Deathstroke Inc. #5 Review

 

Low Society

Writer: Joshua Williamson

Artist: Paolo Pantalena, Howard Porter

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 25, 2022

Deathstroke Inc. is an odd book.  Even the name, at this point, is misleading, and while my biggest complaint is the storytelling is too scattered, it somehow manages to keep me interested.  It's not my favorite book, not even close, but it always feels on the verge of becoming very important in the overall Infinite Frontier story.  Of course, having Joshua Williamson writing it and heading towards the Shadow War crossover with Batman and Robin doesn't hurt.  So, after the last issue's crazy cliffhanger, what do we get this month?  Let's jump in and find out...

Deathstroke Inc. #5 opens with Black Canary and Deathstroke heading into a haunted house in the Ghost Zone.  Scary, huh?  Slade mentions he's been here while working with Prometheus but doesn't seem too thrilled to be back.  Unfortunately, while I laughed about Slade beating the crap out of a haunted house worker (just for trying to scare him) in the past, there isn't much to this first half of the issue.  While I hate to use the term "filler," it applies here.

After being duped by Doctor Destiny last issue, it feels silly going back to the well this soon, but I guess it shows what's important to both characters before sending back to TRUST Castle and the part of the issue that matters.  It matters so much that I can almost forgive the nothingness of the beginning.

I don't want to spoil too much, but the ending sets up some big things for this book and the Infinite Frontier story.  It finally pulls the curtain back on what TRUST is up to and shows who is involved.  Then Deathstroke steps up to show you he is a badass and the series being called Deathstroke Inc. finally makes sense.

I loved the art in this issue, even if the haunted house scenes felt like a watered-down attempt at copying the recent Batman/Superman filmstrip issues.  Of course, that might only be me thinking that, but the effect didn't work very well even if it wasn't.

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Bits and Pieces:

Deathstroke Inc. #5 finally shows what this book is all about, and I'm excited for what comes next.  Unfortunately, the first half of the issue felt like total filler to fill pages before the explosive ending, but it's big enough to almost make up for that.  Overall, this book feels more and more critical to Joshua Williamson's Infinite Frontier story, and I suggest picking it up.

7.5/10