Deathstroke Inc #6 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Paolo Pantalena, Artist; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: As Shadow War draws closer, Deathstroke moves his chess pieces into position. Last issue saw Deathstroke and Black Canary break from the shadow organization of TRUST and escape to find some of Deathstroke’s former allies – only for Slade to turn on Dinah and form his own Secret Society of Supervillains with him as the commander. As the issue opens, the alliance of mostly B-list villains and mercenaries is ordered to turn on Dinah by Slade, and she beats a high-octane escape until Slade corners her on a cliff. With Slade, things are usually not exactly what they appear, and his attack turns out to be more a feint than anything. He makes one last appeal for her to join him, to keep him in check as his partner in crime – but instead she makes a dramatic escape and sets into motion the next stage of this book with the two of them firmly on opposite sides of the growing power struggle.
The first half of the book is excellent, but the second is a little scattered. The League finds out about Dinah’s whereabouts from Oracle, and she returns with a crazy story – but one that can’t be proven in any way due to Slade covering his tracks. Slade takes control of the new cult of villains with an iron fist, seemingly returning to his villain roots just in time for the event. And a loose end from the Robin title shows up in the end, seemingly confirming the identity of Respawn or at least heavily hinting at it. The biggest challenge this book has is that Slade is really not a likable character in any way. Dinah being his moral grounding helped a lot, but splitting them up might accentuate that Slade really isn’t even grey – he’s just an awful person. But Williamson is great at writing action and suspense, so I expect that the coming event will highlight Slade completely unleashed and deliver on both.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
