Friday, December 26, 2008

Sure, when Kite-Man does this, he sucks; but give Deathstroke the Terminator a hang-glider and you're all like, "Awesome!"
Really?
Despite having a kick-ass action figure and other fans who made the case for it; I don't think I've ever really appreciated Deathstroke. Maybe because DC can't decide if they want him to be a super-villain (ala Identity Crisis) or an anti-hero, as seen in his own 90's series. I saw this in one of my boxes, and thought perhaps checking out his first issue would give me some insight; but unfortunately, this is Deathstroke the Terminator Annual #1.

It's one of DC's "Eclipso: the Darkness Within" annuals for 1992; sadly, since I knew more about that, the crossover material was easier to follow than anything involving the main characters, or Nightwing, who's here for good measure. Or not, as he and Deathstroke examine some wreckage scavenged from the destroyed Titans Tower:
Somewhere, Batman is shaking his head sadly...
Geez, Dick, if you feel that bad then, you must either be a complete wreck now, or utterly dead inside to the Titan's plight. In short, this issue didn't help me understand or appreciate Deathstroke (which will probably be clear, later...) and kind of made me think even less of Nightwing. (Crying over dead teammates, OK. Crying over dead teammates during a mission in front of Deathstroke and a guy that looks like Marvel's Baron Strucker, not so much.)

From "A Thousand Points of Night" Plot by Marv Wolfman and David Cody Weiss, script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gabriel Morrissette and Phil Jimenez, inks by Akin, Statema, and Barnett III.

1 comment:

SallyP said...

I am ambivalent about Deathstroke. He used to be rather cool, but he's been done to death a bit, and the fact that he's the "Batman" of villains is annoying.

I'd like to send him on vacation for a while, and then I won't grind my teeth when the next time he shows up.