Deathstroke's Who's Who Page

Taking a few minutes to post something I just came across in a seldom-used folder on my computer.

I don't believe the original scan is mine, but I also don't recall where I got it. I do know I cleaned it up some; straightened it, sharpened it, that sort of thing.

Open the image in a new tab to see a larger, easier to read version.

For those joining us late, in 1985 released a series of fact sheets about all its characters in a book called Who's Who in the DC Universe and this is Deathstroke's entry at the time.

Note that he is only referred to as The Terminator here, as opposed to Deathstroke. So since the characters were displayed alphabetically, Slade's profile was not include until volume 23, cover dated January 1987.

I don't know if this is a coincidence, but using the Terminator name specifically meant that Terra's fact sheet was next to be displayed in the book alphabetically.

Terra had an...interesting...relationship with Deathstroke, infiltrating the Titans for him in a story that eventually built up to The Judas Contract. It's considered a classic Titans story and it was during that era that Deathstroke truly came into his own. A great deal of detail was provided about his background, family, etc, including the introduction of his son Joseph as Jericho. Deathstroke evolved beyond being a standard gun-for-hire character.

It also included Dick Grayson adopting the Nightwing identity so the story's impact was felt for quite some time.

Unfortunately, much of that background has since been unraveled and Slade's history is now a cluttered, nonsensical mess, but that's a rant for another day (probably several more days, in fact).

Deathstroke #15 Solicitation

Written by JAMES BONNY
Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

On sale FEBRUARY 24
32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
RATED T+ 

Deathstroke versus an army of Bizarros! As the battle within Lexcorp intensifies, the hunt for Slade’s missing daughter takes a surprising turn! Is a betrayal looming…or will it be something far, far worse?

Deathstroke 15 Neal Adams Variant Cover

This is a cool thing for me. Neal Adams was one of the artists that I became a fan of when I began reading comics, longer ago than I'd like to admit.

In February, 25 DC Comics will feature variant covers by the man himself (inked by a variety of people), with a twist; they are all reproductions of his past work but with a different character on display.

Deathstroke is among those honoured. See below.

It was vaguely familiar but I couldn't quite recall the original version so I had to track it down. Deathstroke replaces Deadman from the cover of Strange Adventures #207 (December 1967).

Adams did the interior art for that book as well. Nothing against the current team, but I'd kill for him to do an issue of Deathstroke.

SA 207 is hardly Adams' most iconic work, granted, but a neat deal nonetheless. I just like to see 'stroke included in these if only because he's among the heavy-hitters.

Editorial Interference Is Not a New Thing

I recently took advantage of a Halloween sale by Mile High Comics to close some gaps in my collection and that little bundle of joy arrived this afternoon.

I bought ten books in total, including issues 116 and 117 of Nightwing. Those issues close out the "Renegade" storyline that began in number 112 of the series. In that story, Dick Grayson pretends to be a villain operating under that new name. Complicating best laid plans, Deathstroke comes by for a visit to convince Nightwing to train his loopy (well, to be fair, she's probably still being drugged by old dad at this point...) daughter Rose.

A trade paperback of the storyline came out in late 2006. The cover to that book is at right but it is basically a slightly reworked version of the cover to issue #113.

Here's where the editorial interference appears to come in: DC was in the midst of its Infinite Crisis event at that point. The story is humming along just fine from issues 112 to issues 114. And as is often the case, 114 concludes with a teaser for the following issue, which reads...

Dick Grayson keeps on keeping his enemies closer when Lex Luthor comes into play! And now that all of his actions as Renegade have gotten Oracle's attention, you can be sure Dick's ex is going to be on the scene as well.

And the cover displayed with that blurb appears on the left.

All sounds pretty cool, but none of it happens. Not even close. Luthor is nowhere to be seen, although we do get Deathstroke's attempt to use Rose and Nightwing to take down Superman for Villains Inc.  No sign of Barbara "Oracle" (at the time) Gordon, either.

That group of villains, incidentally, dropped a chemical explosive on Nightwing's then-home of Bludhaven during the Infinite Crisis events. This took place between issues 115 and 116 of Nightwing.

So rather than continue the story of Deathstroke's manipulation and Rose's training, in #116 we instead get an issue of Nightwing running around town trying to ensure that his supporting cast is safe and feeling responsible for the situation. Deathstroke and Rose don't appear at all yet once again the cover is somewhat misleading in regards to their involvement.

So clearly plans were changed at the last minute.

'Stroke and Rose return in issue 117 for the conclusion. Nightwing proves to Rose that Deathstroke is a shit dad (and that the sun rises in the East, I suppose), even though he had pretty well done that at the end of 115, and she bails on her pops as a result.

The expected skirmish between Deathstroke and Nightwing is a good one in this book as 'wing uses his acrobatics and agility to dodge blows more so than to deliver them. Pretty consistent with past battle, in my opinion.

The following month was DC's "One Year Later" event in which every book was "fast forwarded" to, well, a year later. Not sure if the Renegade story had to be wrapped up quicker than intended as a result but obviously the Infinite Crisis event and the destruction to Bludhaven that came with it forced changes onto the Renegade storyline.

So what happened to Rose a year after running out on her crap dad and telling him she hates him? Why at some point she became a member of the New Teen Titans!

With some exceptions, she was a regular in the series until its conclusion at issue 100 (October 2011).

As for Deathstroke, he went on to the Green Arrow book to give that character a hard time in a story called Crawling Through The Wreckage. More on that later.