Still Time For One More Variant in 2016!

Stumbled into this Shane Davis (as usual) variant cover for the just-released ninth issue of the current Deathstroke volume.

Slade looks like he's packing a few extra pounds in the middle there! Maybe he overdid it a bit at the Wilson Christmas dinner. Can you imagine such a thing? That would be one well-carved turkey!

Happy new year, everyone.

Shane Davis' January Offerings

The cover to the 10th issue of Deathstroke's was only recently revealed and in no time, the variant is made public as well, courtesy of Newsarama.

Anything that features Ravager pretty much gets instant love from me. Newsarama also included the variant for #11 in its list, so both January issues.

As usual, these are the quality work of Shane Davis. May he be given that gig on a permanent basis.

While I'm following up on yesterday's post, I mentioned that book four of volume three was not particularly to my liking but that was prior to reading the annual (#2) it includes. Phil Hester put together a prototypical Deathstroke story in which our "hero" gets involved (through employment, of course) in the politics of a war-ravaged country.

You don't need to have read the rest of the recent material to enjoy this one, so if you've avoided the annual because you thought recent Deathstroke offerings were on the weak side, you might want to give that one a look. And speaking of looks, here's some sample art in case you avoided it when it was solicited and released.

Deathstroke 10 Cover Reveal

I'm more or less enjoying the conclusion of the third volume of Deathstroke's adventures. The trade paperback version collects issues 17 to 20 of the series as well as the second annual.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Rebirth issue is included as well. I suppose it's thrown in as incentive to continue to read Deathstroke beyond then end of the third series.

While there were a lot of cool elements to that book (Ra's Al Ghul and Red Hood, for example) too much of it seemed thrown together. I didn't care for most Rose's portrayal either, even understanding that she was being mentally manipulated. There was one good moment of Rose rising to her dad's defense, mind you. But aside fro that she come off as quite weak.

I've never been a fan of Joey and am still unsure as to when that name began to apply to him full-time as opposed to serving as his superhero identity. In any event, in this book, he seemed to develop new abilities whenever it suited the story (such as a force field at one point). He still had some ability to control mind, and even prevent mind control, but no body-merging as such. It was very inconsistent with past material (nothing new to the New 52) and not an improvement, in my opinion.

The current series has been phenomenal, however, and we now get to see what the cover to #10 looks like.

Number 9 comes out tomorrow, and 10 in two weeks (January 11th).

Mezco Toys Reveals Deathstroke Action Figure for mid-2017

Available for pre-order (for a cool $75) and expected to ship between June and August of next year, Mezco has revealed a 1:12 scale Deathstroke action figure. And it's rather awesome.

I can appreciate the logic behind the sleeker current version of Deathstroke, but I'm a sucker for armoured-up, weaponed up 'stroke. And this figure fits that bill.

Get a lot images and all the specs here.

Early look at Deathstroke March 2017 solicitations

As DC Comics teases its teases, Deathstroke seems to find himself included frequently. That is the case again for March 2017 material as we're given a peek at one of the Deathstroke books that month. And it will feature an unexpected guest-star.

DEATHSTROKE #15 

Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST
Art by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ
Cover by BILL SIENKIEWICZ
Variant cover by SHANE DAVIS 

“TWILIGHT” part four! 

Faced with a career-ending diagnosis, Deathstroke is coached by Power Girl to reinvent himself—and comes face to face with a rival assassin known as Deadline!

It occurs to me that the last time I posted a solicitation preview offered exclusively to a comics news website, it also only included one of the issues to be released that month. I posted the solicitations for #12 and while it's been out available for a few weeks now, here's #13's sales pitch, for the sake of being thorough.

“Twilight” part two!  

In order to obtain criminal evidence against his ex-wife, Adeline, Deathstroke helps Raptor and the Red Lion steal an aircraft carrier! But, will Slade use the evidence to convict Adeline or to save her?  

Meanwhile, haunted by a terrible decision, Deathstroke’s son Jericho is losing his grip on his own sanity. 

And while we're filling gaps, the cover to #9 was recently revealed. Feast your peepers on this.

So we're still missing the solicitation text for #14, the third part of four. It should be available early next week, along with the rest of DC's books to come in March.

DC Drops a Bombshell!

When DC Comics ran its Bombshells (World War 2 versions of their female characters) variant cover theme a couple of years ago, the lovely Rose Wilson was featured on issue 9 of dear ol' dad's ongoing series issue that month (volume 3).

I believed, at the time, that this was just a pin-up and nothing more. But that's not the case! The 73rd chapter of the Bombshells title came out earlier today and our favourite Ravager is a participant. There she is at bottom left.

Follow the Suicide Squad on their first mission—directly after the events of the Bombshells Annual—as Vampire Batgirl, Enchantress, Ravager, Killer Croc and Frankie go to rescue Vampire Batgirl’s long-lost lover, Luc!

She may have appeared previously, but if so it wasn't immediately obvious from the covers, and I've found no evidence to confirm it. If someone is indeed aware of Ravager awesomeness in these books, feel free to share the knowledge.

And while we're tacking on to previous posts, the one last from just last night displayed what is believed to be a variant cover for issue #8 of the current book.

Well, for those who might have missed it, comicbookdb.com has an entry for issue 7 which includes that variant. That's it below.

Nice touch of paying tribute to the Death Of Superman story from the early 90s.

Volume 2 of Volume 4 Scheduled for July.

This popped up on Amazon recently.

After the events of "THE PROFESSIONAL," Deathstroke's family has been shattered. One of the most lethal and hardened antiheroes in the DC Universe is now a man without a mission and without something propelling him forward. He must look to his past for meaning. In an attempt to understand how he's gotten to the turning point he now faces, Slade recalls the first time he and Wintergreen worked together--on a mission that changed both of their lives forever. 

Written by Christopher Priest (Black Panther) and featuring stunning illustrations by special guest artist Cary Nord, this game-changing volume collects DEATHSTROKE #9-14.

But...Something ain't quite right. Volume one is said to collect the Rebirth special and issues 1-6 of volume four. This one apparently collects issues 9-14, yet uses the cover to #7.

Now at this point, several covers have yet to be revealed anyway. Several months ahead of time like this, probably the final cover has yet to be decided on and the book collects 7-14. Or volume one actually collects regular issues 1-8, since that would cover the entire "The Professional" story line. I guess it'll all get sorted out closer to the release date(s).

As to the current issues, DenOfGeek.com posted a few pages from issue eight, due next Wednesday. You can view all of them here, but here are a couple to tease the teaser.