The big fish of the sea continues to make their presence known.
What They Say:
FLASH QUESTION: Will Deathstroke find his treasure – or will he die trying?
The Review:
While it wasn’t anything spectacular, I definitely came away from the first issue of this miniseries enjoying it. I liked seeing Deathstroke in this form, his quest and getting a better look at what the world looks like in the midst of this war from the perspective of those over what’s left of Western Europe. The first issue did some back story filling in and put a good bit of action as well as his crew ended up facing off against Aquaman and Ocean Master. With Aquaman simply wanting to make his boundaries clear and keeping everyone away, every little affront sets him off and gets him riled up really good. His takedown of Deathstroke and his crew hits pretty hard here as the secondary crew members were cut up pretty good and Deathstroke himself had a trident to the heart. It’s certainly not the first time he’s been hit hard before, but the visuals were a lot of fun.
This issue is kind of odd with what it’s doing though, but it does move things along pretty well. The bulk of the first half is made up of more action on his ship as Ocean Master and Aquaman move through more of the crew. They’re mostly nameless or of such little recognition that it doesn’t matter. The one fun death, if you can call it fun, is when Clayface decides that he’s had enough of this since it’s getting pretty dark and just wants out of there. That is obliged by Aquaman himself how thrusts him down into the ocean, letting the salt water do some work on him while he cuts him up. You have to feel bad for Clayface as he really was my favorite character from the first book with how he interacted with everyone and what we saw of him elsewhere in the Flashpoint world.
Some basic bad writing does surface here as Aquaman and Ocean Master essentially tire of the whole endeavor and rather than truly finish everyone off, they just leave. That lets the remaining crew to recover, and it forces Deathstroke into a new deal with Sonar who helps to save him from certain death. It’s not a badly done sequence, it has the kind of simple quick decision making that men in these kinds of lives have to make, and it shakes up the dynamic a bit. They all know what they have to do, though Deathstroke is definitely still calling the shots as he wants to get Rose back and it is his underlying overall goal that guides everything. It does have some fun at the end when Warlord shows up ready for a big battle and a bit of a surprise lands into the middle of it that’s going to cause even more trouble. It’s the way a situation can go even worse quicker than you can imagine.
Digital Notes:
This digital edition of Deathstroke from Comixology features just the first printing cover of the issue with no additional extras included in the book.
In Summary:
This Deathstroke book continues to be a guilty pleasure simply because the idea of metahuman pirates going around the open seas while having to contend with the Atlanteans is a surreal experience to watch. It plays the pirate side fairly well as you can expect from just a pair of issues and shows how quick a life can end. The characters are fun and though one of my favorites was lost, it did shuffle Sonar around to a new position and changes the dynamic of the group in general. The book does come across as mostly fluff as to be expected, it’s hard to imagine it really having a significant impact on the core storyline in the main series, but I’m enjoying it for what it is and the fact that after it’s over, there won’t be another pirate style metahuman series.
Grade: C+
