Originally published on Patreon
There's a lot of action in the latest issue of Deathstroke Inc as the masked mercenary comes face to face with his first superhero, Green Arrow.
Slade, having been used and thrown away by the military after the experiment he was a part of was deemed to be a failure, has agreed to murder the man responsible to prevent him from revealing the secrets of the programme to the public. Whilst Slade could be seen to take the job on as a means to make money, and as part of his duty for his country, it becomes very clear that it's also because he harbours a lot of trauma, and wants revenge.
This is a big reason why when faced with overwhelming odds, with a vigilante able to counter his every move and to actually hurt him, he still refuses to back down. It's interesting to see a relatively young Slade, one who hasn't fully become the super human killer we know he ends up, starting to head down this path. His stubbornness at giving in, his always wanting to fulfil a contract no matter the odds, we see it rooted in a much more personal stake here in this story.
This is also the issue where he chooses to take on the name Deathstroke, speaking it for the first time when Green Arrow demands to know who he is. And it feels like a big moment, because it's here that you realise Slade really has become Deathstroke, that he's not going to back down or give in. That small moment becomes the end of the soldier and family man that we've seen struggling to find his place in the world in the early part of this story.
These character moments are scattered throughout the tons of action that make up the bulk of this issue, where we get to see Slade fighting Ollie for the first time, taking on government agents, soldiers, helicopters, and more as he tries to take down his target. It's not the biggest fight we've seen Slade in in regards to scale, but it still feels big, with each moment escalating more and more until the big, dramatic conclusion.
I wasn't sure if I was going to like a Deathstroke origin series when this arc first began, as when they're not done well character origin stories can end up being some of the most boring ones around; but this series does it incredibly well. For a few issues now I've reached the end and been upset that I've got to wait another month to find out what happens next; and that's the sign of a great comic.
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