Deathstroke #32: Batman vs. Deathstroke part 3, preview/discussion (SPOILERS)

[millernumber1]

https://www.cbr.com/preview-deathstroke-32/

This opening is pretty fun. Seeing Batman directly trolling Deathstroke and stopping him in his business is pretty fun. No direct follow up with Talia's kiss from last issue, but we continue to have the Robin and Jericho flashback/interviews.

I like the glimpses at the contrast between the philosophies of Deathstroke and Batman in this opening fight. Batman's refusal to kill being seen as a lack of effectiveness.

A bit concerned that Pagulayan is needing a fill-in penciller on this issue. Hopefully if he falls behind, they can give him a break and get Diogenes Neves back for an issue to give Pagulayan time to do the last issue by himself.

[The Dying Detective]

Another preview and no closer to the secrets of why this all began. Still many are saying that Talia is just playing with them. And whith how Seeley gave away how this will end on his Prelude special I think anyone whose been angry at DC and Priest really need their medicine.

[millernumber1]

Another preview and no closer to the secrets of why this all began. Still many are saying that Talia is just playing with them. And whith how Seeley gave away how this will end on his Prelude special I think anyone whose been angry at DC and Priest really need their medicine.

I mean...I seriously don't think there was ever a chance that DC was going to change Damian's parentage. I just really love the conflict between the two, the phenomenal writing, and the art. Like all good comics!

[The Dying Detective]

I mean...I seriously don't think there was ever a chance that DC was going to change Damian's parentage. I just really love the conflict between the two, the phenomenal writing, and the art. Like all good comics!

Admittedly this story could have gone without putting Damain's parentage into apparent jeopardy and make fans super angry. And poor Priest he's pretty much being threatened with death online because of it. If anything it might be ppossible that the issue of Damian's parentage might be less important than the conflict between Batman and Deathstroke.

[nonsense man]

Should have never put that in the comic maybe instead of making deathstroke thomas wayne's illegetimate half brother would have been better. No hassles there and he would have a legitmate beef going after bruce thinking half of wayne's money is his by birth

[millernumber1]

Should have never put that in the comic maybe instead of making deathstroke thomas wayne's illegetimate half brother would have been better. No hassles there and he would have a legitmate beef going after bruce thinking half of wayne's money is his by birth

I don't think Deathstroke coming after Bruce for the money would be very interesting. Because he'd probably just kill Bruce. That's something Priest has been really clear about - having a DC hero come after Deathstroke directly, or worse, having Deathstroke come after a hero directly, either has to be a bad, inconsistent story, or Deathstroke has to kill them.

[Caivu]

I don't think Deathstroke coming after Bruce for the money would be very interesting. Because he'd probably just kill Bruce. That's something Priest has been really clear about - having a DC hero come after Deathstroke directly, or worse, having Deathstroke come after a hero directly, either has to be a bad, inconsistent story, or Deathstroke has to kill them.

It does not have to be either of those things.

[millernumber1]

It does not have to be either of those things.

I mean, if you, for extremely hypothetical example ( ), think Deathstroke is a punk and shouldn't be portrayed as succeeding or being competent or scary...sure. You could just have him be the punching bag of all the heroes.

But that's not really what I think most Deathstroke readers are interested in.

[Caivu]

I mean, if you, for extremely hypothetical example ( ), think Deathstroke is a punk and shouldn't be portrayed as succeeding or being competent or scary...sure. You could just have him be the punching bag of all the heroes.

But that's not really what I think most Deathstroke readers are interested in.

And that's just the opposite extreme. There can be more of a balance, I think.

I do not buy that Slade is some sort of unstoppable boogyman, as much as Priest seems to want to sell that. He's smart, skilled, and very dangerous... but so are plenty of other characters.

[millernumber1]

And that's just the opposite extreme. There can be more of a balance, I think.

I do not buy that Slade is some sort of unstoppable boogyman. He's smart, skilled, and very dangerous... but so are plenty of other characters.

I think he's pretty close to unstoppable by most heroes. He's supposed to be the World's Greatest (or Deadliest - it changes depending on the blog post) Assassin, and that should count for something, unless you think the quality of assassins is pretty low in the DCU.

Like...if he's not fairly terrifying, why make a book about him? (to which you could answer...you shouldn't... )

[Caivu]

I think he's pretty close to unstoppable by most heroes. He's supposed to be the World's Greatest (or Deadliest - it changes depending on the blog post) Assassin, and that should count for something, unless you think the quality of assassins is pretty low in the DCU.

I don't really see anything about him to warrant that apart from almost every other character that gets within 30 feet of him seemingly losing 50 IQ points.

It'd be one thing if he actually were that dangerous. But too often (at least to me) it seems like a case of actual incompetency on the part of others around him, instead of in a relative sense.

Like...if he's not fairly terrifying, why make a book about him? (to which you could answer...you shouldn't... )

Most of what I see from readers is that they enjoy seeing how massively screwed up his family life is. And watching bad things happen to him. I care way more about those two things.

[millernumber1]

I don't really see anything about him to warrant that apart from almost every other character that gets within 30 feet of him seemingly losing 50 IQ points.

It'd be one thing if he actually were that dangerous. But too often (at least to me) it seems like a case of actual incompetency on the part of others around him, instead of in a relative sense.

Most of what I see from readers is that they enjoy seeing how massively screwed up his family life is. And watching bad things happen to him. I care way more about those two things.

Hmmm. Well, I've never really noticed people becoming dumber around Deathstroke, so much as their faults getting in the way of their intelligence. Any specific examples of someone doing something uncharacteristically dumb around Slade?

Also, I'd say that exploiting the flaws/incompetence of your enemies is definitely part of Deathstroke's thing.

It is true that we Deathstroke fans really like the screwed up family life he's got. Bad things happening to everyone is pretty much the name of the game in Deathstroke. But I don't think the bad things should involve him losing because he's incompetent.

[Caivu]

Hmmm. Well, I've never really noticed people becoming dumber around Deathstroke, so much as their faults getting in the way of their intelligence. Any specific examples of someone doing something uncharacteristically dumb around Slade?

Preist's recent Justice League arc, where Slade for some reason was apparently the only person to realize that the Watchtower crashing was a politically complex situation. One that he also happened to have a fairly solid grasp of.

But I don't think the bad things should involve him losing because he's incompetent.

It shouldn't. But the inverse should also be true.

[millernumber1]

Preist's recent Justice League arc, where Slade for some reason was apparently the only person to realize that the Watchtower crashing was a politically complex situation.

It shouldn't. But the inverse should also be true.

Cyborg realized it, but he was overwhelmed with other things. Also, none of the League had expected the Watchtower to crash, so they were all reacting, rather than planning, while Slade is just watching from a distance, and happens to be frenemies with the ruler of the country into which it crashed and has spent a significant amount of time there in the past year. So I don't think that's an example of the League beings stupid so much as they were unprepared, which was the whole point of his arc (and not specifically made to have Deathstroke look good. I'm really glad that he didn't have Deathstroke actually beat anyone in the story, since I loathe the "Deathstroke and/or Batman can wipe the League out by themselves" thing.)

[Caivu]

Cyborg realized it, but he was overwhelmed with other things. Also, none of the League had expected the Watchtower to crash, so they were all reacting, rather than planning, while Slade is just watching from a distance, and happens to be frenemies with the ruler of the country into which it crashed and has spent a significant amount of time there in the past year. So I don't think that's an example of the League beings stupid so much as they were unprepared, which was the whole point of his arc

Hmm. Well, that's not how I read it. I didn't catch anything to counter that underlying current of "the JL are idiots who don't know what they're doing," as if they've never had to deal with sensitive international incidents before.