Deathstroke #32 Review

Written by: Priest
Art by: Carlo Pagulayan, Roberto Viacara, Lary Hama, Jason Paz, Jeromy Cox and Willie Shubert
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 6, 2018

“BATMAN VS. DEATHSTROKE” part three! When a retired superhero gets caught in the crossfire between the World’s Greatest Detective and the DCU’s most deadly assassin, could an entire legacy be wiped out? Lines are crossed when Deathstroke and Batman’s feud takes its darkest turn yet—and there’s no going back!

The issue opens with Slade in a flying car with Batman hanging on the roof as they try to bring down Ace Masterson, aka the Human Dynamo.  Actually, Batman is kind of about to kill Slade no matter what he tells his Wintergreen A.I.

We go back a day and see that Batman is trying to shut down Deathstroke by protecting all his contracts even as Slade continues to demand that someone set them both up with this whole Damian business.

We then get some cool bits with Talia and Slade involving the connection between Bruce Wayne and Batman and Priest makes it even cooler than it sounds.  This continues with a little scene with Adeline and Batman and while reading it, I did get excited for the inevitable clash of everyone in this book.

While all this is going on we see that Alfred and Wintergreen are still keeping an eye on their boys.  That's the good part...the bad part is what happens to Alfred.  how dare you Priest!

Back to Batman and Deathstroke, they are beating the crap out of each other and it's a question of if each will go over whatever line they have personally drawn and the surprise is it seems like Batman is ready to do just that.  It comes to a head with insults being thrown at both their kids before it comes to a sudden halt...for a Human Dynamo origin.  I don't mean the narration went that way...I mean Ace Masterson tells it to Slade and Bruce.  It wraps around into a bit of an emotional moment before Batman puts an end to the nonsense and tries to teleport (to the Sanctuary ?!?!) the old hero away. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out...at all.  Or does it?

We end the issue by seeing why Alfred was left out to dry earlier and get a cliffhanger that makes the whole "who is Damian's father" thing a bit more interesting.

This issue is set up through and through.  however, it's Priest setup which means getting set up for things you weren't aware of and answers to things that you didn't think needed answering.  He is such a wiz at false plays and misdirection that ends up being the main point going forward in a couple issues that reading this book always keeps you on your toes and thus fully engaged.  What I'm saying is this is a standard Priest issue that will probably be more important down the road as more things unfold.

Bits and Pieces:

Priest continues writing his book as a mystery wrapped in an action-thriller wrapped in a riddle.  We are getting more and more pieces of the puzzle and even if they don't fit together fully, I am enjoying trying to make it all work. The art by Carlo Pagulayan is spot on as usual and now that we've gotten over the forced bit of catchup of last issue, it looks like it's full steam ahead from here on out.

8.0/10