Deathstroke #47 - "Deathstroke R.I.P. Book Four: Born Again"

[laughing_tree]

Maybe if “Deathstroke” was published under their Black Label there’d be more flex in terms of what the character could be. This was my real motive for AltStroke. Since we were about to take our bow, I thought I’d like to write the character the way he should, in my view, actually be portrayed: as a totally ruthless, unlikeable bitch. And Damian IS his son (Laughs). Now, could AltStroke sustain his own monthly title? I actually think yes in the short term, not in the longer term because eventually he’d either kill everybody or kill himself or we’d fall into the cliché of constantly contriving reasons he wouldn’t. -- Christopher J. Priet

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Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

[icon_uk]

n the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like. Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

Well, Britain is now out of the EU. Sigh... and to celebrate the removal of the British population from "undue influence from unelected wielders of power", they sang "God Save the Queen". Irony, thy name is Brexit.

In what is seen by some as an immediate, and worrying, adoption of Trump-like tactics, a Press briefing on Brexit inside 10 Downing Street saw reporters split into two groups, with admission only given to those known to be sympathetic to the Government, whilst those who might have been critical were told to leave. In an admirable display of journalistic integrity, ALL the reporters walked out, rather than have the Government decide who can scrutinise their plans. This does not bode well.

In the US, the Democratic Presidential campaign has had a rocky start with technical problems delaying the announcemnt of the Iowa Caucas votes. Such a snafu in a busy news cycle is particularly egregious, since it now has to face reporting competition from the State of the Union address, and also the end of the Trump impeachment proceedings, which has shown some breathatkingly brazen partisan ignoring of due process.

On more positive news, America's annual, if short lived, obsession with Superb Owls kicked in again, which seems a worthy passtime as they are amazing birds.

Disney has created, for Japan, a truly bzarre dating app called Twisted Wonderland, where it reimagines it's villains as anime boys to flirt with. This includes a twink Iago (NOT voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, which seems such a shame) and 1920's gangster versions of Flotsam and Jetsam working for a Mafia Don Ursula, and well, you can check the rest out for yurself if such be your pleasure.

The second batch of Netflix Knights of the Zodiac dropped (all six episodes), and crammed the entire Silver Saint storyline into four episodes. Admittedly not a terrific story to start with, but the Silver Saint designs were nice, and defeating more than a half dozen of them in four episodes did nothing to make them impressive), and then spent the other two whole episodes seemingly finishing off their one new villain introduced for this version, perhaps realising that he just wasn't working.

A bunch of new anime dropped on Netflix, and I enjoyed Levius, a steampunk cyborg boxing series but was instantly turned off "No Game, No Life", when they introduced the 11 year old protagonist with a panty shot and have her complain about how her bust wasn't big enough yet... No thanks, this I do not need in my life.

Crunchyroll is starting to show a new series "The Case Files of Jeweler Richard". a low key drama about a pretty-boy, socially restrained aesthete who meets a handsome, somewhat naive, beefcake with a heart of gold and the subtextual flirting which ensues. Full marks though for the second episode, which addresses with a combination of tact and openness, the troubles that a female customer has when the social pressures to conform and marry collide with the fact that she's gay, and ends with her breaking off her engagement to a man she'd fouind herself in because, though he was a kind and decent man, she wants to be true to herself, which may complicate her life, but gives her a chance to be truly happy.

Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #4 was Peter and Ben.

[thanekos]

(#3'd been Sue and Peter.)

Peter'd swung over to the Baxter Building, having gotten a text from its comm systems.

He learnt that none of them had sent it - yet there it was, on his phone.

With nothing else to do, he asked Ben if he could get some poker tips.

Ben agreed. They sat down to cards -

" Ah, Spider-Man. You answered my summons. "

- and a very familiar looking armored figure in green warped in.

The other three arrived. There was five against the intruder, with " The kids? "

" Safe in the panic room. "

" All right, Victor. " said Reed. " If you're this eager for a fight- "

" ' Victor '?

" Heh. Oh, Dr. Richards. Really.

" Could ' Victor ' bypass your defenses so effortlessly? Would ' Victor ' know the layout of your headquarters intimately.. "

The figure tapped his mask, and it opened.

" .. because he once lived here? "

" Kristoff? "

( Spider-Man took Kristoff Vernard's face in. )