Deathstroke (2016)

[legion_quest]

Well, I've said it before, but there's no way that Damian isn't Bruce's son. But the story will still be great!

Yeah, it's kind of a non-story from the idea that no one possibly believes it, but you know it's going to be a great story.

And you never know, maybe Damien, being genetically engineered will mean he has a bit of Bruce AND a bit of Slade in there.

[millernumber1]

Yeah, it's kind of a non-story from the idea that no one possibly believes it, but you know it's going to be a great story.

And you never know, maybe Damien, being genetically engineered will mean he has a bit of Bruce AND a bit of Slade in there.

I'm sure there will be something interesting. But I'm not reading it for paternity drama. I'm reading it for Batman and Slade trolling each other.

[adrikito]

Well, I've said it before, but there's no way that Damian isn't Bruce's son. But the story will still be great!

OK... OK... I doubt that this story will change Damian... They will make with him something like Terry McGinnys case.. no more..

But with Slade as option, I am not against that..

[DIVINITY]

This book has been A1 since day 1... First two years have been phenomenal, looking forward to the next two...

I know... I saw all Priest run.

Be optimistic Jr....

[DIVINITY]

I agree it's been top quality. Though I think we should be prepared for Deathstroke vs. Batman to be the finale...sales were a lot worse than I expected when I checked. February sold 17k for #28, and #29 will likely sell around 16k. So we'd have to gain 4-5k for the Batman event to survive much longer, especially since I'm betting Priest held this in reserve to extend the initial 2-year contract for the series that would have expired in May otherwise.

Bats will definitely help boost those numbers. This next arc is 6 issues and ends at #35 in September, pending any mishaps in production. I say, might as well let it hit #40, (Jan 2019) either way, as long as Priest gets to tell the story to the end the way he intended, thats really all that matters at this point... IMO, this is the definitive Deathstroke run that all will be compared to moving forward... And Red Lion deserves a mini of his own, great character, love seeing him featured in Justice League, variant cover and all....

[Badou]

Priest basically wants to write Batman I think and doing some dumb paternity drama is the only way he can do that I suppose while being on Deathstroke. I sort of feel like Priest needs to cap off his run soon as it has been waning in quality a lot more recently than it did early on. I'd sort of hate to see this run drag on for too long. I'm surprised DC hasn't put him on a Batman book actually.

[DIVINITY]

Priest basically wants to write Batman I think and doing some dumb paternity drama is the only way he can do that I suppose while being on Deathstroke. I sort of feel like Priest needs to cap off his run soon as it has been waning in quality a lot more recently than it did early on. I'd sort of hate to see this run drag on for too long. I'm surprised DC hasn't put him on a Batman book actually.

We know his Justice League run will end soon, as will Deathstroke at some point. Hopefully he’ll get a high profile book, I just can’t think of one at the moment. If it were a Bat-Book, I’d like to see him write a Red Hood or Catwoman solo, or maybe an Outsiders book...

[Badou]

We know his Justice League run will end soon, as will Deathstroke at some point. Hopefully he’ll get a high profile book, I just can’t think of one at the moment. If it were a Bat-Book, I’d like to see him write a Red Hood or Catwoman solo, or maybe an Outsiders book...

He wants to write Batman I think. I don't see him being interested in non Batman/Bruce books. So maybe if Detective Comics opens up in a year or so Priest could jump on that. I get the feeling that King will be on the Batman title for a while longer so that won't be open any time soon.

[Harpsikord]

I'm gonna be honest: I'm pretty sure that as good as Priest's scripting might be, he doesn't have any unique stories to tell. Apart from making Joey queer, is there anything here that hasn't been done somewhere else? Maybe not with Slade, but eh. Oh, Terra had a temper tantrum because MUH REPRESSED FEELZ. Oh, Slade acted a little bit heroic, that's never been done before. Joey's fiance got murdered and she was SLEEPING WITH HIS DAD?! GASP! Even in Justice League we have... The Fan and a Civil War analogue. Red Lion is a derivative of Black Panther. I've been thinking about a lot of this in retrospect and I dunno why this run actually gets so much praise.

[kurenai24]

Why are people under the impression that Priest wants to write Batman so badly, was this stated on his blog or... cause the only Batman mention he's ever stated was that there was a rumor about him being assigned Batman and people were congratulating him and then they gave it to another writer. Other than that and some Batman questions where he said he doesn't like the Batmobile, he hasn't explicitly stated ...from what I recall that he's dying to write Batman.

I would say he wants to write Batman as much as any other writer does but people make it seem like he's been mentioning this desire recently...

I personally want him to write Batman b/c he seemingly was gonna do so until DC gave it to a popular/established writer last minute.

I'm gonna be honest: I'm pretty sure that as good as Priest's scripting might be, he doesn't have any unique stories to tell. Apart from making Joey queer, is there anything here that hasn't been done somewhere else? Maybe not with Slade, but eh. Oh, Terra had a temper tantrum because MUH REPRESSED FEELZ. Oh, Slade acted a little bit heroic, that's never been done before. Joey's fiance got murdered and she was SLEEPING WITH HIS DAD?! GASP! Even in Justice League we have... The Fan and a Civil War analogue. Red Lion is a derivative of Black Panther. I've been thinking about a lot of this in retrospect and I dunno why this run actually gets so much praise.

Because it's well written and characters like Slade get to show duality, which is not what they were given in other runs, they were one or the other (i.e assassin or mercenary, good or bad etc), and the writing was subpar lbh, the previous run that had two writers one after the other was like a fast and furious movie, all action and no substance, dialogue was off too, this run has substance, has weight, it feels meaningful, like it can never be erased from Slade's history etc.

I mean you don't get why the run gets praised, but all you have to do is read this thread from the beginning and/or read the critics response and then it should be obvious that what matters is how something is written and not if it's been done before and Priest writes his own style very well.

As for Justice League, it's essentially one storyline and instead of having the team face some all ending, space war, end of the world type of battle that lasts for a long arc ...which also has been done, or do episodic issues to fill in until No Justice, he's fracturing the team and grounding them in reality.

Like Priest stated in an interview about Justice League, everything you could do with Justice League has been done before so he decided he would essentially use the same method he's done for Deathstroke as a result. He explained why he focused on Batman, he explained why Superman is not showing off, he explains (gives away) a lot of stuff in interviews that tells you why you get what you get.

You can't ask for a more transparent writer whose good at what he does, and personally I'm fine with everything in that JL book, except Jessica's characterization which has felt off since the beginning.

[millernumber1]

Bats will definitely help boost those numbers. This next arc is 6 issues and ends at #35 in September, pending any mishaps in production. I say, might as well let it hit #40, (Jan 2019) either way, as long as Priest gets to tell the story to the end the way he intended, thats really all that matters at this point... IMO, this is the definitive Deathstroke run that all will be compared to moving forward... And Red Lion deserves a mini of his own, great character, love seeing him featured in Justice League, variant cover and all....

I think Bats should boost the numbers - hopefully, as I said, to 20k for all issues.

I am a casual Deathstroke fan - have only read a couple issues from the n52, never any of the Wolfman ones. But I think that whether this is the definite Deathstroke title, it's definitely a title with an excellence that sets it apart from many other runs, no matter what character.

I would read the heck out of a Priest Red Lion run. Not sure if I'd go for just anyone writing it, though.

Priest basically wants to write Batman I think and doing some dumb paternity drama is the only way he can do that I suppose while being on Deathstroke. I sort of feel like Priest needs to cap off his run soon as it has been waning in quality a lot more recently than it did early on. I'd sort of hate to see this run drag on for too long. I'm surprised DC hasn't put him on a Batman book actually.

I don't think it's quite that paternity drama is the only thing Priest could think of - Priest is very interested in parenthood, particularly fatherhood. So contrasting Batman vs. Slade was a key part of the first time Batman showed up, and the pushback Priest got when he wrote Lazarus contract made him want to get a second chance at Damian. So I think all of these things made Priest really think about what he wanted to do, and paternity drama makes sense with those concerns.

I will say, if Priest gets Detective after Hill, I'll be pretty darned thrilled.

He wants to write Batman I think. I don't see him being interested in non Batman/Bruce books. So maybe if Detective Comics opens up in a year or so Priest could jump on that. I get the feeling that King will be on the Batman title for a while longer so that won't be open any time soon.

Tec is open in July or August...

I'm gonna be honest: I'm pretty sure that as good as Priest's scripting might be, he doesn't have any unique stories to tell. Apart from making Joey queer, is there anything here that hasn't been done somewhere else? Maybe not with Slade, but eh. Oh, Terra had a temper tantrum because MUH REPRESSED FEELZ. Oh, Slade acted a little bit heroic, that's never been done before. Joey's fiance got murdered and she was SLEEPING WITH HIS DAD?! GASP! Even in Justice League we have... The Fan and a Civil War analogue. Red Lion is a derivative of Black Panther. I've been thinking about a lot of this in retrospect and I dunno why this run actually gets so much praise.

I'm not sure what the point of "unique" stories is. I want good stories. Do I want exactly the same story? No, but all stories are a combination of tropes and dialogue, all of which have probably been seen at some point before. What makes it good is the intelligence behind the trope construction and execution, and that's top notch with Priest.

The run gets praise because Priest has made us care about these characters - and for me, they weren't characters I cared about before. So I think it's really fantastic.

Why are people under the impression that Priest wants to write Batman so badly, was this stated on his blog or... cause the only Batman mention he's ever stated was that there was a rumor about him being assigned Batman and people were congratulating him and then they gave it to another writer. Other than that and some Batman questions where he said he doesn't like the Batmobile, he hasn't explicitly stated ...from what I recall that he's dying to write Batman.

I would say he wants to write Batman as much as any other writer does but people make it seem like he's been mentioning this desire recently...

I personally want him to write Batman b/c he seemingly was gonna do so until DC gave it to a popular/established writer last minute.

Yup, Priest said many times on his blog that he wants to write Batman. He has even said that he would be willing to pitch for Batman, something he's not willing to do for almost anyone else (he's only willing to do stuff that's offered to him otherwise.)

Priest doesn't like the cult of Batman that's formed in the last 15 years. I'm betting we'll see him working to demythologize Batman in Deathstroke, just as he did in Justice League. He loves him, but he doesn't want him to be a god.

I do think his desire to write Batman was most strongly expressed when he first left comics about 10 years ago.

[DIVINITY]

I'm gonna be honest: I'm pretty sure that as good as Priest's scripting might be, he doesn't have any unique stories to tell. Apart from making Joey queer, is there anything here that hasn't been done somewhere else? Maybe not with Slade, but eh. Oh, Terra had a temper tantrum because MUH REPRESSED FEELZ. Oh, Slade acted a little bit heroic, that's never been done before. Joey's fiance got murdered and she was SLEEPING WITH HIS DAD?! GASP! Even in Justice League we have... The Fan and a Civil War analogue. Red Lion is a derivative of Black Panther. I've been thinking about a lot of this in retrospect and I dunno why this run actually gets so much praise.

Have you been reading the book from day 1? No sarcasm, honest question. It deserves all the praise it gets, yea, it’s that good...

[king81992]

I'm gonna be honest: I'm pretty sure that as good as Priest's scripting might be, he doesn't have any unique stories to tell. Apart from making Joey queer, is there anything here that hasn't been done somewhere else? Maybe not with Slade, but eh. Oh, Terra had a temper tantrum because MUH REPRESSED FEELZ. Oh, Slade acted a little bit heroic, that's never been done before. Joey's fiance got murdered and she was SLEEPING WITH HIS DAD?! GASP! Even in Justice League we have... The Fan and a Civil War analogue. Red Lion is a derivative of Black Panther. I've been thinking about a lot of this in retrospect and I dunno why this run actually gets so much praise.

Terra throwing a temper tantrum makes sense considering how Slade used her. Priest's Justice League is kind of hit or miss. Its not bad as people are claiming but I wouldn't call it good.

[millernumber1]

Terra throwing a temper tantrum makes sense considering how Slade used her. Priest's Justice League is kind of hit or miss. Its not bad as people are claiming but I wouldn't call it good.

Yeah, I agree. There have been some really great things, like Flash's vacuum rescue, but none of them are super memorable or meaningful.

[Pohzee]

The preview is finally here.
http://http://ew.com/books/2018/04/03/christopher-priest-deathstroke-batman-showdown-preview/

If it takes place in the past, that kinda removes the suspense about Damian's parentage (as if there really was any.)

I'm curious who he was originally going to write this with, King or Snyder.