Deathstroke #48 Review

Leprosy Is The Key!

Written By: Christopher Priest

Art By: Carlo Pagulayan, Fernando Pasarin, Jason Paz, Cam Smith, Jeremy Cox, Willie Schubert 

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 2, 2019

Now while we'd expect a resurrection to be weird enough, with Slade Wilson we have him showing up at two places at once and one of those looks like he's not from around this continuity.  What's that mean?  Is he Pre-Flashpoint?  Another Earth?....... no idea at this point, but by the way he was willing to straight-up murder Hosun at the end of the last issue........ I don't like him..... and he kind of scares me.  With the scary Terminator Deathstroke messing up Slade's life, we also have our proper Deathstroke working in a hospital as a nurse and getting to the bottom of a couple being beaten and killed at the hands of biker meth dealers.  That's right... this series is weird.  Let's jump into this issue and see if we can get to the bottom of why there are two Slade Wilsons running around.

For this story, we're really just going to have our "bad" Slade trying to get what's his in his mind and that's the gift that Luthor offered Jericho since Deathstroke was already dead.  The problem with this though is..... for a guy that doesn't seem to understand this world and the people in it, including the fact that his children are still alive or that he has more children than he thought he did.... (it's all kind of odd).. this Slade certainly knows how to get a hold of the Legion of Doom and demand that he gets the power that Jericho was given.  Not only that, but this Deathstroke can find anyone, go anywhere, all without the resources that our own Deathstroke would have to allow him to do this.  I'm not saying that this makes the story bad, I just don't get how he's able to do this.

Beyond "bad" Slade, we have our regular Slade, who has a strange story to tell about his resurrection and I don't know what's odder, this doppelganger, or this Slade's story because they're both pretty ridiculous and don't make much sense.  All we need to know about him though is that he's back, he's been laying low, but with a guy going around saying he's Deathstroke..... and the fact that he killed all those biker meth dealers, it's time for Slade to move on and get back into the game.  

All in all, I'm still interested in finding out the secret of the two Slades, but with no answers to who this different Slade is and a ridiculous resurrection story for our proper Slade, this issue just left me shaking my head and wondering if this series is going to go out with a bang or a whimper because this definitely has the potential to be a lot of fun..... Slade Vs. Slade, but the nonsense leading up to that idea is just over the top...... I mean, the key to resurrection is leprosy from a character that died before Slade's funeral and had no purpose being there!  I love the art in this issue and I'm fearful for the rest of our cast of this book, which amps up the tension and intrigue, but the main character and the style of Priest's storytelling are really keeping me from overly enjoying this book.

Bits and Pieces:

With the action and violence on high this issue, it seems like Priest is killing his way to getting a Slade vs. Slade scenario for this series' finale........ the only problem is, this issue if full of ridiculous explanations and scenarios in order for us to get there.  The art is great, it's just that our main character, even with the two sides of him being explored here, just comes off weird and the usual storytelling of Priest isn't helping the flow of the book either.  

6/10