Deathstroke #46 Review

Like Father, Like Son

Written By: Christopher Priest

Art By: Fernando Pasarin, Cam Smith, Jeremy Cox, Willie Schubert

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 7, 2019

Alright everybody, here's your recap to the parts that matter right now.  Deathstroke is still dead, Rose wants to find his killer Red Arrow and Jericho isn't having a great time stopping her, but maybe now that he's received an offer from Lex Luthor he'll be able to do everything he wants in life, including still continuing to be a hero with the power of Doom inside him.  Fat chance, but once can always hope.  Let's jump into this issue and see where this book is taking us.  Let's check it out.

For this issue of Deathstroke I was really looking forward to see what these offers really looked like and right away we see that the device that Luthor gives him absorbs into his body, transforming him into a blue skinned dude that can mimic all the powers of the Ikon suit...... and somehow enhance all of his natural powers as well, which feels weird since we're told that this device was meant for Slade Wilson and that Joey is really the backup to Luthor's plan.  Either way though, Joey's kicking around with some new powers that he wants to use for good.. i.e. keeping Red Arrow safe from Rose, but while this seems to be a good half of the issue's plot, while giving us recap of what's gone down throughout.... it doesn't really come to much by the end and doesn't feel needed at all.  Also, we continue to get recap even after this plot device that was used for recap.  

The biggest disappointing part of this issue is really the lack of progression in everything that we've been dealing with since the death of Slade Wilson because it seems like each time that we dive into an issue someone is upset, then the next issue they're fine again and now the next person is upset.  Now it seems like Rose is fine and just wants to go after Shado, while not really caring about Red Arrow, until Joey and her start fighting again like the last issue.  The biggest difference is, I understood last issue.  With Joey's new crazy powers and trying to figure out what Rose might be wearing by the end I found myself very confused with the progression of this issue, where by the end I was just happy that it seemed like Jericho had chosen a side in the whole Doom/Justice bit, whether he realized it or not.

All in all, this was a disappointing issue that only really had something to say when Jericho was the main focus, but didn't do enough in my mind to really let us understand what was going on with the character, even though I think Priest tried by throwing jargon at us like it was all the explanation needed.  Shado, Rose, Emiko, they all felt like window dressing here that did nothing for the story overall and I can only hope that we just move past the whole "everyone wants to kill someone" bit because it's moving nowhere fast and I just want to learn more about the Year of the Villain at this point.  I loved the art in this issue, but the overall story just wasn't as engaging as I was hoping for.

Bits and Pieces:

While the art continues to be a joy in this series, the story kind of feels like it's treading water with everything besides Jericho and even his parts don't come fully together in my mind.  A lot of recap, explaining inconsistencies away real quick and jargon that's thrown out there instead of an actual explanation, left me wanting more from this issue.  With that though, I do look forward to see what happens with Jericho going forward.

6/10