Wonder Woman vs Deathstroke

[flint_marko]

This is from Wonder Woman Special #1 by  William Messner-Loebs and Jill Thompson.

Comments

[freezer]

Er... When did Slade EVER have the muscle to go toe-to-toe with Diana?

[korvarthefox.livejournal.com]

He's gone toe-to-toe with the entire Titans roster at once, so he's not necessarily a pushover. If he's got the strength of 20 men, he's got the strength to knock her about the place, but there's nothing in that little sequence that suggested she was particularly hurt by his blows, except that first one.

And I found it amusing that her major problem was not killing him...

[icon_uk]

He fought the New Teen Titans in one of their first, non-team-co-ordinated combat, so was able to take advantage of their lack of familiarity to score points (and had the first Ravager to assist too). He didn't confront most of them in direct combat after that, prefering to act through less obvious means (cf, The Judas Contract). He can take down Nightwing (though they know each other well so it's tough) and was sort of in a deadlock against Cass as Batgirl, which seems improbable (She's good, REALLY good, but he IS operating with superstrength, speed and combat awareness). I can see him being a fairly good match for Diana, except as regards speed, where she should be MUCH faster than he is.

[halialkers]

Er......he really didn't go toe-to-toe with her. She have him one solid punch and it was over after a lot of acrobatics. And she even noted his best blows weren't able to hurt her. It's hardly that she was nerfed and more that she wasn't really bothered by him and once she decided to end it, it was all over.

[althechi]

Two things:

1. This shouldn't even be a contest, right? Isn't Wonder Woman several orders of magnitude tougher than Deathstroke?

2. Are people with total self-confidence totally immune to the lasso?

[icon_uk]

1) Yes she is

2) It depends, it's not really self-assurance, it's self awareness. Slade has never had any illusions about his work, he's been a soldier, he is a killer, he has his own unbreakable code of honour, and is fully aware of the moral ramifications of that, he just isn't bothered by it. So being confronted with the truth about himself probably wouldn't be that big a deal, because he's never lied to himself about it.

[althechi]

Ah right, thanks for the clarification. =)

[sherkahn]

Agreed. She slugs it out with Clark every two years and is able to match him... Slade does not bring that much to the table.

And Slade is FASTER than Diana?

Deathstroke overcoming the lasso... that I can see...

[halialkers]

The one way to redeem this might be a rare aversion of how in superhero comics punches to the face never create punch-drunkenness and that the first hit, when it surprised her, left her disoriented enough that Deathstroke's speed mattered more than it should have because she hadn't recovered until she does with the one-punch hit.

[q99]

2) Not really. Rather, him knowing who he is means he won't get much of a mental issue with it, but he'd still have to say the truth and it wouldn't let him take it off.

1) Not to mention faster.

[synnerman]

Um...WHAT? Is this Pre-Crisis Wonder Woman or some sort of nerfed version. She's gotten punched by collossi and metahumans several magnitudes above deathstroke and not been "rung". Plus she has to win with a nut-strike?

FAIL

[flint_marko]

She actually punched him in the chest, which is why she mentions snapping a couple of his ribs on the next page.

[insectposse]

you can also tell by the movement of her arm above the "whoomp" sound effect.

also, why are those guys shooting red Good & Plenty at them?

[leorising]

How is it they had tracers and kept missing?

[nezchan]

I'm glad you asked!

[leorising]

Ha! I love TV Tropes.

[lonewolf23k]

Didn't look as if he even started bruising him, but he was bouncing her around with leverage and precise strikes. She probably could've just outlasted him, but as she pointed out, time was of the essence and she needed to take him out quickly.

Heck, Slade was possibly just trying to delay her rather then hoping he could actually kill her.

[jeyl]

Much better played than the DC online trailer.

[halialkers]

I dunno......it lasted a little longer than it reasonably should have, but she did finish him properly with one punch. I don't know how much that makes up for it being dragged out too long.

[omnipotent]

. . . I like her dress.

What? :/

[bariman]

It's a very pretty dress. Diana definitely works it.

[omnipotent]

I'm glad I'm not alone in my sentiments :)

[perletwo]

Might i suggest this is an occasion for our much neglected "theme: barefoot asskicking" tag? Also, I can't tell if that's really what the TKO shot was, but we also have a "in-joke: inna nertz" tag. :D

The art...I dunno. I want to like it. I *almost* like it. But something just isn't gelling here for me. Not sure why.

[sleepymax]

The art's kinda weird, huh? For w/e reason I want to like it too but it just soo weird looking at times.

I can't help but crack up at that panel where she first get's hit. Combined with the "KRACK" makes it look like he just snapped her neck with that punch. I kinda like how she looks in the final page, though.

[rickperry]

Yeah the art is weird but I like how Diana's hair curls.

[silverzeo]

Are the guards on the cover using the guns from the GIJoe movie?

[recognitions]

Nobody takes into account that this is Loebs? I haven't read his WW run, but if it's anything like his work on Flash, oy. Well-intentioned to the extreme, but he's just not a very imaginative or thoughtful writer.

Good fight, wrong fighters

[nefrekeptah]

I'm with what other people have said; it's a nice fight, but Diana routinely spars with Superman. This fight should have ended with Diana just looking annoyed for a minute, then slapping Deathstroke across the face.

Now, if this were Black Canary fighting Deathstroke...

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[proteus_lives]

That would be a much better fight.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[halialkers]

Depends on how much you interpret the punch to the head coming as a surprise. Most of the time that means nothing in superhero comics, admittedly, but there must come a point where hits from Mongul and Darkseid to the head create risk of super-pugilism.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[schmevil]

That's an impressive bit of fanwanking, but I can't buy into it. She can't be punch drunk for this fight only. That's even more fanciful than handwaving science in the first place.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[halialkers]

I just said it came as a surprise. Surely a golem with the power of multiple Gods would be able to adjust for that a lot faster than a regular human would. Deathstroke effectively suckerpunched her and refused thereafter to get in range of a good solid hit until she got him and broke two or three of his ribs.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[nefrekeptah]

Depends on how much you interpret the punch to the head coming as a surprise.

No, it doesn't. An ordinary guy punching Wondy in the face should have all the effect of a ordinary guy punching a brick wall in the face; it doesn't matter how much you take the brick wall by surprise, you'll still just get a busted hand.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[halialkers]

Guy's got the strength of 20 men and regenerates. I didn't say it'd surprise her *long* and looking at it it really didn't. Sometimes you really *can* get the jump on someone that in any ordinary occasion would kick the shit out of you.

Re: Good fight, wrong fighters

[halialkers]

Note that the first hit is described as hurting her, but by the time he knocks her over she's all "I can take the worst this guy can do no problem."

[punishermax]

Panel 4 Diana: THAT'S ALLS I CAN STANDS AND I CAN'T STANDS NO MORE!

[omnipotent]

Win. Just win.

[philippos42]

This is when they started trying to integrate Wondy into the DCU more after the Pérez stuff was kind of its own thing. It was pretty ambiguous what the modern Wondy's power level was for a while. A few years after this was when Byrne started making a point of her being near Superman's strength level (which is itself variable).

[wasabi.livejournal.com]

"You do what you want. I'm going in the rear."

Yeah, I'm twelve.

[feyandstrange]

MOTTO, with porn music. Especially with that great Nineties quasi-crotch-shot pose. Did he kill a tree just to show off his garter?

[feyandstrange]

O WAIT I GET IT NOW it's safe sex lecture porn! Wondy's mad because Deathstroke isn't gonna use a condom on whoever's rear it is!

Wondy, exasperated: "Wade, you can't just go around having Greek buttsex with people! That won't protect you from the AIDS virus! I won't let you!"

Deathstroke (hurr hurr, it says 'stroke'): "Try and stop me!"

Wondy: "I'll use my Lasso of Truth to inform you about the dangers of contracting and spreading H.I.V.! I want you to see the truth of what you are!"

Deathstroke (throwing lasso off) "Sorry, princess. I'm immune. I already know I'm infected, so I don't care!" (WHACK!)

Wondy: "Oh no! Now I've got to be really careful not to break the skin during this fight! How annoying."

[leorising]

Meh. Stupid story, ugly art. I loved Perez's WW run, and dropped it like a hot potato after this kind of crap kept coming out. :P

[feyandstrange]

Oh NINETIES. When I remember that by the standards of the time this was actually pretty good art, it makes me hurt inside. (Her hair is actually great.)

How many of us had that dress? (Mine was not pink. However.)

PEW PEW PEW I HAZ A LAZER. WTF cover. Also WTF internal monologue about "rage" and "he may be faster". Annoyed Wondy, sure; Furies Wondy? Hardly.

[rickperry]

wooow eyebrows last page.