Published: April 4th, 2018 – September 5th, 2018
Written by: Christopher Priest
Art by: Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Jeremy Cox, various
DC Comics, 166 Pages
Review:
I was really looking forward to this six issue story arc that ran from Deathstroke issues 30 through 35. I have been reading Deathstroke since this current series started and have loved the writing of Christopher Priest.
Being that I really wanted to immerse myself in this story and wanted to binge it in one go, I didn’t read each issue, as they came out. Instead, I waiting till all six were in my hands and then sat down and made an evening out of it.
While I did enjoy the story, it also didn’t live up to the hype I gave it in my mind. Maybe the slow burn of the long wait was responsible for that but anytime Deathstroke and Batman share the same space, the ante has been upped for both characters.
The premise has to deal with who is the true biological father of Damian Wayne, the current Robin. This was a scheme used to pit Batman and Deathstroke against one another and I’m not going to spoil the reveal but it wasn’t as big of a deal as the setup made it to be. Also, some of the covers are a bit misleading, especially issue 33. But covers don’t really mean much as far as the actual story, they’re just a hook to lure you in.
Anyway, I loved the exploration of Deathstroke and Batman’s roles as fathers in the past. I also love how this really puts some focus on Damian Wayne and uses that to delve back into the tragedy of Tim Drake and the life of Jericho. There were a lot of cool parallels made between several characters all sharing the same theme.
Ultimately, this was still a good, solid read. I like where it takes Batman, Deathstroke and Damian.
I also really enjoyed the art but all the Priest Deathstroke stories have been top notch in both writing and art.
Rating: 7.75/10
Pairs well with: Deathstroke: Defiance and earlier Deathstroke stuff by Christopher Priest.
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