Deathstroke Inc. #1 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Howard Porter, Artist; Hi-Fi, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Following up on Priest’s masterpiece of a fifty-issue Deathstroke run was always going to be a near-impossible task, but if any writer was up to the challenge, it’s Josh Williamson. The man who’s quickly becoming DC’s all-purpose talent has written just about every corner of the DCU, and has no issue writing darker characters and anti-heroes. He set up the run in a backup in Batman: Urban Legends, which saw both the title character and Black Canary recruited by the shady new organization TRUST. In this first issue, the two leads are on the trail of the latest incarnation of HIVE, with some backup from an unexpected face—Hiro, the second Toyman who became one of the DCU’s top tech geniuses.
Much of the fun of this book is in watching Black Canary and Deathstroke play off each other and seeing their different styles in action. Dinah is methodical, preferring not to use her powers while undercover if she can avoid it. She has no problem laying low in a creepy, obviously fake village and looking for clues. Slade would rather barge in with a jury-rigged Batmobile and unleash some gunfire on random civilians—who turn out to be zombie-like hosts for evil bee robots, because that’s the kind of comic this is. Howard Porter is obviously having a lot of fun drawing some truly bizarre scenes and extreme action here, and this take on Deathstroke is more traditional than Priest’s but with a lot of the new nuance.
I didn’t feel this first issue hit on all cylinders, mostly because the first plot doesn’t quite live up to the series’ potential. As Slade and Dinah infiltrate the HIVE base, they come across a bizarre and horrific scene that seems designed to shock and disturb but doesn’t actually add much to the plot. Much of it is never explained besides some really odd visuals. But when the chaos is over and Slade and Dinah get some time to talk, some very interesting things are revealed. This book is equal parts conspiracy thriller and no-holds-barred ’90s-style action movie. It’s a mess so far, but it’s a highly entertaining mess and one that seems like it’s going to make use of a lot of both characters’ complex histories.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
