Deathstroke Rebirth

[BlueLanternKal]

When you want somebody dead in the DC Universe, you call Slade Wilson.

But who is Deathstroke, really, behind the mask? That's what comics legend Christopher Priest aims to find out when he returns to ongoing comics for the first time in a decade to write Deathstroke for DC's Rebirth initiative.

Beginning with Deathstroke: Rebirth #1 on August 10, the writer will relaunch Deathstroke for the third time since 2011, this time with an eye toward taking back some ground that he's lost in the eyes of the readership, both to overuse that has left Deathstroke feeling less special and more beatable than in the past -- and also to Deadpool, a character heavily influenced by Deathstroke who has exploded in popularity, with Priest saying that he wants to make sure the original doesn't feel like an imitator.

Yesterday at Comic Con International: San Diego, Priest joined ComicBook.com to talk about how he came back to ongoing comic book writing and what to expect from his Deathstroke.

What drew you to Deathstroke?

Nothing. I was minding my business, and Marie Javin from DC e-mailed me about Deathstroke. I went "Deathstroke?" It took me a minute but I had to go, "Isn't he that guy who fights the Teen Titans?" She goes, "Yeah." And I go, "He has his own book?" "For a long time now." I knew nothing. So I said, "Send me some of that and I'll look at it." I looked at The New 52 stuff and I looked at some stuff prior to and I got in contact with her and said, "I appreciate you thinking of me, but I can't write this."

And she said, "We're doing this 'Rebirth' thing, so if you were writing Deathstroke what would you do?" And I said that it would be interesting to me if I could do something introspective. Kind of "behind the mask," you know? Get inside his head a little and kind of treat him the way we treated Black Panther in a lot of ways, where people are speculating about his motives and what he's going to do, and he's always one step ahead of everybody.

So I really wasn't drawn to the character; the company approached me and that's what started me thinking about the character. So I called her back and said, "Okay, let's give this a shot. We'll get through the development process and see if this is working for both of us." That's how that got started.

You've done some work with antiheroes in the past; do you ever worry about retreading old ground?

Coming back into the business is a little scary because I haven't written an ongoing series in a long time. So there's some nervousness about failure; there's some flopsweat going on. As far as retreading things, the Deathstroke series is unlike anything I've done before. The only similarities between Deathstroke and anything I've done before is Black Panther, where we're kind of using the same sort of structure. With Black Panther we were using these title cards to break up the scenes and I did that deliberately to evoke that sort of Black Panther sort of storytelling. And the fact that he's really smart.

But unlike Black Panther, he is a bad guy and an unapologetically bad guy who runs around and kills people. So it really doesn't mirror anything that I've done before.

Part of my goal though was to reclaim ground -- and I mean this with all due respect to writers who have come before me, but to reclaim some ground for Deathstroke that Deadpool had taken from him. Because Deadpool is the echo of Deathstorke, not the other way around. And we don't want Deathstroke to look like he's some kind of ripoff of Deadpool but Deadpool is huge now. He's huger than huge. I don't even work for Marvel and let's just say Deadpool's been very nice to me lately.

So I definitely had a conscious goal to reassert Deathstroke as his own man, as his own character in a unique way. He's not at all funny. There's humor in the book but Deathstroke himself is not. He has no sense of humor, and it is nothing at all like Deadpool.

Hopefully, we'll kind of reset him back to being a top tier character in his own right.

I always feel like he became the anti-Batman for a while; "He can do anything." "Why?" "He's Deathstroke!" Is it difficult as a writer to fully realize somebody like that?

That's very ironic becuase that's what I'm running around enforcing everywhere I can at DC, that Deathstroke is the anti-Batman.

We've slimmed him down, we've taken away most of the hardware. He will still wear the bandolier and all the guns and stuff when he needs to. I thought it was dumb for him to be wearing this big, clanking bandolier when he's not even carrying a machine gun. So you will see that, but only when it actually makes sense for him to dress like that.

He's an assassin, so I wanted him to look like an assassin. Assassins are quiet, dude! They sneak up on you. They step out of the shadows, slit your throat and then vanish. That's what an assassin does. And over the years, he'd become so broad, where he's fighting whole armies and Darkseid and he's got a flaming sword fighting demons, and I just went, "Guys, with all due respect, I don't want to write that." I want to write something that's a more human character that's closer to something that Denny O'Neil would write.

Denny O'Neil is one of my mentors; he taught me how to write. I was a fan of his for 20 years before I met him. I bow to the Denny O'Neil school of writing. What he did with Green Lantern/Green Arrow was a character study over the conceits of those characters being superheroes. So we're doing a very character-driven, very strong, character-driven series and we're kind of scaling him back down, containing him more, into something that I think works better and is more faithful to what Marv had in mind in the first place.

It sounds in some ways that what you're doing is similar to the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon reinvention of The Punisher. Taking a character who had been so omnipresent in the Marvel Universe, and kind of bringing him into his own corner.

That's basically what we're talking about. One of the things I asked for and didn't get was a label because I wanted, to really be honest with the character, let's do the Garth Ennis Deathstroke. Let's go there. He's an assassin! So every month I get the e-mail, "You have to pull back on that one a little bit. Can we do that in shadow? Deathstroke really can't kill those chickens. I'm sorry." And I'm like, "Uh, hello? He's Deathstroke!" Every month I kind of get that call.

I feel like I want to make a t-shirt now that says "Deathstroke can kill those chickens."

Yeah, Deathstroke can kill those chickens!

Is he going to be a big part of the DC Universe, or is it mostly a Punisher-style thing where he's not necessarily dealing directly with them?

Well, he clashes with Batman in issue 5 and he has a knock-down, drag-out with Superman in issue 8. How much other people will use him is obviously up to DC and other people.

I think the main concern I have is that I don't want Deathstroke to be the go-to guy when you need a villain, so it becomes Deathstroke versus Mighty Mouse and Mighty Mouse kicks his ass. No, he's Deathstroke! He can kill those chickens!

So I told my editors about it and I said, "Look, you've got to be careful and you've got to tell your editor pals that you've got to be careful who you put up against Deathstroke because Deathstroke is a killer. He doesn't just knock you out and go, "I won that fight." You have to be careful who you put in front of him because if Deathstroke doesn't kill them, we're violating the character. If Deathstroke is always getting his butt kicked, then we're violating the character. So you've got to stop that. If he's going to fight Robin, that means you're tired of Robin and you want Robin to go away because he's Deathstroke! He can kill those chickens.

He obviously has a relationship with the whole DC community. Does his reputation play into the book in a big way? Does everyone know who he is and what his deal is?

I think it's characters who are in the business know who he is, but Joe Lunchbox in Mom and Pop America, they have no idea who he is. And part of our storyline for his first year or so of the series is explaining why the superheroes allow Deathstroke to walk around.

I had to get that done because otherwise this series has no credibility. Why is this guy still around? Why aren't you spending every waking moment tracking down Deathstroke? So we answer that question. And part of it is that he's very good at what he does in terms of not getting caught. Part of it is that first you have to prove in court that Deathstroke and Slade Wilson are one in the same, and that's really hard to do. Third, he has a cadre of lawyers that can get him out of anything.

He's rich, he's got a bunch of lawyers. Those kind of things all come in. So the heroes are faced with either kill him, or you lock him up in a Guantanamo Bay kind of deal with no charge. And that's not justice. The theme we have is that in order to have justice, Deathstroke is kind of a consequence of the whole concept of doing justice versus being a vigilante. Our mainstream characters are are heroes, not vigilantes and that's how

Now that said, DC is publishing a new book called Vigilante, so stay tuned because he's like "I'll just take the sucker out and be done with it." I'm anxious to see what that book's going to be about.

With Vigilante and some other characters being re-established who were introduced around the same time as Deathstroke, are there any other DC characters you really hope to use?

I think I'd have to say we'll see. Right now my main focus for the first year is re-establish his community. Over the years, they've whacked out every member of his family, sometimes twice, three times. Really establish his core, his status quo, and then stand him up to Batman, stand him up to Superman, help define who Deathstroke is between those two extremes. By standing him up next to Batman we define him this way, by standing him up next to Superman, we define him that way. We're really not that focused on guest star of the week or whatever, we're just trying to get his world together.

http://comicbook.com/2016/07/22/christopher-priest-on-coming-back-to-comics-and-taking-over-deat/

Since Rebirth has started the anticipation for this ongoing has been ramping up and it's reaching it's tipping point for me. I really can't wait. Judging from this interview the wait seems to have been worth it. If this is written at all like Deathstroke Annual #2 (gritty, intelligent, and grounded, without being gratuitous) this book is headed to the top of my pull list. Sometimes characters seems like they're being written edgy for the sake of it. But Slade's a character that can live in that space without having to try. He can be that Man With No Name, grey hat type of western hero. And going back to Marv Wolfman's anti-hero/villain for hire roots got me hyped asf.

Can't wait for Deathstroke vs Batman Pt IV!

 

[BlueLanternKal]

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/articles/christopher-priest-talks-deathstroke-rebirth/1100-155898/

The series will kind of be like The Sopranos with supervillains.

Deathstroke is a supervillain most heroes in the DC Universe don't want to mess with. Over the years, he's changed from a ruthless assassin to an unstoppable super-killing machine. He's faced massive threats and defeated impossible odds.

With DC Comics' current Rebirth initiative, the focus has shifted to exploring who the characters are in their books. Creators are looking at what is the core essence of the characters that fans have grown to love over the years. Christopher Priest is known to readers for his takes on characters like Black Panther and Quantum and Woody. He's now taking a stab at Deathstroke in order to establish what exactly makes him tick. We talked to Priest to find out about the series and how Deathstroke will try to connect with his kids while still being a cold-blooded killer.


Comic Vine: How are you approaching Deathstroke?

Christopher Priest: Very cautiously. That's the only way to approach a guy like that. I see Deathstroke as being a multilayered and multifaceted character. A lot of time supervillains, in general, are portrayed as one-dimensional. There's almost a rule in literary fiction where your main protagonist has three dimensions, your secondary characters have two, and then other characters, who are often the villains, are just kind of flat so your main characters pop out. Back when Stan Lee and Gerry Conway were writing Spider-Man, we never really got into the nuances of Doctor Octopus or what his particular challenges were. You can't do that when the villain is the protagonist of the series. I can't write Deathstroke in one-dimension in his own comic book.

Marv Wolfman brilliantly breathed so much life into this character. I've been trying to peel the onion and just explore who he is. There's a tagline I'm trying to sell, "Journey through the mind of a killer." I want to explain, not only his rational for being a supervillain but to really explore, thematically, the whole concept of villainy versus justice. In a way, justice enables villainy because justice requires due process and fairness. The only way to deal with a guy like Deathstroke is for Superman to lock him up, Guantanamo Bay-style and hold him without charge forever. That's not justice though. That's vigilantism.

What will be Deathstroke's focus? Will he go on mercenary missions or fight other heroes?

Yes. [laughs] He'll be doing all that. In the Rebirth issue, he has a contract to kill a supervillain who is under the protection of an African despot. He makes a deal to go get the villain. Then the villain wants to make a second deal with him. It's kind of this round robin of who's double crossing who? This is what he does for a living. Over the course of the series, sometimes the missions are foreground, and sometimes they're background. We're also obviously focusing on his struggle to form a reasonable relationship with his children and his ex-wife. Well, I don't think he really thinks too much about forming a relationship with her, but she's definitely in the mix there.

The solicit info for the Rebirth issue mentions redemption. How might someone like Deathstroke go about seeking redemption?

As I see him, Deathstroke is an emotionally tortured individual. He's a guy who desperately wants to love and be loved, but he's incapable of either. In other words, he's incapable of expressing his emotions and incapable of receiving familial love. For example, there's a line in, I think, issue 3 or 4 with Wintergreen where he says, "That's the rule, you can hug him. He can never hug you." It would not occur to Deathstroke to hug his daughter Rose. It may occur to him, but he's just not able to do it. The way we're looking at Deathstroke is he's like emotionally arrested. He's like House M.D. but with a machine gun. He's this tortured person who really wants to go to the party and be social, but he just doesn't know how.

How big of a role will his kids have in the series?

Rose is the virtual co-star. She's Robin to his Batman. We will not see her until about issue 3. The reason for that is I am writing the book as though the book has never existed before. People who have never read Deathstroke or don't know anything about him, they should arrive with no fear. We're rolling this out in a way that's like, "Once upon a time there was a man named Slade…" and moving forward from there. In the Rebirth issue and issue 1, we're really establishing who Slade is and getting that foundation in. In issue 2, we introduce Wintergreen. Issue 3 introduces Rose. Jericho will not appear until issue 6, I think. His ex-wife Adeline [Kane Wilson] will also be in issue 6. The series will kind of be like The Sopranos with supervillains. We have this family patriarch who makes his living running around killing people. We'll see the effect that has on the people he loves.

Will he be working with someone like Wintergreen on his mercenary missions? Will he have someone to take care of the paperwork?

Wintergreen doesn't do the paperwork. He's actually a field agent. Wintergreen is still his Barney Rubble to his Fred Flintstone. I'm mixing metaphors now. Marv Wolfman kind of created him to be his Alfred to Deathstroke's rough Batman. Wintergreen's more of a partner. He's not his butler. They have a sort of contentious relationship because when they were both in the military working as independent contractors, Wintergreen was alright with Slade running around wacking dictators or doing something in the name of national security.

Over the years, Slade has evolved from Slade Wilson into Deathstroke. Deathstroke, as we currently know him, he is eeevil. He is a super-villain. He has some sets of morals. There are things that are extreme that Deathstroke will not go to, but they are few and far between. Wintergreen becomes his moral compass and has less comfort with some of the things Deathstroke does. He does not always agree with the choices Deathstroke makes. There's some interesting tension between these two friends.

How much violence and action can we expect?

Less than before, if only in that the action, violence and bloodletting are no longer the focus of the book. The focus is the consequences of the action and violence and bloodletting. We'll also look at the impact it has on his family. It's not going to be wall-to-wall swordplay and machine guns. Although, that is in here. We'll eventually ratchet that up more than we see in the initial stage of the series. The first handful of issues are really dealing with character. We're trying to flesh them out so when we do put their lives in danger, someone actually cares. If we just focus on the action, then everyone's a cardboard character. Nobody really matters. If Rose gets stabbed or Jericho gets run over by a bread truck, who cares?

We're focusing on character-driven stories. Then we'll eventually bring back more of the over-the-top stuff that the fans have come to love. My position on Deathstroke is he's a supervillain. He's an assassin. With all due respect to previous writers, they've evolved Deathstroke from being a pure assassin to being this uber-threat. We're bringing him back to being a corrupt dark mirror image of Batman. He's stealthier and doesn't carry all that gear he used to, unless he needs it. If we're dropping him into a war zone, you will see him suit up the way he has been currently. Our version of Deathstroke is silent and stealthy. He creeps out of the shadows, slits your throat, and vanishes back into the black.

Deathstroke: Rebirth #1 is on sale August 8. The action continues in Deathstroke #1 on sale August 24.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Still boggles my mind that they got this amazing a team on Deathstroke, of all people. But I'll check it out just for Priest returning to comics, if nothing else.

 

[Victarion]

I'm fine with this. I loved the Deathstroke/Trigon team-ups in the Teen Titans cartoon. This is one title I'll be looking into.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

It's out. And it's dope. It presents Slade as an unapologetic villain with a moral code and buried regrets. And it has enough social commentary to give it gravitas and keeps it grounded without coming off as preachy.

When Slade is hit the reveal he has no choice but to reneg on his contract, showing that the almighty dollar isn't his end all. But even as he does it he does so in a way that upholds his rep as the World's Greatest Assassin. He disguises his breach as taking on an another contract. Brilliant stuff.

If the thought put into this keeps up "Slade the Deathstroke, super-wheelon" could end up being my favorite book coming out of Rebirth.

10/10.

 

[Slade W]

I am looking forward to getting around to reading this.

 

[Broseph44]

This was a great first issue. I was at the shop and my buddy behind the counter was like hey, want a copy of Deathstroke on the house no charge? Yes please. Awesome issue and adding it to my pull.

 

[Slade W]

Great first issue. Along with Green Arrow, this is my most anticipated title ATM.

 

[Slade W]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08...act-and-prepares-deathstroke-for-a-tv-series/

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Aww man. So Judas Contract Rebirth!!! Yes, please. I'm telling y'all Slade is finally getting the push he deserves.

Priest, Didio, and Johns are all involved in his trajectory. That's what's up.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Sounds pretty great! I've got to trim down the books I'm following after this month, and Rebirth has certainly made it difficult.

And while Deathstroke gets a big push, this guys' TV show just ended, leaving him open for his next big role...

 

[Slade W]

http://newsok.com/article/5514386

This interview is not just about Deathstroke (he is only mentioned near the end), but it is still a very interesting interview with Priest.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08...-christopher-priests-bleeding-cool-interview/

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Slade was hired by refugees to take out Clock King who's hiding out in a war torn African nation. To get to the Clock King Slade has to deal with Matthew "Jazaki" Bland, the local dictator/warlord responsible for the genocide going down in Africa.

Jazaki only agrees to reveal Tockman's location if Deathstroke can somehow get US Senator Hasgrove relected. Hasgrove's blocking US/NATO intervention so Jazaki can go about his ethnic cleansing and keep ruling his nation with an iron fist. Slade charges Jazaki 9 million USD for this favor.

Slade's hacker, Hosun, funnels money from a super-pac to prop up an indie candidate splitting the Dem vote and guaranteeing Hasgrove keeps his seat. Jazaki reveals Tockman's location.

When Slade's bout to kill the Clock King when he drops a Kenilworth sized bomb on him revealing that Wintergreen is alive and being held captive by Kurdish militants hiding from the Turkish government. Slade brokers a contract with the men who escorted him to Tockman. These soldiers are essentially dead because they witnessed Jazaki's betrayal of Tockman.

Slade charges whatever money they have in exchange for protection (including their families) the condition being that they get him into the Kurdish Al Lajna camp where Wintergreen is held.

Somewhere along the way Slade kills a dude and puts his armor on him so that Jazaki's men can infiltrate the camp with "Deathstroke's" head as the entrance fee. Slade busts in like a ninja and breaks Wintergreen out, but not before Billy hooks him up with some experimental kinetic absorbing armor from the good old days.

While all this is going down in Africa, back in the US our boy Hosun the Hacker hands an envelope with some embarrassing info in it to Senator Hasgrove. Nothing quite destroys a career in politics like pictures of a BDSM orgy. Hasgrove offs himself guaranteeing a Dem win and US/NATO intervention.

A bad day for Jazaki who's being held prisoner by Clock King. Slade sees through Tockman's bull**** illusions and takes his ass out fullfilling his original contract. Then he threatens Jazaki with returning if his escort or their families are hurt.

The real reveal. This was all orchastrated by a US Admiral in conjunction with Jizaki to get possession of Deathstroke's armor. The refugees that hired Slade to take out Tockman were secretly funded by Jazaki under the Admiral's orders.

Two things are evident here. One, whoever this Admiral is has to know Slade and his tactics intimately if he knew that at some point Slade would ditch his armor in a bait and switch. Two, someone has gone through a lot of trouble to possibly frame Slade for something really really bad.

This all happened in two issues. This summary doesn't include the flashbacks and the very entertaining character interactions.

Priest isn't writing a comic book. He's writing a Godamn Spy Novel and I love it.

 

[Omegabat]

The best thing about this comic is how dense and packed it is. I like that it told a full story in just 2 issues but at the same time those 2 issues are also part of a larger arc. These days I'm getting sick of decompression in comics, stories that dont even require 3 issues are stretched and dragged for over 10 months. This was definitely a breath of fresh air.

 

[Gee]

Loved the first two issues so far. I quite like the flashbacks too.

Can't wait to see Rose appear for some father-daughter action.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Loved the first two issues so far. I quite like the flashbacks too.

Can't wait to see Rose appear for some father-daughter action.

Lawd almighty, can you imagine what it'd be like to have Deathstroke as a father-in-law? Thats some scary **** right there.

 

[Victarion]

The only issues out are the prologue and issue one, right? I got those and enjoyed them. Great storyline that provides a welcome counterbalance to the more action-oriented new 52 books.

 

[Slade W]

Another very good issue. A lot of detail is put in, which I really like. The dialogue is very good. I also like Slade's sense of humour in it, and the banter between him and Wintergreen. I especially liked his line to Matthew, regarding Hasgrove killing himself once he was re-elected "I said Hasgrove would be re-elected, never promised he wouldn't jump off a building". That is the type of humour he should have IMO, as I think it fits his character. I read that line in Perlman's voice. I hope that we get to see more villainy from Slade, as in the end it was revealed that he did good in that issue, with how things worked out in the end.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

I think it's going for a then and now feel.

20 years ago Slade was the villain that beat the **** out of the Teen Titans, beat his kids on a regular basis, took jobs based on their price tags, and didn't give a **** about collateral damage.

Now he's more concerned with getting things right with his daughter, the jobs he takes aren't always about the paycheck, he doesn't have anything to gain by beating the **** out of the Titans or maintaining his vendetta with Nightwing, if he can avoid collateral damage he does.

I dig the juxtaposition that Priest is going for with the character. People change over time. Why not for an old and grey, but still active Deathstroke?

 

[Boom]

Loved the first two issues. Deathstroke's new costume is slick as ****. Reminds me of the Ninja from Metal Gear Solid.

 

[Mad Ones]

I read the first two issues since I've been hearing good things. I don't know how much a very smart story can make up for how Slade embodies pretty much everything I hate.

 

[Omegabat]

New preview

https://www.inverse.com/article/20682-deathstroke-rebirth-comics-villain-batman-ben-affleck

Rose's origin will be covered here I think and I wonder if Priest has a proper arc with Batman planned? I expect early 2018, he and Damian will be showing up in #4-5

 

[BlueLanternKal]

I read the first two issues since I've been hearing good things. I don't know how much a very smart story can make up for how Slade embodies pretty much everything I hate.

Like? I've seen people take things out of context.

For example, I've seen someone use "they're black people, the Marines aren't coming" to say that Slade was a racist when in literially the page prior he was chillaxing post-coitus with a black woman.

What he meant in that line is that a majority of American politicans would rather turn a blind eye to conflicts in third world nations if it suits their agenda, which is true. Slade had to basically manipulate a US senator into killing himself to make intervention in a genocide a possiblity.

 

[Mad Ones]

Like? I've seen people take things out of context.

For example, I've seen someone use "they're black people, the Marines aren't coming" to say that Slade was a racist when in literially the page prior he was chillaxing post-coitus with a black woman.

What he meant in that line is that a majority of American politicans would rather turn a blind eye to conflicts in third world nations if it suits their agenda, which is true. Slade had to basically manipulate a US senator into killing himself to make intervention in a genocide a possiblity.

I got what what Priest was going for there, and I thought it was a smart commentary.

I'm more reacting to the character being hyper-masculine, misogynistic, and homophobic. Calling his son a nancy and telling him to grow a pair, telling his wife "don't blame me for your damn uterus", things like that. I get he's a bad guy and reflects attitudes people have and they're making him a "complicated character". But DC is putting zero effort into queer male characters in rebirth.

 

[BlueLanternKal]

I got what what Priest was going for there, and I thought it was a smart commentary.

I'm more reacting to the character being hyper-masculine, misogynistic, and homophobic. Calling his son a nancy and telling him to grow a pair, telling his wife "don't blame me for your damn uterus", things like that. I get he's a bad guy and reflects attitudes people have and they're making him a "complicated character". But DC is putting zero effort into queer male characters in rebirth.

Is Slade Wilson really the character to tackle that though? The "don't blame me for your uterus" line wasn't a misogynistic comment IMO. In his fight with his wife he basically said stop *****ing and do something about it. And as formidable as a character as Adeline Kane-Wilson is he has a point. Should she get mad that she's not doing black-ops with Slade? Or should she blow off domestic life and go with him anyway? He said that the ball was in her court and he was right.

The nancy-boy comment was unlikable, I'll give you that one. But was it out of character? Slade Wilson is the type of guy that would raise his sons in a psuedo boot camp after all.