Deathstroke #6 - "The Professional, Part 6: Love and War"

[laughing_tree]

'I am very much going my own way espec with Joseph who will be less of “the other” than has been traditionally portrayed. My take on Joseph is he’s a normal, happy, well-adjusted postgrad-age young adult not unlike Peter Parker. The only difference being Joseph cannot speak. Doesn’t–should not–make him a freak. I respectfully disagreed with the Joe As Psychopath direction and even, with all due respect, Marv [Wolfman]’s Joe As enigmatic Flower Child." -- Christopher J. Priest

Comments

I Like Christopher Priest but....

[blue_bolt]

Given that Priest is one of the writers here I want to have faith...
but DC has handled homosexuality poor in the past.

Making a gay character EVIL! is just annoying.

This is why I rarely buy comics anymore...
Well, this and cheesecake - I can't stand looking at a woman casually breaking her spine.

[thanekos]

Congrats to Joseph for doing that thing everyone eventually tries in most games with possession mechanics.

[sarahnewlin]

Is it the same Joseph from New Teen Titans? I remember he was originally going to be gay but they changed it...(editorial mandate perhaps?)

[beyondthefringe]

Chatty Jericho is really disconcerting. I grew up on mute, ASL-using, enigmatic flower child Jericho, so it's weird seeing him just have actual conversations with people. :)

[ruhig_knight]

On one hand, I am very intrigued and ecstatic at Joey being canonly bisexual (or pan) as it's something I always saw his character as reading NTT. Really what Rebirth Joey is saying here about loving someone and not caring about their gender or body really feels like something I could see NTT Joey also believing...unless we get a "deep in denial gay man" storyline after all like Isherwood is insisting which will be a slap in the face to many people in similar positions to Joey's.

But of course, there's the question of Joey's morality. I like Priest and from his work on this book and others I feel like he can do this respectfully yet DC's crushed my hope for Joey too many times before I don't know what to think. At least Priest also dislikes shoving Joey into the CRAZY VILLAIN role so this will probably be more nuanced than say, Deathtrap. But really Priest, Flower Child!Joey was wonderful please tell me he's at least an artist still (I mean yeah, no character is still 100% like their original self but that was some of Joey's charm).

Also hope if they haven't figured out if the Wilson kids were Titans or not soon... it be just cruel we have Canon Bisexual Jericho who never knew Dick Grayson.
ALSO also, I'm not sure if they messed around with how Joey's power works. Again.

[strejdaking]

Okay, I am bit confused about the situation. Is the implication that they used to be in a relationship some time ago, or that they were till now, even when Joey was dating that girl? And guys... Forced outing is wrong, but it doesn't justify murder and even if Ikon was a crappy person, that still makes Joey look pretty bad, being in relationship with him and all.

I gotta ask, I am not terribly familiar with the character but out of his many falls to the dark side, was there like one that everybody loved or something? Because it seems to me like nobody likes him being evil, yet DC again and again insist on making him a villain. At best, he's a sympathetic attempted murdered now and right from the start. It reminds me how many Villain's Month issues revolved solely around "man, what an asshole" theme. You can always make characters more evil, but it's rather hard to do more sympathetic portrayal after you have them eat few babies. Unless you just ignore the continuity all together which hey, never stopped them before.