Rose, We Hardly Knew Ye

You may have noticed a page specific to Deathstroke 's daughter, Rose Wilson, under the banner image. It had been built a few days ago but I've just now begun to add material to it, including her first appearance, inauspicious as it was.

Rose was first seen in Deathstroke's first volume, issue  #15, the fourth part (of nine) of a Teen Titans events appropriately named Total Chaos. Somewhat oddly, regardless of his long-time connection to the Titans team, the event started in Deathstroke's previous issue, was continued in New Titans #90 and the third part took place in the big launch issue of Team Titans (which fizzled, but that's not our problem).

Slade's been under the weather since his encounter with Batman some time earlier (the City of Assassins storyline). He was being drugged during an interrogation and the serum reacted badly with his modified biology from the experiments that gave him his enhancements years earlier. He's on the run from the law (more on that later) and prone to weakness and fainting spells.

In the midst of passing out while looking for an escape route through the sewers, Slade seems to randomly tell Wintergreen about an adventure from several years past. While in Cambodia, he had been hired to rescue a "local princess" and bring her to Thailand.

Of course, it all went to pot, but Slade Wilson being the player that he is, it didn't prevent him from engaging in a little jungle lovin'.

The man always completes a mission!

Lili had since set up shop in New York and that was where 'stroke was headed to hide. Wintergreen and some now long-forgotten sewer-dwelling buds helped him get over to Lili's entirely different type of sweat shop. And there, Wintergreen connects a few dots when he lays eyes on Lili's daughter.

That dude behind the curtain is not creepy at all.

I still, to this day, wonder how anyone could think that Deathstroke's daughter would have "naturally white" hair. It was established long before (by the same writer, no less, Marv Wolfman) that Slade Wilson had blond hair when he was younger. I'm going gray too, doesn't mean that if I have a kid now he or she will have "naturally gray" hair. Did she risk being born with a goatee, too? I know you wanted to seed a mystery there, but come on, Marv!

Anyway, for all the questions that the above page raised, she wouldn't be seen again for quite some time but would eventually take on the Ravager name and join the Titans.

DC new 52 reboot from late 2011 muddled her history quite a bit, changed her appearance and at least to this point made her far less likable, in my opinion. At one point in Deathstroke's book that resulted from that reboot (the 20-issue second volume) she refers to Adeline Wilson, Deathstroke's ex-wife, as her mother, essentially erasing all of the above background material. There are other signs that volume two is basically being ignored going forward, which totally defeats the purpose of the relaunch in the first place.

I'll still be keeping an eye on her though. I understand that she appears in the current Deathstroke book (which I'm waiting to read in trade paperback format) and I believe some of the details will be laid out then. Hope so, but I admit that while I was open to a New 52 when it took place, I miss the "old" Rose Wilson.

Birds of Prey: The Killing Ground

Is that an appropriate title for a Deathstroke guest appearance or what? He gets solo cover treatment, no less. That slice of awesomeness at right is by Phil Noto.

This is the middle issue of a 3-part story in which Black Canary is looking for an antidote to a biological weapon on a weird, stuck-in-world-war-two island that blinks in and out of existence (it's hard to explain).

The Connor Hawke version of Green Arrow is part of a team doing the same. That team also includes a lady named Camorouge which, as the name implies, has camouflage abilities and questionable loyalties.

And since such a chemical would be worth quite a bit of coin, Deathstroke is also looking for it, although his employers are never named. Canary assumes that he was hired by a pharmaceutical company and Slade does not deny it.

Deathstroke appears a fair amount in all three parts. Chuck Dixon wrote the story and he's certainly reliable for this kind of character. This three-parter was stated as being the final story for Dixon on the title (at least at the time). Art chores were handled by Dave Ross (pencils), Andrew Pepoy and Nelson DeCastro (inks).

Upon reaching the island, Deathstroke and Black Canary take turns saving one another from dinosaurs, with Slade going first and making his grand entrance in the process.

Nice reference to an earliest Birds of Prey guest-appearance there by Canary. More on that one on another day.

The two form a truce and while they are not involved in the final conflict much (which is particularly odd for Canary, since this is her book, really), they do assist in getting all the other guest stars out of trouble and towards their way home.

This includes a nice touch by Dixon. During the adventure, some of the characters came across a group of soldiers who believed they were still fighting World War Two. Those soldiers decide to remain on the island, being that this is the existence that they know. So 'stroke gives them a parting gift and some words of encouragement.

Nice. Throughout the story, Deathstroke's cynical and financially-driven personality traits are displayed and Canary questions his morals as a result. This one panel near the conclusion of the story, shows a bit more depth to the character and is consistent with his history.

Well done, Mr. Dixon. Hope you get another run at writing this character at some point down the road.

Operation: Cheetah

The blog pages are starting to get filled out, including the one dedicated to guest-appearances. Because Deathstroke appeared so frequently in the Titans books, and no doubt will continue to, there has been a page built specific to them.

Deathstroke was also a frequent visitor to Nightwing's book but while locating all my books, I found far less celebrated, though nonetheless enjoyable, appearances in a couple of Wonder Woman books.

I don't know what happened in 1992, but while the cover at right trumpets the fact that the story is continued in Wonder Woman #63, the Special has a cover date of February of that year and the second part of the story displays June as its  publishing month.

The cover to 63 also makes a big deal of her return. "She's Back! The stunning return of comics' greatest heroine!" All right then.

So the story is this: Long-time Wonder Woman nemesis, The Cheetah, is apprehended by magic-assisted soldiers and held in a country named Pan Balgravia. WW feels compelled to rescue her, citing a feeling of sisterhood with her frequent opponent, but acknowledges that she could use some assistance with navigating her way through hostile territory.

She needs "someone with knowledge of the region, someone who she won't have to protect...There is only one person she can think of..."

For reasons that are not made particularly clear, Deathstroke agrees to join the mission because it takes them to Pan Balgravia.

Now inevitably, when heroes meet, they have to scrap. In his own book, Deathstroke got past Batman, but in Wonder Woman's, well...He manages to be irritating for a while, but...

All right, I know she's an Amazon warrior, but that's still not your finest hour, Slade...

That aside, this is a solid guest-starring role for Deathstroke. He gets into his share of the action and even narrates a portion of WW63. While his motivation is not completely clear, he's written pretty well consistently in-character with his past appearances and he contributes to the resolution of the story. Good part of the collection.

Ugh. Liefeld.

Again referencing the "About This Blog" page, I mentioned earlier that I once gave up on comics altogether but the first volume of the Deathstroke series brought me back.

I was gleefully buying the highly chaotic second volume as well...But stopped when it was announced the Rob Liefield would take over both art and writing duties from issue 9 and on.

I find most people either love Liefeld or detest him. I fall firmly in the latter camp. While some predicted that Deathstroke/Liefeld would be a match made in heaven based on Liefield's work on a multitude of similar characters, I wanted nothing to do with it, planned on pretending they didn't happen, and resuming my collecting once Liefeld was gone.

I did end up getting the Liefeld issues anyway when DC Comics compiled issues 9-20 of the volume, plus a zero issue, in the "Lobo Hunt" trade paperback. Seems that DC originally planned to collect only the Liefeld issues but once the decision was made to pull the 'chute on the series anyway, they just threw together everything that was left.

I was fortunate enough to get the book at a price that would have been decent for just the non-Liefeld issues anyway. Liefeld started phasing out from issue 13, for which he's credited with plot while Joshua Williamson get a script credit. Then Justin Jordan writes 15-20. In terms of pencils, Eduardo Pansica worked issues 13-14 in Liefeld's place and Edgar Salazar handled most of the duties from there.

I can't say for certain that it strategic, but adding those issues to the compilation enabled DC to legitimately use non-Liefeld material for promotion and packaging. The cover to the collection, displayed here, is originally from issue 17 . The image on the back cover is a portion of the cover to issue 19 so again, well outside of Liefeld's brutal run.

When the page dedicated to volume two is completed, I'll still include the Liefeld issues and credit him for the work he has done, of course. But my promise to you, fellow Deathstroke fans, is that no Rob Liefeld art will ever be displayed on this blog.

I remember, as a kid, noticing that Deathstroke co-creator George Perez could make anybody look cool (even Robin). Rob Liefeld has the exact opposite skill, in my opinion. Like the writers who have come after him, I'm more content to pretend none of his issues actually happened.

City of Assassins

As stated in the "About This Blog" page, I'm using this page to organize my Deathstroke collection and refamiliarize myself with a character of whom I've been a fan for about three decades. While I won't be reading every single appearance in order, I did want to jump on City of Assassins ASAP.

I recall that there were "soft spots" in the first volume. Not all of it was gold, but as I recall the first year or so was outstanding, at least.

That includes the second storyline in the series, City of Assassins. A team-up with Batman bring high expectations and these books delivered. The storyline runs through issues six to nine inclusively.

The inevitable fight between the two characters (in the second part, issue seven) may be my favourite one-on-one Deathstroke scrap. It was written in such a way that Batman's image does not suffer from the loss and he is recognized as a formidable challenge.

After a face-off to build up the action, artist Steve Erwin fills the page with as many panels of action as he can fit. Batman appears to go down for the count, but gets back up for another exchange, underscoring his determination. Deathstroke ultimately gets the upper hand, but later acknowledges that he isn't sure he would have if not for his enhancements. So 'stroke wins (it is his book after all), but Batman is handed a disclaimer.

It's pretty great stuff, in my opinion. Because the two meet fairly late in the book, it felt as thought the battle may be brief, but the pace is so quick that the opposite turns out to be true.  Here's a sample page.

That I know of, this story has not been collected in trade format. Perhaps Deathstroke's recent "push" in other forms of entertainment will prompt DC to reconsider that but if you can get your hands on the individual issues of City of Assassins at a reasonable price, I would recommend doing so.

Stick around...

Not much to say right at the moment, since I'm still in the process of setting things up, but like the man says...