Deathstroke #20 Review

Teamup

Written by: Christopher Priest
Art by: Larry Hama, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Sean Parsons, Jeromy Cox and Willie Shubert
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 7, 2017

I did not like the Lazarus Contract as a whole, but as far as Deathstroke goes, the ending did intrigue me.  While "Deathstroke No More" felt like a bit of a stretch, knowing that we was going to put together a Team Deathstroke had me excited.  The question was, how would he make it happen?  Half the characters that appeared to be on it hate or want to kill Slade and that there is where the excitement lies.  So, is the actual start as exciting as it seemed to be?  Let's find out...



The issue starts out with an unknown narrator giving us the rundown on Slade Wilson and if you've been reading the series and the Lazarus Contract, it's nothing new.  That continues as we see that the narrator is Isherwood and find out how he became one of Deathstrokes main men.  We continue a bit past that to see what happened to put him in his current predicament.  Again, nothing new...until we see him head off in search of Slade with murder on his mind.

We then head off to see Power Girl, Tanya Spears, and if you've been reading my reviews for this book, you know I love her so much.  She's having "girl problems" here, but when Slade knocks on her door, her problems have only just begun.

Slade wants forgiveness and uses every trick in the book to get it, including bringing her a puppy.  Now, if you haven't been reading this series or just jumped on with the Lazarus Contract, you may not know how fucked up this is.  Why?  Deathstroke snapped the neck of Tanya's last dog (poor Roscoe!) just to make her hate him.  Guess what?  It worked!!!  I guess not enough, though, because the scene ends with Tanya taking the puppy and saying she'd think about forgiving him.  BULLSHIT!

Listen, Deathstroke bringing Tanya the dog is spot on.  This sort of thing is what made him the worst father ever even as he tried to be dad of the year.  However, Tanya is too smart for this sort of thing.

We next see Jericho and the issue gets back on track as he searches for meaning and understanding in his messed up life.  He obviously feels awful about what he did to Rose and...well, he has Deathstroke as a father!  I think seeing him sign to the nun in the scene instead of just taking control of her mind is a sign that he is a changed person.  I still don't trust him, but that's probably the asshole in me.

After a quick scene with Tanya at the Doctor and Rose with Hosun (which is hilarious and heartbreaking), we get Jericho and Slade...and a phone call from Isherwood.  It's as awkward as it sounds, with David telling Jericho he forgives him for everything.  I just wonder what Jericho will say when he sees what David has become!

The issue ends with Deathstroke getting Tanya to believe he is turning over a new leaf and we see that Isherwood is doing so as well (in a very bad way) and then we end with a cliffhanger page with some familiar faces on Team Deathstroke.

This issue was okay enough.  I really hate the idea that Tanya would be involved with Deathstroke and there are a couple other odd choices for his Squad.  However, I am still onboard and will chalk up this slight misstep as a result of the Lazarus Contract.  Hopefully, things will now get right back to the awesome book we left a month ago.  Just one last thing before I hit the bits and pieces...who the hell killed Etienne?

Bits and Pieces:

This is a good issue of Deathstroke, just not up to par with what we were getting before the Lazarus Contract.  This isn't quite "Deathstroke No More", but more like Deathstroke 2.0 and I am still looking forward to it.

7.5/10