Deathstroke #3 Variant Cover by Shane Davis

Combined with the variant cover Davis did for issues #1 and #2 (see posts from August 1st and August 17th), I hope he's tapped to continue creating these for this series for a while. They are outstanding.

The image below was copied from Newsarama. Not sure if they had it first, but that's where I saw it first.

Let the speculation begin!

Ben Affleck. You may have heard of him. Was Batman in the Batman vs Superman flick earlier this year.

He posted the video below on Instagram earlier today but apparently without explanation.

So what does it mean? The assumption seems to be that Deathstroke will be in Justice League movie but since it appears as though the villains in that will be part of Darkseid's entourage (or Darkseid himself, as yet unrevealed) then that may not be the case. Yes, Deathstroke worked for Darkseid in the Teen Titans/X-Men book I wrote about recently but I doubt that's any sort of solid evidence.

I think it's more likely that Slade Wilson is being introduced in Affleck's stand-alone Batman film. Pretty exciting stuff regardless.

Deathstroke November 2016 Solicitations

At first glance, it doesn't appear as though 'stroke guest-stars in any other books again this month, and once again, only one of the two books to be released sees its cover revealed.

DEATHSTROKE #6
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST
Art by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ
Cover by ACO

“The Professional” part six! Deathstroke’s honor is put to the test when he must help a tyrannical despot—Ja Zaki, a.k.a. The Red Lion—stop a civil war that he inadvertently caused. Plus: Enter Jericho! 

On sale NOVEMBER 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+ 

DEATHSTROKE #7
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST
Art by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ
Cover by ACO 

“The Professional” part seven! After Deathstroke confronts the enemy behind Wintergreen’s abduction and the attempted murder of his daughter, he soon finds himself abandoned on a suicide mission where he confronts an unbeatable foe—the Man of Steel! 

On sale NOVEMBER 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

We also get confirmation of the release date for the fourth trade paperback compilation of volume three (it's in December, mind you. Merry Christmas to me).

DEATHSTROKE VOL. 4: FAMILY BUSINESS

Written by JAMES BONNY and PHIL HESTER
Art by TYLER KIRKHAM, PAOLO PANTALENA, MIRKO KOLAK and ROBERTO VIACLAVA
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

After a bitter betrayal by a trusted comrade, Slade Wilson finds reluctant allies in his estranged children, Rose and Jericho. But as an all-out battle looms, he must also join forces with the one and only Ra’s al Ghul...who may have his own hidden agenda. Could this uneasy family reunion spell doom for Deathstroke?

Collects DEATHSTROKE #17-20 and DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #2. 

On sale DECEMBER 14 • 136 pg, FC, $16.99 US

So by the end of the year, Deathstroke's book will have hosted Batman, Robin and Superman. Not too shabby.

Deathstroke Breaks Into The Injustice: Gods Among Us Comic

Happened to see the beauty below while looking at yesterday's new releases.

I'm not much of a video game guy, but I don't live in a cave either.  I'd heard of the Injustice game, knew Deathstroke was among the characters included and that there was a comic book adaptation (as there is for the Arkham series of Batman video games). I didn't think Deathstroke was involved much though, so I passed on it until seeing the cover above.

If you're not so much into digital comics, the video game spin-offs tend to be short books, released weekly, for $0.99. I believe compilations are sold in print format at a later date, typically.

Even though this is chapter 36 of year 5, it's easy to catch up. Bottom line, Superman and Batman are feuding (again??).  Deathstroke, apparently in forced retirement, is recruited by Batman to recover a Mother Box from S.T.A.R. Labs. Not normally his standard fare but we'll take it.

The story is by Brian Buccellato and the art is by Mike S. Miller.  And speaking of the latter, is it just me, or...

Nah, must just be a coincidence....

Deathstroke is involved in the next chapter as well but doesn't seem to be around beyond that. So while this stuff is not in continuity, until recently his continuity was such a mess that I was becoming less and less concerned about that anyway. The first chapter ends with a surprise opponent making himself known, and it isn't one that Deathstroke has much history with, so I'll kick back and enjoy it for what it is.

In the meantime, if you're not the gaming type either, you might still want to see this little promo video. Some pretty crazy action there.

Deathstroke #2 Variant Cover by Shane Davis

As seen on Newsarama, but with a "CBR Exclusive" stamp on the image (in reference to Comic Book Resources).

The slightly odd thing about this is that the regular cover has yet to be displayed. I suspect that it might reveal a little too much of the book's content but we're only one issue away.

Ah well.  Something to look forward to.

Christopher Priest Interview For Capeless Crusader

Deathstroke writer Christopher Priest spoke with Jeremy Radick at the Kansas City ComicCon this past weekend. The full chat can be read here but I've copied some highlights below. I added a couple of paragraph breaks to make it a little easier to read.

JR: Would you say that writing an ongoing, you’re back on one for the first time in a while, is it like a riding a bike or are there muscles that you have to train again? 

It’s been a little easy so far because the editor, Alex Antone, and I had developed a storyline that lasted about eight or nine issues. And then we presented it to the higher-ups and they said, “Oh, no, no, no! We like the storyline, it’s a good storyline, but we don’t want to lead with that storyline. We need to lead with who Deathstroke is and re-establishing his character, and all that stuff.” So we went back, and we worked with Geoff Johns, and developed storyline number two, which is seeing print now.

So, because we had already had these other eight issues, we’re adapting that stuff into the new storyline, but as a result we ended up having ten or twelve stories that are in various stages of development. So it’s been pretty easy, me knowing what’s going on for the first dozen issues or so. And they’ve been coming out pretty regularly, in terms of my end. The art is a different story, because artists, they always use every possible day in the calendar. We have two separate art teams, and they alternate with each other. 

JR: Because the book will be a twice-monthly, right? 

CP: It’s twice-monthly, which is a real challenge to put out. But so far it’s been really easy.

Now once we move past issue 12 or so, then we’re doing a big crossover with the Titans book. And we’re doing a JJ Abrams-ing of “The Judas Contract”, the original storyline that launched Deathstroke and is like the definitive Teen Titans storyline from Marv (Wolfman) and George Perez. So, we’re kind of building a firewall around that story to say, “Yes, this absolutely happened.” We are not dismissing that or ret-conning that, but as JJ Abrams did with “Star Trek,” we are now telling our own alternate version of it because of the speed force, and was Wally there or was Wally not there, and where was Starfire, and was Terra really underage when Deathstroke slept with her? And all that other stuff.

So Alex and Dan Abnett, the writer of “Titans,” they are working out all those details. In order for the Deathstroke book to function, I need to tell the definitive, at least post-Rebirth, version of Deathstroke’s origin. Which involves the at-the-time Teen Titans, so I need to know who was in, who was out, and all that other stuff.

So that’ll be the first half of the year, we’re just rebuilding Deathstroke’s cast and establishing Deathstroke, so that’s 1-11. Issue 12 will begin the second arc where it’s retelling that classic story and basically retelling the Titans origin over in “Titans,” and retelling the Deathstroke origin over in Deathstroke. Dan and I are kind of collaborating on it. 

JR: Sounds great. Deathstroke’s family is central to his character and his origin. But that’s become pretty convoluted in terms of continuity. How do you untangle the family, but keep the power of those relationships, while introducing it all to a new reader? 

CP: We cheat. I’m a guy, you know, who knows how painful it is to have the next writer come along and say what you did never happened. I hate to do that. Luckily, because of how Geoff Johns set up the whole Rebirth thing, I don’t want to give any secrets away, but Doctor Manhattan, it’s all his fault! (laughs) We have this plot device that enables the reader to decide, maybe for the first time in history, the reader gets to decide what’s in and what’s out.

But, for our purposes, we are telling our own sort of composite history. A lot of Deathstoke’s family history was thought up over a lot of years. Like the stuff with Grant, the older son. And then they thought we’ll do this business with Jericho, then they came up with Rose and then Rose had a bunch of history on her own, and so forth and so on. 

So we are saying all that stuff exists, but what I’ve done is just compressed the timeline so some of that is happening at the same time. At the time that Joseph’s throat gets slashed, Deathstroke is out of the country rescuing Rose and her mother from Cambodia.... 

Basically we’re trying to keep all of the major highlights of the history. Some of it we’re kind of ignoring, but most of it, the key parts, not only are we saying they’re existing but we’re re-telling the story. For the first six months or a year or so, Deathstroke has a current day story and you will see these flashbacks to roughly ten years ago where we’re retelling the story with his boys and then in issue 2 he meets Rose in Cambodia and in issue 3 Rose makes her debut as a grown up in this series and so on.

...I’m trying to write Deathstroke as if there had never been a Deathstroke comic before. So if you’ve never read Deathstroke, you know nothing about Deathstroke, you don’t even like Deathstroke, sample the Rebirth, sample the #1. Because Geoff and I kind of talked about it, and we wanted to set this series up as if it were a motion picot or a television series. Rather than have Geoff and the TV people come in and adapt it to that, why don’t we just set it up as if it was a TV show in the first place and make it as translatable to the screen as possible.

Priest is a talker! But he certainly isn't shy about sharing info. We pretty much know what to expect for the first 18 issues or so of this book and that we have a Titans tie-in to look forward to. Bring it.

Deathstroke: The Professional

Are you the type to wait for the trade paperback? If so, according to Amazon.ca, you'll be able to get your hands on the first compilation from volume 4 next March (14th, to be specific). Here is the sales pitch:

Deathstroke may be one of the most hardened anti-heroes in the DC Universe, but there's no cutting corners when it comes to contract killing, especially when your family is on the hit list! 

Confronted by his own troubled past and challenged to reinvent himself before he loses everything and everyone in his life, Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, finds himself and those he values most in the crosshairs--stalked by an unseen enemy. Collects DEATHSTROKE #1-6 and DEATHSTROKE: REBIRTH #1. 

Rebirth honors the richest history in comics, while continuing to look towards the future. These are the most innovative and modern stories featuring the world's greatest superheroes, told by some of the finest storytellers in the business.  

Honoring the past, protecting our present and looking towards the future. This is the next chapter in the ongoing saga of the DC Universe.  The legacy continues.

So I guess we now know how long the first story arc runs for...

Deathstroke #1 Variant Cover

Just a quick one today, as I'm on vacation and will be away from the computer for a while: As revealed by bleedingcool.com last week, Shave Davis' awesome variant cover for Deathstroke #1.