Deathstroke #8 (spoilers)

[Vanguard-01]

Boy I would love if people read the stories before judging them instead of selectively reading a preview and then saying "this is why I dont read this book" and then bringing flimsy comparisons like why doesn't X or Y do this. This is literally the first actual fight of this series and what exactly is Slade supposed to say to Superman again?

The preview makes it abundantly clear what's happening, no one is getting demeaned. Much like Damian you just want an excuse to trash this.

I don't need an excuse to trash this anymore than I needed an excuse to trash Damian. The writer HANDED me a reason to trash this on a silver platter. This, like the first issues of Teen Titans, is a sales pitch. I'm supposed to read these previews and want to go out and spend my hard-earned money on the entire book.

Newsflash: the sight of characters I already hate doing the very things that make me hate them in the first place to characters that I actually like is the worst possible way to sell me on a book.

Question...The writers ..they do realize that Superman has superspeed and reflexes ..right!!?? How in hell can Deathstoke even land a blow?

He didn't even NEED to land a blow. He just stood there and let Superman defeat himself while he mocked his powers and traipsed off to go do what he wants to do. Utterly unconcerned about the great and powerful superhero he so easily humiliated.

[Kuwagaton]

Also, Cyclops had super-strong neck muscles

Having strong muscles wouldn't really solve the issue, but I think in the case of Slade it's not quite coming off of his body and somehow managed to hit Superman and only cause waves for the deck and water behind him.

Also, we would withstand something closer to 75 g in a blast like that, but taking a 40 megaton nuke head on is setting the bar high. I don't know what kind of force Superman should take, usually it's best to avoid calculations.

[DurararaFTW]

In fairness? I never said anything about it being detracting toward Superman.

I said I don't like seeing Deathstroke elevated back to his "Humiliates powered heroes with contemptuous ease" levels of absurdity that he had just before Flashpoint.

It's not about Superman. It's about Deathstroke. I don't want to see the return of the douchebag who can take down the entire Justice League. One of the few things the New 52 did well was to do away with garbage like that. Now that era has come again, and I'm just waiting for other writers to take this issue as a green light to use Deathstroke for more and more "Bah! Powers mean nothing when you have a ridiculously exaggerated reputation and a few plot device trinkets!" stories.

It's bad enough that we have to endure Batman doing this crap on a routine basis, but there's nothing to be done about that. Batman sells. Until he stops selling, that's going to continue. I'm really not eager to see Slade get to do it too. Especially not when there's no justification for HIM getting such a promotion other than "Having powered characters get humiliated by non-powered ones is FUN!"

The Ikon suit is probably not gonna be a permanent feature.

[W8IN4KAL-EL]

I don't need an excuse to trash this anymore than I needed an excuse to trash Damian. The writer HANDED me a reason to trash this on a silver platter. This, like the first issues of Teen Titans, is a sales pitch. I'm supposed to read these previews and want to go out and spend my hard-earned money on the entire book.

Newsflash: the sight of characters I already hate doing the very things that make me hate them in the first place to characters that I actually like is the worst possible way to sell me on a book.



He didn't even NEED to land a blow. He just stood there and let Superman defeat himself while he mocked his powers and traipsed off to go do what he wants to do. Utterly unconcerned about the great and powerful superhero he so easily humiliated.

I was referring to the time when he took on the whole league..Yeah, I saw the images of Superman punching that gravity/force field time and time again resulting in a bloody nose..I wish DC would)As much as I love him..and I do) just kill Superman outright..not to come back than have him be continuously humiliated ..It's almost like they are mocking my childhood memories.

[Vanguard-01]

The Ikon suit is probably not gonna be a permanent feature.

Probably not. But that's only because it's another case of writers not taking the long-lasting ramifications of a new idea fully into account.

The mere fact that gravity sheaths have now been proven to be a remarkably effective defense against Superman should change the DCU forever. Once word gets around that a gravity sheath can allow you to mock Superman while he ineffectually punches you? EVERYONE should want one. Lex Luthor would be mass-producing them (if, of course, DC would let him go back to being Superman's most iconic villain instead of constantly pushing this hero nonsense.) Batman would incorporate one into his everyday Batsuits, to say nothing of his specialty "Time to take down Superman" suits. Ordinary criminals would happily invest in a device that lets them watch Superman punch himself out. And let's not even start on what Amanda Waller would do with this information.

That's the reason I find these kind of stories so frustrating. World-changing technology is used in one issue for one story and then it just disappears because it served its purpose one time. At least Kryptonite has a built-in excuse for not being used all the time: it's very rare stuff and synthesizing more of it is either impossible or extremely difficult.

I was referring to the time when he took on the whole league..Yeah, I saw the images of Superman punching that gravity/force field time and time again resulting in a bloody nose..I wish DC would)As much as I love him..and I do) just kill Superman outright..not to come back than have him be continuously humiliated ..It's almost like they are mocking my childhood memories.

He never took Superman on in his fight with the Justice League. He fought a B-team Justice League in Identity Crisis. None of the Trinity were there (though the team was still MORE than powerful enough to take him down in seconds.)

That's another reason I dislike this idea so much: yeah, Deathstroke has been used to humiliate other heroes in the past, but it always seemed like DC was unwilling to let him do it to Superman. Batman? Sure. They're basically the same weight class. It makes sense. He had one very old story where he was a minor problem for Wonder Woman, but it wasn't exactly a humiliating win for him. But Superman always seemed like he was off-limits to Slade for this kind of crap. The fact that they usually went out of their way to remove Superman from Deathstroke battles kind of gave that impression.

[adkal]

They usually had him evade Superman one way or another - back in the 90s there was an occasion where he used high-speed traffic to get away from Superman (and it only worked because of Slade's enhanced reflexes (a point the thought bubbles really emphasized)).

I can't remember them ever actually fighting (in-continuity), though (anyone?).

There was a pseudo-analogue in the Shadow Dragon character, but they didn't exchange blows, either. It was also Batman-esque evasion methods,dialed up a notch.

[GodofBoredom]

Superman has been through suns, blackholes and even held one in his hand. Gravity shouldn't be a problem for him.

It's just a plot device to give Deathstroke a chance against him. It's not a weakness.

[gwangung]

Actually, it was clear to me that Mr. El was holding back, wondering what game both Slade and the US government was playing.

Superman has been through suns, blackholes and even held one in his hand. Gravity shouldn't be a problem for him.

It's just a plot device to give Deathstroke a chance against him. It's not a weakness.

Yup. That always happens (and I would argue it would happen a lot...the more intelligent opponents will always manage one or two tricks before being subdued). (And I would posit that Superman actually plans on this---he's willing to get bloodied in the name of bagging the bad guy eventually).

[Superfan90]

This was fantastic. Superman actually outmaneuvered both US Government and Slade Wilson who not even Batman could outsmart in the very same series.

This is the seasoned Superman I wanted to see.10/10 issue.

[Kuwagaton]

Since it's out, I figure we can discuss the issue here so it's technically no longer a preview thread.

The preview point of contention: Superman shouldn't be downed by that 60,000 G "shock" as if it were prime Tyson punching a normal guy, but this is a Deathstroke comic, not his own. At least Priest had the execution.

Otherwise... Superman doesn't really wear the kid gloves, Slade legitimately evades him. Considering what he does afterward, the conversation with Kain seems like a strange case of spite.

[adrikito]

........ Not bad... 6 or 7/10..

I was surprised how prepared was Deathstroke to defend himself from enemies like superdad.. But nothing more...

Poor Slade, he isn´t lucky with his family..

[Rakzo]

The way how Priest handled the encounter was pretty logical overall. Is not simply a fight between two brutes (Something that you would have easily seen during Tony Daniel's run) but is more about the clash between their beliefs. There are also action scenes obviously but they're executed in an intelligent manner and they are not the main focus.

Pretty good art as well.

[darkseidpwns]

I don't need an excuse to trash this anymore than I needed an excuse to trash Damian. The writer HANDED me a reason to trash this on a silver platter. This, like the first issues of Teen Titans, is a sales pitch. I'm supposed to read these previews and want to go out and spend my hard-earned money on the entire book.

Newsflash: the sight of characters I already hate doing the very things that make me hate them in the first place to characters that I actually like is the worst possible way to sell me on a book.



He didn't even NEED to land a blow. He just stood there and let Superman defeat himself while he mocked his powers and traipsed off to go do what he wants to do. Utterly unconcerned about the great and powerful superhero he so easily humiliated.

Yes you do, read the issue instead of complaining for no reason or dismissing entire comic because of a certain character that you dont like and if you have no intention of reading then dont look at a preview of the 8th issue of the series just to complain about things like Deathstroke being a meanie to Superman. You look at previews to reinforce your pre existing notions not to give the characters a fair shake. It's fine if you dont like Deathstroke or Damian for that matter but complaining about Deathstroke being and Deathstroke or Damian being Damian is frankly just stupid and petty.

Superman back slapped Slade and then tossed in to a hole and as someone mentioned also outwitted the government and H.I.V.E. Deathstroke still remains one of the best if not the best book from Rebirth.

[Vanguard-01]

Yes you do, read the issue instead of complaining for no reason or dismissing entire comic because of a certain character that you dont like and if you have no intention of reading then dont look at a preview of the 8th issue of the series just to complain about things like Deathstroke being a meanie to Superman.
Superman back slapped him and then tossed in to a hole and as someone mentioned also outwitted the government and H.I.V.E.

The only reason I looked at the preview is because it was in the Superman forum. I was curious about Superman's appearance in the book. If Superman looked good, I may have considered picking up his appearance in the title. Instead I get another effortless humiliation of the greatest hero of all time by another powerless douchebag.

Deathstroke still remains one of the best if not the best book from Rebirth.

Well! If you say so, then who am I to argue? Oh, right! I'm a guy with my own opinions and values, and I don't agree with your assessment of the quality of this book. I think Deathstroke is a massively overrated character who gets WAY to much preferential treatment by writers. This preview confirmed that opinion yet again.

[Tony]

while I haven't minded the politics so far in the Deathstroke series up to this point I think this issue shows the problems of trying to introduce real world evil in a Superman comic. In the 30's and 40's Superman did step into and stop wars and just really bad people in general.

The problem with trying to use today's Superman against a real world backdrop is a matter of scale. Would Superman allow such a man to stay in power...no. He defies law and commits unspeakable acts on the children of the law enforcement agencies that try to bring him to justice he wouldn't allow it, he would intervene in all such situations. This guy was a monster.

So if we know Superman can and would take out this kind of evil should we say he does? Is there no real world conflict in the DCU and the worlds problems have been systematically solved by the likes of Superman Green Lantern Firestorm and Doctor Fate? It would be silly as DC's earth would not be recognizable to our own.

It's simply no longer the type of story for a Superman comic book. Too big, Too powerful.

Batgirl was recently in Japan. I only read 1 issue but if the writer wanted to comment on the radiation leak caused by the tsunami it would have worked. If the real world event happened in the pages of the Justice League however why the hell didn't they contain it with 2 green lanterns superman aquaman cyborg wonder woman ect...

Know the limits of the medium.