Deathstroke #42 (2019) - "The Terminus Agenda, Part Two: Our Gang"

[laughing_tree]

DC Editor Alex Antone called and said, “You do realize, Rose is a teenager.” Well, no, I hadn’t. I’m not sure Rose has ever been drawn as a teenager. I assumed she was early to mid-20’s, which would make her half-brothers mid to late 20’s. With due respect to previous writers, it really bothered me that a person so young could already be a hardened killer (I have similar concerns about the very popular Damian Wayne). In terms of character dynamics, I’m not sure such persons can ever be fully redeemed, and I’m really uncomfortable with the general handwave most superheroes seem to be giving teen (and even pre-teen) killers, most especially given our nation’s climate of violence.

I am not suggesting every super-hero has to be pure or angelic. What I mean is somebody, somewhere on some page should express some concern for the emotional state and overall wellbeing of these very young people who have taken a life before graduating high school. What bothers me is that none of the other DCU characters seem to bat an eye, chalking killing up as perhaps juvenile delinquency.

-- Christopher J. Priest

Comments

[flint_marko]

In regards to his quote, Rose only became a killer after Deathstroke manipulated and drugged her.

I also disagree with his handwave comments; it took a while for the titans to fully accept her, and I don't think she really killed anyone after she joined the team.





I'm not an expert on Damian, but I believe Batman also tried to get him to stop killing and his violent tendencies weren't handwaved away either.

[strejdaking]

Isn't that the problem though? The treatment of it as "this bad thing they did we gotta make them stop doing" and not "this horribly messed up thing they were taught at young age as normal that would have negative impact on their mental health".

[flint_marko]

Priest makes it sound like it's not an issue for the other characters. "What bothers me is that none of the other DCU characters seem to bat an eye, chalking killing up as perhaps juvenile delinquency."

[strejdaking]

I don't think he does. It sounds to me more like it's not an issue in the sense of them getting (pretty standart in superhero comics) slap on the wrist for their crimes, but in the sense of well-being and mental state of those people for their own sake,

[flint_marko]

That's what his quote says, though, talking about characters not batting an eye.

The whole reason why Dick had Tim let Rose join the Titans is because he wanted her to get help. They're not putting Rose in therapy, but you can easily make the argument that most comic book characters don't get the therapy they need.

[silicondream]

Yeah, Damian's entire story so long as Morrison was writing him was "Here's this incredibly brilliant but incredibly abused kid who was reared by the League of Assassins. How can the Bat-Family rescue him?" Of course he had done horrible things. He had experienced horrible things. Talia and Ra's were trying to make sure that trauma would define the rest of his life, while Bruce and Dick were fighting to prevent that from happening.

Even in Damian's hypothetical future in Batman #666, he was still wrestling with his inadequacies: killing a villain and counting it as another promise broken to Bruce; being condemned by Barbara Gordon; and recalling that he sold his soul for the power to protect Gotham because he was never as good as Bruce or Dick.

"Can a killer ever be fully redeemed?" is the story of Damian Wayne.

[steverequin]

I love these new Titans. Interesting characters. Good stories. Funny bits. Also, since Lobo; Infanticide (1992), I've been hoping to see one of his daughters in action again.