Issue five was kind of a personal challenge for me: can Deathstroke battle Batman without throwing a punch? With his enhanced reflexes and strength, Deathstroke is more than a physical match for Batman, but, as I see him, Batman’s true strength is in his intellect and strategic planning. Batman would never waste his time chasing around Gotham after Deathstroke. He also knows that, having lost a son himself, DS is extremely unlikely to kill Damian unless Damian was trying to kill him, so DS’ entire threat is utter nonsense. So the battle is one of wills rather than fists, which may disappoint some who were hoping for a slugfest. We might get that eventually, but for now our first story arc is about defining Deathstroke as being as much an intellectual and strategic threat as Batman or anyone else. Expect the unexpected.

So, here is Rose Wilson as I see her: younger, edgier, desiring to please Dad while still being repulsed by him. Now with her own place and a new boyfriend, we welcome the other half of our art team– Joe Bennett (whom I worked with on Captain America & The Falcon and The Crew), and Mark Morales to the series. Carlo and Jason return with issue #6 (hey, this thing ships twice a month!).

The issue begins a character arc for Rose who will ultimately begin to question her motives for being “The Ravager,” and what she can hope to expect from this father-daughter relationship.

This issue also offers up maybe the most sensual image of a woman eating a PB&J sandwich in comics history.

I actually don’t feel like I got to write Deathstroke until issue #2. With both Rebirth and issue #1 there was a bunch of housekeeping chores to be done–explaining transitions, recapping history and so forth. Issue #2 introduces (or reintroduces) Wintergreen and continues our “Composite History” of Slade’s background. The legendary Larry Hama (otherwise known as my mentor) handles the storytelling (he did the layouts for the book), and artists Carlo Pagulayan and Jason Paz really hit this issue out of the park– just amazing stuff.

Now, the downside is– as with most things Priest, you may need to read #2 twice to fully “get” it 🙂 The story is told sort of out of sequence and with a bunch of twists. But, freed from the other duties, I feel like our DS team finally clears the tower with #2 and takes flight.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08/19/no-more-black-panther-comics-but-maybe-a-novel-christopher-priests-bleeding-cool-interview/

Giving it its own post before it starts taking over an older one.  🙂