A little justice and a glimmer of hope.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letters: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Victor Zsasz faces judgment. Meanwhile, Deathstroke’s raid on S.T.A.R. Labs’ secret base is looking more and more like a suicide run.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we race to the end of the year of this book, already longer than the previous years I covered, there’s a good bit going on but it still feels like it’s all kept pretty separate and sparse in a way. Smaller stories amid the larger events of what’s going on. Such is the case early on here as we see justice come for Zsasz, which angers Hal as he was killed in his cell and nobody knows anything. We get to see how it unfolds with who the real killer is and it’s absolutely no surprise, but it’s one of those moments that you can feel a little conflicted about because it’s not heroic but there are times where it simply will happen. And it works more for some characters than others, who fight against that impulse. Mike S. Miller works this sequence well with the shadows at first and the layouts of it all before the reveal, though it’s a given to those that pay enough attention, and it brings that arc to a decent close.
But that’s not the main thrust of this installment by any stretch. What the series wants to do is get back to the mission Deathstroke is on, something that made the last issue really enjoyable. He made a lot of progress the last time around but ran afoul of Metamorpho, who is certainly one of the more challenging opponents to have. But as we’ve seen with Deathstroke over the years it’s all about the planning and looking at every angle. You can’t account for everything but there are a lot of scenarios you game through and Deathstroke likely does that in his sleep. The two have a pretty good fight here where you’re waiting to see what the trick is that he uses to get one up on the problematically powered opponent, and it works well to make it a pretty engaging fight. Miller again does some great stuff here, particularly the panel where the shots go through Metamorpho’s face. The detail and color work from Nanjan are spot on.
Of course, getting out of this superprison of the regime’s isn’t going to be easy and there’s definitely a lot to like here because Deathstroke is, again, the character that you want to see how his plan works. While Metamorpho was a surprise, it’s no surprise that some of the bigger guns show up with Cyborg and Raven and that’s a lot more difficult for him to deal with, though he works through a few other challenges first. It seems like things are going badly, and they do for Deathstroke, but the truth is what’s so interesting in that he planned for this and found another way to complete the mission. A Mother Box in Batman and Lex’s hands should be interesting to see how it plays out and I really liked the way they worked how they got it since it even surprises Lex.
In Summary:
I’m starting to feel anxious as we get closer to the end, though I know it won’t be conclusive in a proper sense since it leads into the game itself. But the events are ramping up pretty nicely here and there’s a fair bit going on to keep it moving with all the twists and turns and ways it can be massaged into expanding what happens in the game. Deathstroke was one of my favorite characters from the 80’s/90’s realm of comics and getting to see him do his thing here against some solid opponents is definitely fun. Miller looks to have a lot of fun in illustrating him as well since there’s some great dynamic aspects to his movements that help to propel him within and through the panels themselves. Definitely a fun installment and something that the series needed more of for a while now.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 23rd, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
