Deathstroke July 2016 Solicitations

As we wait for Deathstroke's own rebirth, here what's coming from volume as it wraps up its run.

DEATHSTROKE #20
Written by JAMES BONNY
Art by PAOLO PANTALENA
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

It’s all-out war! Slade Wilson attacks the island stronghold controlled by the mercenary army called “the Dead Bastards,” while his one-time comrade Victor Ruiz leads a lethal strike group from the League of Assassins. But in order to protect his children, Rose and Jericho, Slade may be forced to battle Ra’s al Ghul…to the last killer standing. Will this be the end of Deathstroke? 

On sale JULY 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

It's not identified as the final issue so probably there will be a couple more before Deathstroke's turn at Rebirth.

Also, for those of us collecting trades, we also get volume three of volume three.

DEATHSTROKE VOL. 3: SUICIDE RUN TP
Written by TONY S. DANIEL and JAMES BONNY
Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

Deathstroke has battled gods, slain his enemies, and even sacrificed parts of himself he never thought he could live without! But his 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? Find out in these tales from DEATHSTROKE #11-16. 

On sale AUGUST 10 • 144 pg, FC, $16.99 US

The book had appeared on Amazon with a release date of September 20th so seeing it scheduled for August 10th now is a nice treat.

Panic In The Sky!

If you've been here before, you may have noticed that instead of breaking down Deathstroke appearances between his various volumes and his time with the Titans, I've instead chosen to do it be "era".

The reason is simple; some pages were becoming too bulky and cluttered. As you can see, appearances are now separated by year of publishing. Deathstroke's guest spot in The Ravagers book, for example, are included in the "volume two" page because those Ravagers issues came out as volume two was winding down and their content had a direct impact on Deathstroke's own book. There will be some overlap but people should be able to track down individual stories and chronology fairly easily.

Most of the pages still need a bit of filling out. The trick is, at times, to know when a book that is said to include Deathstroke has a significant appearance or if it's simply a pointless one-panel flashback or a dream sequence or some such nonsense.

I'm going to get clarification on a few books from the early 90's come June.

Panic In The Sky ran through the Superman books in late 1991 and early 1992.  I've known about it for some time, of course, but was reluctant to buy it in case Deathstroke was only included for a couple of panels.

There is a revised collected version of story coming this summer. I came across the above cover for it on the Comic Art Community gallery. Here's the solicitation text for it:

Brainiac returns to invade the earth with his ultimate weapon, Warworld, a planet-sized satellite built for destruction. With the help of super-powered friends like Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and many more, Superman must lead the attack on Brainiac and protect Earth! 

Collects ACTION COMICS #474-475, SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL #9-10, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #488-489, SUPERMAN #66.

That issue listing does not seem to be very accurate. Action Comics 475 was published in the summer of 1977. That text should read Action Comics 675 (the cover to which is seen at right and, of course, includes Deathstroke getting squeezed by Brainiac).

And being that the cover above, apparently being reused for the new edition, was originally the cover to Superman #65, it's probably safe to assume that that issue will be included as well. Yet the content listing above makes no mention of it.

So let's try that again. The actual reading list will probably be the following, as it was in the original graphic novel:

Action Comics (1938) #674
Action Comics (1938) #675
Adventures of Superman (1987) #488
Adventures of Superman (1987) #489
Superman (1987) #65
Superman (1987) #66
Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #9
Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #10

All right, so with that figured out...Is it worthwhile to get this book for Deathstroke's sake?

I held off until now because he didn't seem particularly involved. The solicitation doesn't even mention him (or Batman, oddly enough).

But upon closer review, he is shown on several of the covers and my understanding is that he is hand-picked by Superman to be the group's tactical leader.

I could be wrong about that. I am trying to avoid spoilers, after all. But if that's accurate then that's a pretty significant role to fill. He shows up in the story a few issues in, but maintains some visibility right through to the epilogue issue. Also, Deathstroke's contributions are referred to later in Superman's series when the Man of Steel is tasked with capturing the world's best mercenary.

This was a busy time for old Slade. In his own book, he was squaring off against Batman in the four-part "City of Assassins" story arc and in the New Titans book, he was preparing to drive a sword through his possessed son, Joseph.

Thanks largely part to this multi-part story, Deathstroke was present in eight books cover-dated March or April 1992, marking the first time he would get that sort of exposure alongside the DC big shots and as more than "just" a Teen Titans villain.

Rebirth Designs by Aco

I admit to not being particularly familiar with the artist known simply as "Aco" but I became familiar with him yesterday when Comic Book Resources shone a spotlight on some of his recent work.

Aco started a Facebook folder of covers and designs for the upcoming Deathstroke book following Rebirth. Let's see...




Hmmm...I wasn't crazy about that at first. There's some good and some not-so-good.

Upside: They didn't mess with the mask much and he's back to using a sword similar to his original one as opposed to the Samurai style sword he'd been using of late.

On the other hand, the customary navy blue is gone from his colour scheme and that white sleeve makes no sense to me. Also, I would have hoped that a redesign would include his battle staff but no such luck, apparently.

I thought the negatives outweighed the positives slightly but Aco posted a cover as well (by Carlo Pagulayan, presumably a variant to issue #1) and the whole thing seems to work a little better "in action".

Damn, that's gorgeous...And if you've been a fan for a while, you have to be encouraged by all the good "traditional" stuff going on there. You have to assume that's (ex?) wife Adeline, sons Grant and Joey at right and (hopefully) Wintergreen at two o'clock. Rose's design has swung back towards dad's look too, as opposed to looking like she escaped from Captain Harlock's Arcadia.

Oh, and another thing...

He's got some years on him again! Making Slade Wilson young never sat right with me. I find that having him be in his late 40's or early 50's sets him apart from most of the characters of the DCU.

Back to Rose...




Love the mask, love the hair...in fact, love everything until I reach the pants. I don't really care to see Rose wearing Lululemon merchandise and Reeboks. But she's young, athletic...It probably makes sense.

I might be making stuff up here, but do you detect an Asian influence on the mug shot? I wonder if Sweet Lilly will be restored as her mother? In volume two, she referred to Adeline Wilson as her mom. I initially assumed that she meant her adoptive mother but that was never confirmed.

We're all tired of events and reboots but the more this one rolls along, the more encouraged I become that we're going to get the Deathstroke we haven't had since the second-to-last year of volume one in the mid 90's. With a sleeker outfit, mind you.

Deathstroke June 2016 Solicitations

A little later than usual this month.  They did send out a list of the titles that were coming out but no solicitation text or covers were included. The full version went out today and, as mentioned earlier, in addition to the 19th issue, we get an annual as well.

DEATHSTROKE #19 

Written by JAMES BONNY
Art by PAOLO PANTALENA
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM 

With the life of his daughter Rose hanging in the balance, Slade Wilson is forced into a tense alliance with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. And before he can carry out his vendetta against Victor Ruiz and his mercenary army, Slade must first engage in a violent rematch with his latest deadly foes, Lawman and Snakebite. Can Deathstroke survive this all-out “Blood Feud”? 

On sale JUNE 22 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #2 

Written by PHIL HESTER
Art by MIRKO COLAK
Cover by JORGE JIMENEZ 

When the son of a powerful drug warlord is assassinated by a mysterious costumed hitman known only as The Balkan, Deathstroke is hired by his family to take revenge!
But who is The Balkan? And what is his endgame? Find out in a stunning annual you won’t want to miss! 

On sale JUNE 29 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T+

Also, it isn't listed because it doesn't come out until September but the third trade paperback for volume three is scheduled for September 20th, according to Amazon. It collects issues 11 to 16 of the current volume.

More on Deathstroke's Rebirth

According to Comic Book Resources, themselves reporting from WonderCon in Los Angeles earlier today, here is what we can expect when Deathstroke is "Rebirthed" later this year.

"Deathstroke" will be written by Christopher Priest, with art by Carlo Pagulayan, Igor Vitorino, and Felipe Watanabe. It ships twice monthly, beginning in August.

He doesn't seem to be involved in any other book, whether Titans or Suicide Squad or what-not. Although...

All-Star Batman will also feature art from the likes of Sean Murphy, Jock and Tula Lotay, and the first story features Batman and Two-Face on a road trip, being hunted by the world’s best assassins.

All we know for now is that he's getting an annual again in June. More details as they are made available.

Slade Wilson Has Only One Eye And It Changes Colour!

While filling out the guest-appearances page some more, I stumbled into another cover used in solicitation material that was later modified.

I don't know specifically what threw it off course, but about halfway through the The Team 7 series from 2012, what was delivered varied greatly from what was advertised. Come to think of it, the Deathstroke book at the time (volume two) and the other series in which he was appearing, The Ravagers, were also apparently disrupted greatly. All the books were lightly connected at the time so probably several changes were dictated in one book and those caused ripples in the others.

In any event, here's the cover that was used for issue six, with solicitation text below.

In a tale from the recent past, Team 7 is on a mission to rescue Caitlin Fairchild when a team member dies. Meanwhile, in the present day, Deathstroke hunts down his former Team 7 partners.

If my memory is sound, that is actually fairly close to that issue's content.  And the text hasn't changed much from what was originally promoted in February 2013. So little, in fact, that I won't even bother to copy it.

But the cover went through some significant alterations. This was the one displayed prior to its release.

Most of the changes make sense. The "final" version is more focused and arguably more eye-catching.

I personally prefer the colouring on the early version with one exception; Slade Wilson has blue eyes (well...one...) so either someone did his/her research or an attempt to make the newer cover more attractive coincidentally made it more accurate as well.

A Deathstroke Appearance on DC's Legends Of Tomorrow! (Or is it?)

The Arrow and Flash TV shows never really hooked me, even after I found out that Deathstroke would appear in the former.

I watched one episode of Arrow in which Slade was shown in a flashback scene on an island. If I recall correctly, he had no dialogue and I thought his uniform seemed a little on the "low budget" side.

Bottom line, I wasn't particularly taken in. It just didn't seem like he was particularly important. As I understand it, his role grew as the season continued but I've read feedback to the effect that he was beaten far too easily when the time for the final confrontation came. None of it seemed particularly compelling.

I gave Legends of Tomorrow a try because it featured a larger segment of the DC Universe. In truth, I find the show kind of stupid but did get a hell of a surprise during this past Thursday's episode.

Season One, Episode Six : When a malfunction sends the Waverider crashing into 2046 Star City, our heroes face a startling version of their own future where they never stop Savage and never return home. The city is in ruins and overrun by criminals, which thrills Rory. Sara is despondent over the destruction of her home and stunned when she learns what happened to her old friend, Oliver Queen.

There's a different Green Arrow in town and he's fighting a different Deathstroke.

The outfit seen from a shadowed distance initially caused me to believe that we were getting the real deal. Depending on how old Slade was in the Arrow series, the comics version has some years on his, so it wouldn't be outrageous that he'd still be kicking asses 30 years hence, in his mid-50s or so.

It wasn't Slade Wilson, however, but his son Grant, as portrayed by Jamie Andrew Cutler.

His screen time was limited but he displayed a bit of crazy and had a good scrap against the Arrows. The time-travelling nature of Legends, and its tendency to unravel potential future timelines, makes it unlikely that we'll see the character again, but it was a good jolt to see the least-used Wilson kid take the spotlight for a change.

Got to love Grant. Aside from a brief appearance in New Teen Titans #1, released on Halloween 1980, the guy died in his first ever "full' appearance the following month.

And yet he still manages to maintain a presence 35 years later. His identity has been copied several times, not only by his sister but also by a number of even less exemplary characters. He's been included in numerous flashbacks and was even suddenly alive in more recent Deathstroke books. Hell, he was even a zombie during Blackest Night. That's a lot of longevity milked out of one issue.

He hasn't been talked about much here yet...but maybe he should be. I'll figure out how I want to approach that. In the meantime, nice to see you again, Grant, no matter how brief it was.

Triple 'Stroke This Fall!

DC has been teasing a "Rebirth" even for what seems like weeks and weeks.  Naturally, that raised some question as how another relaunch, reboot, or whatever other "re" word you want to use, would affect our favourite badass. It was revealed today.

First things first though. Let's  check out the May solicitations.

DEATHSTROKE #18
Written by JAMES BONNY
Art by TYLER KIRKHAM
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
On sale MAY 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+ 

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?

Love seeing Rose on the cover, even if it's in that odd Captain Harlock style outfit.

I'm as tired of "fresh starts" as anyone but may find myself welcoming this one. Deathstroke's origin and family life was already inconsistent within the New 52 books themselves, never mind all the material that took place beforehand. And Rose was unrecognizable.

Now Rebirth begins the following month, in June, with the following books:

AQUAMAN REBIRTH #1
BATMAN REBIRTH #1
THE FLASH REBIRTH #1
GREEN ARROW REBIRTH #1
GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1
SUPERMAN REBIRTH #1
TITANS REBIRTH #1
WONDER WOMAN REBIRTH #1 

New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
AQUAMAN #1
BATMAN #1
THE FLASH #1
GREEN ARROW #1
GREEN LANTERNS #1
SUPERMAN #1
WONDER WOMAN #1 

New Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
ACTION COMICS #957
DETECTIVE COMICS #934

So...No 'stroke, unless volume three continues while these books are published. You wouldn't think so, but that only would account for 26 issues that month. Seems low.

Deathstroke does not reappear until the fall (month unspecified).

BATMAN BEYOND REBIRTH #1
BLUE BEETLE REBIRTH #1
CYBORG REBIRTH #1
DEATHSTROKE REBIRTH #1
EARTH 2 REBIRTH #1
SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1
SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1
TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1
TRINITY REBIRTH #1 

New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
CYBORG #1
DEATHSTROKE #1
HARLEY QUINN #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #1
SUICIDE SQUAD #1 

New #1 Issues (Shipping monthly):
BATMAN BEYOND #1
BLUE BEETLE #1
EARTH 2 #1
GOTHAM ACADEMY: NEXT SEMESTER #1
SUPERGIRL #1
SUPERWOMAN #1
SUPER SONS #1
TEEN TITANS #1
TRINITY #1

So not only does Slade warrant a rebirth special, his ongoing book will be published twice a month. That's pretty good news for fans of the world's best mercenary.

Also can't help but notice that there's a Titans book and a Teen Titans book. Slade once led a Titans team and he certainly has plenty of history with the various versions of that group over the years. Could he be involved there as well?

For that matter, he's spent some time on The Suicide Squad as well so perhaps he'll have a presence with that bunch.

Tired as hell of reboots, relaunches, etc, but this one may prove to be worthwhile.