Recent Updates: Showcase '93

Earlier this week, six issues of Showcase '93 were added to the guest appearances page above.

Deathstroke, technically, is not a guest in this book but it was the most appropriate page in which to include this series. Showcase, for those who may not remember, was an anthology book that ran monthly from 1993 to 1996. 'Stroke appeared in one of the regular stories in issues 6 to 11 during the first year of publication.

That story was called "The Kobra Kronicles" and included several other characters such as Peacemaker, Deadshot and Katana (Huntress is on the cover at right, but appears in one of the other stories). It was written by Mike Baron and continuity buffs would have to assume that it took place between issues 20 and 21 of Deathstroke's own book (volume 1) based on the uniform he wore.

I am struggling to find my copies of this book, but I admit I don't have found memories of it. My lasting impression is that Deathstroke was often out of character. He seemed a little too jovial and more like a wise-cracking type. It's been many years though so perhaps my opinion would change if I read it now.

And that suit sucked. The funny thing about it is that it was only used in Deathstroke's own book for about four issues, during the Nuclear Winter storyline (issues 17 to 20), yet he wore it in six issues of Showcase and several issues of another book called Chain Gang War. That outfit was featured more outside Deathstroke's own series than in it!

The Chain Gang War book only lasted one year but Deathstroke was involved a fair bit.  I only own the issue at left so I'm still trying to determine if all the issues are worthwhile to own but that one certainly was.

The Chain Gang was a group of vigilantes that kidnapped criminals and jailed them in a place they referred to as a the House of Correction. Essentially, they sought to clean up the city and weren't above killing to do it.

Deathstroke's appearance originally looks to be based around a war crime committed many years before for which Slade wants to dish out punishment. Well...that, and the family of one of the people held captive by the Chain Gang hires 'stroke to break him out. Money matters to our boy too! He tracks the gang down then gets to knocking heads.

This is a pretty solid, and probably often overlooked, guest spot by Deathstroke. The only criticism is that after kicking the members of the gang around for a few pages, he gets captured far too easily.

In all, he shows up in eight issues but I believe that in a number of them, it's only for one page or so. Once I determine which issues "matter", I'll list them on the guest-appearances as well.

Deathstroke #13 solicitation, and a look at sales figures.

Revealed earlier today:

DEATHSTROKE #13
Written by TONY S. DANIEL and JAMES BONNY
Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
On sale DECEMBER 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+ 

The showdown between Slade Wilson, the Suicide Squad and Amanda Waller looms in what’s left of Belle Reve Penitentiary...but first he’ll have to face off against a deadly new super-villain who could bring an end to Deathstroke’s “Suicide Mission”!

Some of the solicitations for books being released in December make mention of a variant cover, but Deathstroke's does not, unfortunately. I didn't see any guest appearances by 'stroke in other books, either.

And yesterday, DC Comics announced the cancellation of a handful of their books. The last volume of Deathstroke did not last very long, so I was pleased to see that this one is continuing. Still, I wanted to take a look at sales figures to see if my confidence was warranted and, for the moment at least, it appears to be.

65 Batman Beyond 2..............35,000
66 Inhumans Attilan Rising 3....34,919
67 Grayson 10...................33,990
68 Starfire 2...................33,659
69 Deathstroke 8................33,648
70 Red Skull 1..................33,246
71 Batgirl 42...................33,168

The info above is lifted from comichron.com. I don't know if digital sales are included (I don't believe so) and are considered estimates regardless, so they shouldn't be considered pinpoint accurate no matter how specific the number.

Still, it gives a good idea of how well a book may be performing (or not). Grayson and Starfire are pretty good company, I think, and absolutely appropriate considering the history those characters have. We should continue to have a Deathstroke book for the forseeable then, it would appear.

Man, The Titans Get Hunted A Lot...

For a rather mundane title, "Titans Hunt" seems to come up a lot.

I was reminded of this while reading an interview with writer Dan Abnett about the coming Titans Hunt book from DC Comics. Being that there are large gaps in this blog's "(New) (Teen) Titans" page, this seemed like a good time to fill them a bit, since Deathstroke is so often involved with that group.

I've added some covers and a couple of issues from the New Titans series that ran from 1984 to 1996. My Titans fanhood has come and gone over the years, so I can't claim to be an authority on them, but it seems to be consensus that the 14-issue period between numbers 71 and 85 is referred to as Titans Hunt (see Comicvine for an example).

Deathstroke was very prominent in the book during that period, spending much of the time leading a ragtag group of Titans family members on a search for the abducted team. As the rather dramatic cover at right displays, he ultimately finds himself needing to combat a possessed version of his son and needing to make a pretty tough decision.

Those books came out in the early 90's. The other Titans story to take that name featured a totally different team and was released several years later.

Starting in 1996, Dan Jurgens wrote and drew a Teen Titans book featuring a mostly new team of young heroes, along with the Atom and Captain Marvel Jr. Titans Hunt ran from issues 21 to 24 of that series. The basis of the "hunt" is that one of the team members, nicknamed Risk, appears to have killed a villain in battle and is wanted by the authorities as a result.

Deathstroke steps up to the plate in issue #22 (also now added to the Titans page) and captures the team over the course of five pages for some anti-alien group called The Veil. Sounds very similar to how he took on his son's contract with HIVE against the original Titans way back in his first appearance, doesn't it? Can't imagine that's a coincidence.

The only slight downside is that Deathstroke is still wearing the blue and black outfit that he changed to briefly at the end of the first volume of his own series. There have been worse redesigns, I suppose, but I could never get used to the hubcaps on the shoulders. And what the hell did they replace his staff with? A cattle prod?

That's Risk getting acquainted with Slade's boot heel, for those who are unfamiliar with him.

'Stroke must have seen something in that character that I didn't at the time because he recruited him for his team in the Titans East story that ran in early 2007 (that's him over Slade's left shoulder below), almost a decade later.

Risk had lost an arm in a battle against Superboy Prime during Infinite Crisis (first panel below) and has since encountered him again to similar results (second panel).

Yikes. Why don't you just get lost before he start going after your legs? Love the sound effect consistency, however.

Anyway, I doubt Slade will be recruiting Risk for anything again any time soon.

One last thing about the East storyline; there actually seems to be a Tiny Titans version of it, released shortly after the original.

Slade's looking pretty suave in that suit!

Hard to imagine the story being made kid friendly (obviously they're not being fully faithful to the original version) but it's tempting to buy it anyway. They're using mostly the same Titans East characters so maybe a Tiny Rose Wilson appears too? If she does, I'll bet she doesn't carve her eye out to be more like dad. ;-)

Anyway, now we need to pay attention to see if Slade is involved in the upcoming story that takes the Titans Hunt name. I haven't seen his name in the solicitations yet, but he has such a strong connection to that team that it shouldn't surprise anyone if he makes an appearance.

Deathstroke #12 solicitation

Written by TONY S. DANIEL and JAMES BONNY
Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

On sale NOVEMBER 25 

32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+ 

Slade continues his “Suicide Mission”! To get at Amanda Waller, he’ll go through any super-villain that gets in his way—including Catwoman! Good thing he’s getting a little help from Harley Quinn!

A meeting with Catwoman is interesting. I don't recall too many meetings between those two in the past which is mildly odd since Slade has had dealings with many members of Batman's entourage, good and bad.

And in a brief update to a prior (August 10th) post, DC is indeed releasing a second trade paperback from the volume one material in December. It will include issues 10-13 and the first annual, as expected, but also issue #68 of the Superman series of the time.

The above book has been added to the guest-appearances page. 

“Say yer prayers varmint!”

DC Comics is preparing to reveal its November solicitations but have teased us with 25 variant covers with a Looney Tunes theme including, of course, Deathstroke.

Fun stuff! The work is by Ryan Benjamin and, of course, Warner Bros. Animation.

Though it's not at all difficult to find, I shall post the solicitation for Deathstroke's own book and/or any guest-appearances he might make in November.

August 10th updates

Continuing to list Deathstroke's publishing history, here's what was added to certain site pages earlier today:

Volume One: Issue #31, part five of the World Tour.

This was a good time to be a Deathstroke fan. If Amazon.ca can be trusted, a second compilation of the first volume will be released at the end of the year collecting issues 10-13 and the first annual (which featured one of my favourite cover all-time, at right). If plans are to continue doing so, no doubt the World Tour will be included as it was a fun, self-contained story within the series. It's very accessible to current readers.

Volume Three: Issue #8, part of the Godkiller story line, released July 22nd.

Guest-Appearances: Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. issues one and two.

Deathstroke's contribution to these two books is rather brief, but at least his background with Steve Trevor is recognized. Trevor appeared in the last two issues of Team Seven as a member of that group. He crossed paths with Deathstroke as a result, but I don't recall a specific cause for the animosity that Slade shows towards Trevor in  A.R.G.U.S. Mind you, in light of how the entire Team Seven project all went to pot, Slade might just want to put a bullet in anything that reminds him of it.

The page for Volume Two is pretty well done aside from minor corrections and details, and Volume Three gets updated more or less as books are released.  As the page for Volume One continues to fill up, as well as the guest-appearances page and the one dedicated to Rose Wilson, then new ones will be created to cover Deathstroke's appearances in the digital books dedicated to the Arkham series of video games and to the Arrow TV show. Looking forward to that, actually, because much of that material will be new to me.

Deathstroke 11 solicitation

Written by TONY S. DANIEL and JAMES BONNY
Art by TYLER KIRKHAM
Cover by TONY S. DANIEL
Monsters Variant cover by E.M. GIST 

On sale OCTOBER 28 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+ 

It’s the Suicide Squad vs. Deathstroke! He’s battled gods, slain his enemies, and even sacrificed parts of himself he never thought he could live without! But Deathstroke’s biggest challenge still lays ahead, and if he wants to succeed he’ll need to defeat the assembled might of the Suicide Squad! Will this be his chance to get back at Harley Quinn after their previous battle?

Right on. I don't want to crap on a story I have yet to read, but the notion of Deathstroke assassinating gods was not particularly appealing. Another meet up against the Suicide Squad though? All over that.

This "Getting Young" Thing Is Getting Old.

I finally received the first volume of the current Deathstroke series in the mail last week. Entitled "Gods of War", it collects the first six issues, including some sketches and the variant covers.

Now it's difficult to maintain a blog about a character yet avoid spoilers because you're "waiting for the trade". If you're still waiting to pick up this book yourself, stop now and come back (please) when you haven't because there will be some spoilering going on.

Those who are still here are likely aware that Slade Wilson's youth was restored in this book. I had heard something to that effect, but misunderstood it.  I believed that he was going through a "Batman Begins" type of flashback in which his past was being back-filled. I didn't think he was literally going to be young again. But he is.

I don't care for this decision. It takes away a number of things that made Slade stand out among the pack.

In the character's first volume, Wintergreen refers to Slade as being in his 40's. If so, based on hair colour, it's late 40's. And characters that age are in a small minority.

His missing right eye has been "restored", too. Relatively unique features are being done away with. Furthermore, you'd be hard-pressed to read a random page and to differentiate him from Bruce Wayne.

It's not even particularly original. The reason Wintergreen referred to Slade's age in volume one was that Slade had become young again in the last few issues of that series.

Issues 53 and 54 of the first volume featured a two-part story called "The Borgia Plague" and, as you might have guessed from the title, it revolved around a biological weapon.

The story concluded with Deathstroke being caught in an explosion. And when he was later found in the rubble (in #55), he was about half his age.

There are a number of differences between the current "de-aging" and the one from volume one. From issue 55 until the conclusion of the series in #60 (June 1996), Slade was still missing his right eye and his hair was blond. His hair colour was consistent with prior flashback material from the Teen Titans series. I don't know why Tony Daniels saw a need to change it for volume three.

As you can see from the cover of #55, the newfound youth also led to a uniform change.

Deathstroke also lost his memory as a result of the de-aging in volume one, but it was restored by the time the series concluded. None of the other changes that were made to the character lasted very long, either.

His next appearance was in Detective Comics 708 (April 1997), written by Chuck Dixon.

This is the first chapter of a three-part story called "The Death Lottery". In this book, Slade's hair is still blond, but he seems to be back to his normal age, as evidenced by a supporting character at his African retreat asking him if he feels old after hunting a lion (to which Slade replies that he's not old, he's bored). No explanation is given so one assumes that the effect just wore off with inactivity. Sure, why not?

Slade would then show up in a few issues of Nightwing, as well as Green Arrow, Azrael and Robin. But the next story to be centered around him would be a three-part tale in The Titans called "The Immortal Coil". Running from issue 10-12 (December 1999 to February 2000), it was written by Devin Grayson and involved several characters that had a history with Slade, including Cheshire but most prominently his ex-wife, Adeline. It also marked the return of the traditional Deathstroke outfit.

So within a couple of years, all the changes that had taken place at the end of volume one were essentially erased gradually and seldom referred to, that I know of. Since I'm a bit behind, perhaps this "younging" is also already on the way out. Hope so because it takes away from the character instead of making him more interesting.