Deathstroke Inc. #11 – Ed Brisson, Writer; Dexter Soy, Artist; Veronica Gandini, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Turning the clock back to Deathstroke’s origin while the main character is off doing… very non-protagonist-like things in Dark Crisis, this leisurely start-of-darkness tale is compelling without ever being groundbreaking. Slade has recovered from the bizarre experiment he was part of, but it seems to have dulled his emotions. Now he’s out for revenge—particularly for all the other soldiers who underwent the same program and didn’t make it. After saying goodbye to his family and going on the road with Wintergreen and getting his first battlesuit from Isherwood, he begins a siege on the base where the sole surviving scientist is hiding out. This is very much a conspiracy theory with some great action mixed in, and a surprising guest star in the last act took me by surprise. But while the characterization is very solid, there isn’t really too much that’s new in this. It works as a way to keep the book going, but I don’t know how much life there still is in the title now that the main narrative has concluded.
Task Force Z #10 – Matthew Rosenberg, Writer; Eddy Barrows, Penciller; Eber Ferreira, Inker; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 7.5/10
Ray: Since the start of this series, there has been one mystery running through it—Bane. The zombified corpse of Bane was a key player early in the story, but then Jason killed him off as revenge for Alfred—only for Bane to turn out alive and well in The Joker. So who was the Bane working for Task Force Z? This twisty issue finally gives us that answer, but not before twenty pages of chaos. Mr. Bloom continues to be the best part of this series, although as we get closer to the end his inscrutable nature becomes a bit frustrating. I doubt he’ll be interested in giving us any answers before the end of the series. The action is strong, but a little too much of this issue is devoted to various characters yelling at each other. The partnership between Harvey Dent and Amanda Waller, which barely tolerates each other, doesn’t really feel in-sync with other recent developments for the Suicide Squad. It’s entertaining, but with only two issues to go it doesn’t seem like it’ll be all that memorable.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
