Deathstroke #48 - "Deathstroke R.I.P. Book Five: Summerville"

[laughing_tree]

I was, and am now, wholly unconcerned about his likeability. Supervillains are asses. Fans need to be reminded of that fact. I don’t think they deserve to be liked. More important, I am using Marv [Wolfman] and George [Perez] as my reference: this is who the man is.

DC is run by extremely nice people. That’s not blowing smoke — seriously, it’s like they all went through some kind of training in How To Be Polite And Get Along. What I remember from Old School Marvel was intense fiefdoms and cliques, and you had to remember whose territory you were intruding on and how to play by those rules.

DC feels more like Gene Roddenberry’s utopian view of the future, where kindness, forethought, and patience are the rules of the day. How does Deathstroke function in that kind of environment? I mean, I had Slade kill Power Girl’s dog in issue #17, and that was a major push. So far as I am concerned Slade, not Bruce, is Damian Wayne’s father. I mean, I get why DC made the call they did, and Damian is not *my* multi-million-dollar I.P. to gamble with, but I lobbied hard for another, in my opinion, more daring choice that would have shaken things up, enraged fans, and launched dozens of exciting stories.

-- Christopher J. Priest

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

So, will FauxStroke be revealed as a clone (boo!) or Prometheus?

[leahandillyana]

I hate modern comics drawing Deathstroke as if he was Dick's age.

[magicrubbish]

They addressed it in one of the Fauxstroke / Deathstroke dates lol. The Fauxstroke said Deathstroke looks like 35 when he's actually 55 and Deathstroke said " So does Tom Cruise ! " lol
They said it's because of the enhanced healing , the same kind of power that gives Logan his immortality and frozen age.

[nyadnar17]

I know, but man we have a ton of 20-35 Husbandos. Really wish Slade was back to reping team Silver Fox.

[magicrubbish]

I find that ridiculous and annoying too.

[magicrubbish]

Actually same for Batman as well. It's ever so annoying that he looks as young as ever when his ward Dick who was an 11 yr old kid when he started off is now a grown ass Man , he's 30 I guess.
Dude has a 14 year old son and not like , he became father at his teenage.
Andddddd he has no healing power as well.
Why are comic book heroes not allowed to age ?? Is that a disgraceful thing ?? To grow old ?? Every one grows old, eventually.
Unless you're Keanu Reeves.

[jmacq1]

No, they're not allowed to age, not really. Only in one-offs and "what ifs" and alternate futures.

Mostly because fans don't want Batman et al... to be forced into retirement, much less DC wanting to retire their cash cow character.

[arilou_skiff]

They are *kinda* allowed to age in some cases, but only very slowly and not at any constant rate. Eg. Spider-man has clearly aged from teenager into 20-something, but has stopped aging since.

[magicrubbish]

That's where I loose connect.

[icon_uk]

Franklin Ruichards reality warping coming into play!

[lordultimus]

Reminds me of that one Plastic Man comic.

"Robin has aged fifteen years, but Batman is still in his twenties!"

[magicrubbish]

Lol , that's funny ! :D
But yes , they show Bruce as a human super hero , who is not an Alien / Goddess / Mutant / Inhuman / Robot or their clone and that's part of his super high popularity , that he's just a human being Super hero yet packs solid punch against every one and is a force to reckon with.
Yet they don't allow him to be a human being .

[scorntx]

-Kindness, forethought and patience are the words of the day-

*looks at DC's general output*
Riiiight...


-enraged the fans-
So, that whole "kindess, forethought and patience" stuff only applies within the office?
Priest does realise there are ways to interact with fans that don't involve enraging them, doesn't he?

[laughing_tree]

Except he's listing the idea that would have "enraged the fans" as an example of the sort of thing DC does NOT allow its writers to do.

[magicrubbish]

Lol , you're funny ! :D

[locuatico]

He is reffering to his personal experience with the DC staff and creators and how they treat each other and comparing it with his time at marvel from years ago (which from what I have read, it wasn't exactly pleasant).
To put an example, he once recalled how a black panther story-arc involving Iron Man only got made because the editor in Iron Man's book gave his full support.
Compare that to his work on Deathstroke, where he apparently got a ton of freedom to do what he wanted, with the only real veto apparently being "no, you can't make Damian slade's son" and yeah, I can see why Priest has a much more positive opinion of DC when comparing it to his time at Marvel.

[mindsweeper]

Priest is certainly in love with the idea of changing Damian's father but I don't get why he thinks it's such a brilliant idea. Slade already has kids. I'm not sure what adding Damian to the list really does except borrow more Batman equity.

[magicrubbish]

He's obsessed with Batman it seems. He's making Slade hook up with Talia , he parallels Wintergreen with Alfred all the time , he's obsessed with converting Damian into Slade's son , when Damian is practically Bruce's mini me.
He gave Damian an one eye look in one of comic books to show him as Slade's son. It was disturbing to watch.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, that whole deal makes no sense to me either.

[silverhammerman]

The Batman equity is no small thing. I think it'd give Deathstroke a reason to interact with Batman more regularly, which I can understand from a purely pragmatic standpoint, plus it allows for drawing parallels between the two as dysfunctional patriarchs, a major theme of Priest's run.

I think it could do as much, if not more to freshen up Damian's character too. Damian's always been defined by a sort of certainty in his identity, legacy, place in the universe, etc, and having him be Deathstroke's kid would disrupt that. After all, unlike Talia, who raised and trained him, Deathstroke is just a completely contemptible mercenary and confirmed Shitty Dude. Their relationship, or even just the possibility of it, could bother Damian in an ongoing way. Also, making him an adoptive son rather than Batman's biological kid would remove the specter of eugenics which looms heavily in the idea that as the offspring of Batman and Talia, Damian is somehow a more legitimate Robin and true inheritor to his father's legacy.

That said, I totally see why DC shut Priest down on this one, because it doesn't add a ton to either character that you couldn't do even without them being related. Plus, Damian's probably too established a character, having appeared in cartoons and the like, for DC to be comfortable making such a change to his backstory.

[matrix_dragon]

No one really deserves to have to be related to Slade.

[beeyo]

I haven't read Batman vs Deathstroke, but is the situation "We both had sex with Talia around the same time", or does the whole "Damian being genetically engineered ala Grant Morrison" thing come into play?