What Do You Get The Merc Who Has Everything?

Why, for Christmas next year, you could get him Deathstroke's Arsenal!

My God, look at this thing.

Deathstroke, as anyone visiting this blog knows, currently has his own series with DC Comics. I have yet to read beyond the first volume, but thus far I am not crazy about making the character young and the various changes that have taken place in his background.

As such, I am becoming far more interested in the "Arkhamverse" version, the Slade Wilson that appears in the Batman video game series. I love the armour design, how true they are staying to his origin and the attention he is getting in terms of merchandising. If rumours of a Suicide Squad video game are true (and with a movie involving that team coming out next year, it would make complete sense) then we are likely to see more of Arkham-stroke. Hope so.

In any event, while the 30" figurine posted earlier cost nearly a grand to acquire, this jolly little display comes in at an only slightly more affordable $850 or so. But you have time to save, it will only be available in the third quarter of next year.

For more details and photography, check out the Project Triforce website.

March 2016 Deathstroke Solicitations

First things first: The regular series.

DEATHSTROKE #16
Written by JAMES BONNY
Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
Variant cover by CHRIS BURNHAM  

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

Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details. 

Aww yeah—it’s Deathstroke versus Red Hood! If Slade Wilson wants to find his missing daughter, he’ll need to escape the sights of the deadliest Bat-family member of them all. Who’s behind all the firepower being thrown at Deathstroke? Stay tuned for the answer!

Didn't see that coming, though it may not have been so hard to anticipate. A past issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws seemed to hint that Rose and Jason Todd had a relationship. It might be a whole lot of fun to see how dad deals with his little girl's boyfriends.

It also appears that we have a pretty intense guest-appearance to look forward to.

GREEN ARROW #50
Written by BENJAMIN PERCY
Art by SZYMON KUDRANSKI
Cover by SHANE DAVIS and MICHELLE DELECKI DAVIS
Variant cover by AARON KUDER 

On sale MARCH 16 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T 

Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information. 

In our anniversary 50th issue, Green Arrow and Deathstroke race across the globe to find the Miracle Man, whose blood can cure any disease! And the Tarantula returns—but even with her assistance, she and Green Arrow are no match for the perfect assassin!

I'm going to try to find the variant covers mentioned above. I know that there is a Dawn of Justice theme to some of the books in March in preparation for the movie's release, but I didn't think Deathstroke was among them this time. We'll see what we find.

Arkham Knight #5 Solicitation

Just as I mention that I want to provide more detail about the Arkhamverse version of Deathtroke, he shows up in Arkham Knight Genesis #5, set to be released on December 16th. Get a load of this cover:

How did the Arkham Knight, once a penniless criminal, amass hundreds of tanks and a veritable army of mercenaries to take down the Caped Crusader? With the help of the world’s most dangerous assassin: Deathstroke the Terminator!

But of course!

The game will probably be a Christmas present for me so I'm avoiding any and all material related to it for the time being but I can't wait to dive in face first.

It doesn't appear as though 'stroke is involved in the sixth (and final) issue of the mini-series. DC's March solicitations should be available next week so we'll see where else he pops up.

So...Can I borrow $929?

Great Caesar's Ghost! Would you look at this thing??!

I don't play a lot of video games, but I did get the first three of the Arkham series. I was very much looking forward to seeing Deathstroke in Arkham Origins and thought they did a good job introducing him (and hinting at a larger role down the road in the "post-credit scene").

The blog so far has been about the character's comic book appearances, for the most part, but I have begun building pages specific to action figures and his various video game appearances too. That will include comic book versions of the Arkham games.

But this guy is so awesome, he can't wait for my slow ass to be done page-building. Feast your eyes on this 30-inch bad boy.  

Downside: He'll cost you a cool grand and the interchangeable arm holding the Batman cowl is only included with an "exclusive" edition, limited to 750 pieces. There will be 1500 of the regular edition.

More details, and photography, on this page (which, mind you, gets the standard edition count wrong at the top of the page).

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.