Comic Review: Deathstroke, Vol. 4: Family Business

Published: December 20th, 2016
Written by: James Bonny, Phil Hester, Christopher Priest
Art by: Tyler Kirkham

DC Comics, 157 Pages

Review:

This is the conclusion to the Deathstroke run that happened before DC’s Rebirth. This series started with Tony S. Daniel writing and doing the art. However, this finale was written by James Bonny, who came in at the end of the previous volume.

Even with a change in writers, this stayed consistently good throughout and it helps bring a satisfying end to the story of Slade Wilson trying to rebuild his relationship with his children Rose and Jericho.

This picks up right where the previous volume ended, as it ended on a cliffhanger.

This also features a subplot with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins, who involve themselves in Slade’s war with Lawman, Snakebite and Victor Ruiz. With Ra’s, we are given a big plot twist, as he’s always got deception up his sleeve. Both Ra’s al Ghul and Deathstroke leave this story with their lives but it sets up a real blood feud between the two villain heavyweights.

There are also cameos by Red Hood and Batman. The Clock King shows up in the last issue collected in this volume, which is actually the first Deathstroke issue of the Rebirth era. Needless to say, this ends leading right into Christopher Priest’s lengthy run on this character.

In the end, I really liked this series a lot, even more so than Priest’s, which I found to be mostly great.

Rating: 8/10
Pairs well with: the rest of the 2014-2016 Deathstroke run, as well as the Christopher Priest era that followed.

Comic Review: Deathstroke, Vol. 3: Suicide Run

Published: August 16th, 2016
Written by: Tony Salvador Daniel, James Bonny
Art by: Tyler Kirkman

DC Comics, 136 Pages

Review:

Man, oh, man. I’ve really been enjoying the hell out of Tony S. Daniel’s Deathstroke run and it may be my favorite run on the character since his solo series debut back in 1991. But honestly, I find these stories to be even more fun than those and I like how the personality of Deathstroke has changed over the years and especially, how he’s presented in this series.

Deathstroke is still a badass, cold mercenary but he’s become driven in an effort to find his missing daughter and to try and fix their relationship.

I also like that he was made younger and how that kind of freshens him up and gives him extra vigor.

Additionally, I really like his interactions with Harley Quinn throughout this series, as she’s the version of the character I like best. She’s not a goofy female wannabe Deadpool, as she’s become in recent years, and she’s more of a broken yet clever person, playing everyone in the story in a way that benefits her. Plus, she’s also pretty badass too.

While this volume does end on a cliffhanger, I didn’t mind that, as this has been so good, I’m going to read the fourth and final volume, regardless. But at the same time, even with a cliffhanger, this is a good self-contained story that’s broken out into two parts: the first sees Deathstroke raid Belle Reve, where he has to fight Suicide Squad members and the second, which sees him fight Red Hood and involves a major double cross that sets up the finale.

From the writing to the art, this is solid from top to bottom. It’s a great run on the character and even though I loved Christopher Priest’s run that followed, it didn’t have the same sort of energy and pace.

If you are a fan of the character, you should probably check out the entire Tony Daniel run from 2014-2016.

Rating: 8.5/10
Pairs well with: the rest of the 2014-2016 Deathstroke run, as well as the Christopher Priest era that followed.