By ALEXANDER PECHA
Arts Editor
Deathstroke is a big character in the DC Universe with a name that is equal parts stupidly cheesy and stupidly awesome. Created in 1980 for the Teen Titans comic series, Deathstroke has gained a reputation as the mercenary assassin who can get anything done for the right price. He’s also appeared a lot lately in various media such as the Batman: Arkham Origins video game and the hit show Arrow. With Deathstroke’s seemingly sudden re-emergence I decided to check out what he was all about. However, I wasn’t willing to read the 30 or so years of back log that I’ve missed. So instead I picked up the first volume of Deathstroke’s New 52 series, the New 52 being the DC Comics reboot of their entire universe.
The volume collects the first 8 issues of Deathstroke’s New 52 run and while it has a slight underlying plot that gets resolved by the end the volume is more or less supposed to be Deathstroke’s Tour-De-Force. While there is some background information and set up the comic doesn’t waste time doing a backstory. Instead Deathstroke is thrown right into the action with violence and murder.
One thing that the writer does that stuck out immediately was (temporarily) team Deathstroke up with a team of mercenaries who are “new” and “hip” who call themselves the HarmArmory…yeah, I’m being serious. After brilliantly outshining the new guys and girls Deathstroke states in no uncertain terms how he feels about the new generation of mercenary, though I won’t spoil how.
Aside from a small amount of interesting moments and twists, however, the stories of Deathstroke tend to be rather formulaic. Deathstroke gets job, Deathstroke’s job is more complicated than originally thought, and Deathstroke has to fight either a mass of enemies or one really tough enemy. However, the dialogue certainly makes up for the plot, witty responses, and one-liners abound and are an absolute delight to read. One of the best things about Deathstroke, though, is its accessibility. Deathstroke doesn’t really tie in with any other heroes or villains of the DC Universe and as a result can easily be read by itself without any prior knowledge of the universe being required to understand and enjoy it; which, for comic books, is an impressive thing.
Beyond the dialogue and story there’s the actual character of Deathstroke. Deathstroke is a very expensive but effective assassin whose actual name is Slade Wilson. Deathstroke does what he does not out of a desire for money or a higher ideal; he kills and maims because he loves doing his job. Despite this he has a code of ethics which involves not harming civilians, which is surprising for a character who is essentially a villain.
The art is beautiful as well. Deathstroke is certainly no Superman or Batman where interesting art would be expected but Deathstroke wonderfully uses colors that contrast against the titular character’s orange and blue-black battle armor. The art especially pops in the combat scenes (of which there are many) as drawn explosions and violent clashes portray a sickly yet interesting beauty. In short the art of Deathstroke is a joy to look at.
Deathstroke: Volume 1 is a non-stop action rollercoaster of a comic book. The stories in it may be mostly predictable but they are also enjoyable for what they are: action and one-liners. On top of this Deathstroke is beyond awesome both as a character and his never-ending action-movie persona. If you want a comic book that gives you plenty of action with witty writing and probably the most terrifying assassin-mercenary in comics today, then Deathstroke: Volume 1 is definitely for you.
