling his nation with an iron fist. Slade charges Jazaki 9 million USD for this favor.

Slade's hacker, Hosun, funnels money from a super-pac to prop up an indie candidate splitting the Dem vote and guaranteeing Hasgrove keeps his seat. Jazaki reveals Tockman's location.

When Slade's bout to kill the Clock King he drops a Kenilworth (callsign Wintergreen used back in the day) sized bomb on him revealing that Wintergreen is alive and being held captive by Kurdish militants hiding from the Turkish government. Slade brokers a contract with the men who escorted him to Tockman. These soldiers are essentially dead because they witnessed Jazaki's betrayal of Tockman.

Slade charges whatever money they have in exchange for protection (including their families) the condition being that they get him into the Kurdish Al Lajna camp where Wintergreen is held.

Somewhere along the way Slade kills a dude and puts his armor on him so that Jazaki's men can infiltrate the camp with "Deathstroke's" head as the entrance fee. Slade busts in like a ninja and breaks Wintergreen out, but not before Billy hooks him up with some experimental kinetic absorbing armor from the good old days.

While all this is going down in Africa, back in the US our boy Hosun the Hacker hands an envelope with some embarrassing info in it to Senator Hasgrove. Nothing quite destroys a career in politics like pictures of a BDSM orgy. Hasgrove offs himself guaranteeing a Dem win and US/NATO intervention.

A bad day for Jazaki who's being held prisoner by Clock King. Slade sees through Tockman's bull**** illusions and takes his ass out fullfilling his original contract. Then he threatens Jazaki with returning if his escort or their families are hurt.

The real reveal. This was all orchastrated by a US Admiral in conjunction with Jizaki to get possession of Deathstroke's armor. The refugees that hired Slade to take out Tockman were secretly funded by Jazaki under the Admiral's orders.

Two things are evident here. One, whoever this Admiral is has to know Slade and his tactics intimately if he knew that at some point Slade would ditch his armor in a bait and switch. Two, someone has gone through a lot of trouble to possibly frame Slade for something really really bad.

@mrmazz: Admittedly, I'll say I was stubborn at first. Rebirth made a lot of people happy by giving them their old toys back. I wasn't in that group. The fact that this series is basically pretending the previous didn't happen rubs me the wrong way.

Putting aside this isn't a continuation, I think the book offers a lot, especially as far as new readers go. The book reads well, and I can buy this as an interpretation of Slade worth getting behind.

I'm not quite sure how this stacks up to the last series though, or even the characterization from his most recent Annual. Though the talent behind this book is undeniable and I'm seeing some things that I haven't from previous stories that I'd liked to so that's a plus.

All things considered, for the uninitiated, I think this book works. Moving forward though, I don't know if this is the Deathstroke I can call "mine."

@mrmazz: Getting Priest on this book was a boon for DC. Priest took a title that on the verge of being another bland 90s anti-hero imitation, and turned it into something heavy and challenging. There's a lot of depth to each scene, and Priest only gives the reader just enough for them to follow without having their hand held. Priest acknowledges that Wilson is an amoral and brutally pragmatic man with a very selective sense of loyalty, and is able to truly bring those traits out by transplanting Slade into the harsh politics of a setting that's not at all far removed from ours. It's a far cry from "Can Deathstroke kill a god?"