It’s time for Deathstroke and Batman to go on Maury and find out who is the father. But just because someone is Damian’s father, does that make them his Daddy?
Deathstroke #35
Written by Christopher Priest
Illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan
Inked by Jason Paz and Andy Owens
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Willie SchubertIn this corner: Deathstroke, suffering from a traumatic brain injury at the hands of Batman! In the other corner: Batman, with Deathstroke’s knife in his gut! All of this with the feds invading Wayne Manor-and now they’re in the catacombs under the mansion, which lead to the you-know-what-cave! If they’re going to escape, Batman and Slade are going to have to work together.
“Deathstroke” #35, the finale to ‘Deathstroke vs Batman,’ sees writer Christopher Priest along with artists Carlo Pagulayan, inkers Jason Paz and Andy Owens, colorist Jeromy Cox, complete a tight rope walk balancing the camp, farcical, assemblage of plot that has drawn the title character into conflict and the anti-camp emotional depth that has turned “Deathstroke” into one of the DC Universes better character studies. These are dissonant ideas and the means by which that feeling is articulated and used is among the issues strongest attributes. It may not strike the perfect balance, but Priests ability to tie everything together emotionally over a plot point that was a classic macguffin brings the arc to a strong close.
As the name of the arc suggests, it has been an exercising in mirroring and probing the similarities and differences between Batman and Deathstroke. Penciler Carlo Pagulayan takes the motif to an extreme this issue where the duo are rarely represented without being mirrored off one another and leads to some of Pagulayan’s best action work. As Bruce once again regains consciousness, following the cliff hanging knife to the gut from the previous issue, he bashes Slade once more with an electric fist. Again they go yet another round of face punching. The macro page design for this sequence of pages is spot on. There is a subtle tilt to these panels which helps to accentuate the sense of motion and impact their punches land as they go another hard round. The page design does all the right things to make this a rip roaring action sequence. If this were a pro wrestling match, the crowd would be chanting “fight forever” at this point. While the panels see one another mirrored as they slug it out, one final panel that sees them set against the implied dragon figures drives the point home.
It’s only when you take a closer look and reflect on how this latest slugfest has been staged that the dissonance between the macro and micro presentation begins to come through. On a macro level Pagulayan’s designs tell the reader that this is yet another manly slug fest, full of piss, vinegar, and machismo. On a micro, per panel level, that machismo is quickly deflated. Deathstroke and Batman are shown to be fighting like children in the back seat of a car on a long drive as Dads Alfred Pennyworth and Billy Wintergreen swat back and try to keep them under control. Once they’ve tuckered themselves out the joint recording from their respective paternal figures reminds them of the real task at hand: getting out of the Batcave before they die of their injuries or the gas knocks them out and they still die of their injuries.
There is an excessive kind of humor to the plot of this issue as everything comes together. Wayne Manor is being raided by the FBI as Jericho frantically attempts to save his Dad, while Bruce’s other two sons do the same, is a lot of stuff. This pushes the vignette structure of the book in a different direction. Normally these title cards have a way of slowing things down, making scenes feel whole unto themselves. Here it seems to just add more fuel to the fire as they unite scenes of sons trying to save their fathers. The titles for the scenes themselves, while generally having a bit of wit to them, are more ironic and aware as they finish sentences or use the names of daytime talk shows. As it relates to the camp quality of things, the title cards help reveal the constructed nature of this arc. Which in turns lets the book get away with sending the FBI away almost as soon as they got there. The use of real world things like a F.I.S.A. warrant might not have been the best, but that was never the point. Reading this arc for it’s plot was never a smart idea as the series all but broke the fourth wall straining to say that Damian’s true parentage was never really in doubt. It was a classic macguffin, unimportant except for the fact that without it there would be no plot. The plot was just an excuse to use three generations of fathers and sons and show how they support one another, often in interesting ways.
Continued belowBoth Batman and Deathstroke have been rendered children by this scheme, so what is there to be minded from this petty battle of wills? It comes down to presentation and Priests continued investigation of why Slade Wilson is such a bastard. The moment of emotional acuity is far removed from the cacophony of plot above them, Slade and Bruce are alone together. Pagulayan presents the again mirrored to one another, tied to each other back to back as they scale down a cliff. The full body image is a striking one, but it also has the added effect of turning one another into an angel/demon on the others shoulder for them to talk it out with in a series of close up panels. It’s here that Priest gets to more directly comment on Slade and why he protests so much against Robin being his son. The thesis isn’t all that surprising, Slade respects Damian too much for him to be his son and that being the progeny of Slade Wilson is a curse. It gives us another look at Slade Wilson, someone who desperately wants to be loved by his family but fears what that association.
Originally, ‘Deathstroke vs Batman’ was supposed to be a sperate miniseries outside of the “Deathstroke” book, that obviously didn’t happen. Telling this story in the unspecified DC past, the particulars come into focus with this taking place post-‘Rise of the Batmen’ in “Detective Comics” but before ‘Lazarus Contract,’ has effectively put the present day storyline, the fallout from ‘Defiance’ and Slade being interred at Arkham Aslyum (which will pick back up in issue #36) on hold for six months. On it’s own and in the larger body of work Priest has done on ths book, ‘Deathstroke vs Batman’ is a necessary link that further sets up the emotional context for his actions in ‘Lazarus Contract’ and ‘Defiance.’ There was something also too seeing Batman and Deathstroke effectively troll one another issue after issue.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – ‘Deathstroke vs Batman’ comes to the only conclusion that it could after Priest and Co. compared and contrasted Bruce Wayne and Slade Wilson’s view of fatherhood.
