(Review of issues 1-5 of Deathstroke)
The comic industry is facing such a dire stage of declines of current that mediocrity is eulogized as genius. Tom King wrote two muddled albeit mildly promising comic books (that being Vision and Omega Men) at the very beginning of his career and almost immediately he was hailed as the next Alan Moore. I see this sentiment time and time again in the comic book community. Admirable, albeit milquetoast runs such as Tomasi's Siperman and Ewing's Hulk, takes on the characters that would be considered merely "good" 10 to 20 years ago are elevated to modern classics in today's struggling environment.
Christopher Priest's Deathstroke exemplifies this in spades. The scant few who are readers of the monthly ongoing oft refer to it as if it were the crown jewel of DC's Rebirth initiative, but alas every facet of the opening arc of Priest's run on Slade Wilson is smothered in half assed shodiness.
Priest makes pitiful attempts at making his Deathstroke have a flair of style with the chapter headings and the frequent flashbacks. However the book winds up having the same aesthetic that has been DC's house style for their titles of lesser importance.
While those unattuned to Slade Wilson may be intrigued by the dysfunctional social dynamic between himself and his family, in reality this is not uncharted territory for Wilson if you have even the slightest knowledge of his previous ongoings. Priest is evidently retreading old ground. It's as if the only character development Batman ever had was that his parents were shot by a mugger in a dark alley. The author is only utilizing the bare bones of Deathstroke and nothing more.
The sole, slightly redeeming element of this ongoing is that once or twice there are some amusing tidbits of dialogue such as the scene I am soon to present to you of Slade lecturing his daughter...
As well as a scene of the current Robin of the DC Universe Damian Wayne taunting Deathstroke while at his mercy.
Nevertheless, Christopher Priest's opening arc of Deathstroke is akin to a zombie:
No heart
No soul
No brains
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