Deathstroke: The Terminator Vol. 1: Assassins

A mere 24 years after the release of Deathstroke's first series, its two initial story arcs are collected along with an issue of New Titans that, for all intents and purposes, served as a preview of the series. The story in New Titans did not lead into the series, but it gave us an idea as to what we were in for.

Both the digital and print versions were released a few days ago. For some reason, the solicitation on Comixology was totally butchered, but we'll try to patch it together.

Mercenary. Husband. Villain. Father. Killer. Friend.  

Slade Wilson has been all of these things. And and now his many past lives are finally catching up to him.  

After an attack at his home in Africa and a near fatal shooting that almost killed his ex-wife, Deathstroke is on the hunt for the man called the Ravager. After discovering what the link is between his family’s past and this masked super soldier’s vendetta, Slade must make it out alive against this dangerous new foe. However, the real trouble finds him in.

Then Deathstroke must travel to Gotham City, where someone is eliminating major crime bosses and smearing his reputation. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Batman. Even if he can somehow beat the Dark Knight there’s still the masked killer known only as the Vigilante waiting in the wings.  

Writer Marv Wolfman (NEW TEEN TITANS) is joined by artists Steve Erwin (CHECKMATE) and Will Blyberg (TEAM TITANS) in defining Slade Wilson as Deathstroke the Terminator, the breakout character from the hit TV show Arrow, in his first solo comic book series. Collects DEATHSTROKE: THE TERMINATOR #1-9 and the NEW TITANS #70.

Sample page below. I love the way 'Stroke so casually kicks the one guy out of the jeep.

That page is from the Titans issue mentioned above, basically a stand alone story which had nothing to do with the issues that preceded it (or, that I can recall, followed it).

But from there Deathstroke would come to be included in the Titans book for the next year and a half or so. First, he worked alongside a decimated Titans team and a handful of their allies to rescue teammates and friends from a group of armoured villains referring to themselves as The Wildebeests. That would lead into the three-part Jericho Gambit in which Slade Wilson would need to face a possessed version of his son Joseph.

All in all, the early 90's were a prolific period for Deathstroke as he frequently appeared in at least two books on a regular basis. He was also involved an a story called "Panic In The Sky" running through the various Superman books at the time. Not too shabby.

Assassins is not the first compilation of the early issues of Deathstroke's first series, it just includes more of them. Titans 70 and issues 1-5 of the Deathstroke series were collected in a graphic Novel called Full Cycle (the name of the first storyline) early in 1992.  The cover for that, by Mike Zeck, is copied below. The book has been out of print for some time now.

If you're a relatively new fan of the character, a collection of 10 issues from that era for about $20 (print) is a pretty sweet deal.

There is one downside; some elements of the Full Cycle storyline resurfaced later in the series, in issues 17-20 or so. That story, called "The Nuclear Winter", explains a number of things in greater depth. I'm not sure if there are plans to collect those issues as well, since some of it is told in Titans books (the Total Chaos crossover), but DC should really try to find a way to make it work.