Deathstroke #9-10 is a change of pace story consisting of four vignettes, titled “Four Rooms,” which introduces the venerable Dr. Arthur Villain to the series who has a yet-to-be-revealed relationship with Slade and ends up bonding, in a sense, with Jericho. Rose travels to Vietnam to learn more about her Hmong heritage from her mother’s family, and, while held in SuperMax (Colorado federal prison), Slade regales his interviewer with a pre-Deathstroke story from his past.

Guest artist Cary Nord really hits this thing out of the park with elegant Russ Heath-meets-David Mazzucheli brushwork as he effortlessly handles the driving heat of Vietnamese hill country or Minneapolis metropolitan snow, military hardware to classic weaponry and everything in between. This is really lovely stuff and a story that sets the stage for dramatic new turns for the Wilson family.

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Deathstroke #8 concludes “The Professional,” our first story arc, which was meant to not only re-establish Slade and his ersatz The Sopranos meets Married With Children supporting cast but to also explain, in a credible way, why a guy like Deathstroke continues to walk around the DC Universe. In other words, why isn’t every DCU hero working night and day to capture or kill this man? In my view, until we find a credible answer to that question, we have no book; we’re just kind of winging it and being untrue to either Deathstroke or the DCU heroes or both.

In issue #8 (on sale, I think, next week) we attempt to answer that question or at least get the conversation started. Larry, Carlo, Jason and Jeromy deliver a powerful arc finale pitting our guy against the virtual embodiment of all things DC heroic.

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The issue is a major home run, maybe our best so far, which is immodest only if you don’t consider I’m just one of a bunch of people responsible for it.

With #7, I think we’ve finally gotten the recipe right, especially the visual cues of Deathstroke is now a sleek night creature as opposed to the broader all-purpose hulking super-soldier, as well as the dynamic of Slade’s character.

Special shout out to colorist Jeromy Cox who is simply amazing here. I think I actually audibly gasped when I turned the page past the Watchmen/TDKR yak-yak on page one (which was intended to slog the pace and set up the punch-in-the-face 2-page splash). The book just looks way better than a comic book should.

The issue successfully launches post-Rebirth Jericho, which new readers should like while longtime DC fans will either love or hate. We’ll see. The only major flaw in this issue is mine; I forgot to identify Joseph as Jericho (the name “Jericho” never appears), which is a terrible rookie error.

I believe the Superman 2-fer (#7-8) closes out the first collection/trade nicely and caps our evolution of this character and his supporting cast. I hope it is well received. I can easily see all of the effort editor Alex Antone and the Deathstroke team have invested in it.

Somebody *please* send this issue to Affleck.

Thanks and Happy Turkey.

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Deathstroke #6, which I presume arrived this week or is about to arrive, features the return of Carlo Pagulayan and Michael Jason Patz as well as Matthew “Ja Zaki” Bland, aka The Red Lion. Joseph (Jericho) Wilson makes his post-Rebirth series debut as well. Also, what to do with poor Richard, Rose’s misbegotten boyfriend, and an ending that will likely be talked about for quite some time.

*Please* mark any spoilers. Thanks!

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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.

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