In case you felt you were lacking in Deathstroke related content now that the Christopher Priest run, and Titans are over, CW Seed has you covered with Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons a violent Deathstroke animated series that is about what Deathstroke is always concerned with: why he is the worst and his family constantly wants to kill him.
1. Is Deathstroke an Anti-Hero or just plain Bad?
To be upfront, Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke isn’t a “good” person in the traditional understanding of the word. He is as Christopher Priest so eloquently put it “The World’s Worst Dad.” This isn’t a profound new insight into the character, but the quality and prevalence of Priests recently concluded run on the character has succinctly articulated an understanding for Slade Wilson at his core and why he cannot be a “good person.” Voice Actor Michael Chiklis brings this inability out through their star power, Chiklis being best known for his turn as LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on The Shield. While The Shield came about in the early part of televisions latest Golden Age, Mackey, like Slade Wilson, isn’t the normal anti-hero in execution. They are to use a more technical and less judgmental term: protagonists. Characters who through their positioning as the leads of their story are given the veneer of an anti-hero due to the consistent time spent with them audiences are often given to rationalizing their actions as messy but for some larger good. Mackey and Wilson both make claims to a moral code. Wilson dose wetwork but not for customers he deems “bad” like HIVE. In execution however this code is shown to be more hollow rhetoric, a self lie, meant to distinguish Wilson from his antagonists like Black Tiger when they are functionally the same. Tiger and HIVE just make no pretensions about the moral quality of their violent work.
Through its stylized art design and clear moral framing “Knights & Dragons Part One” draws out this inability and lack of difference between the man with the deathstroke and the others who wield it in kind.
2. Clear Storytelling
If Slade Wilson wasn’t himself this would be a very different story. On a plot level it isn’t too far removed from Last Action Hero, which is a satire of the genre but a good distillation of popular plot structures for the genre. Slade is himself though so as he gallantly charges into the dragon’s lair the exercise ultimately feels futile and hollow, feeding his need for violence and speak with his body not because he actually loves his son. Chiklis’ somewhat standard vocal performance gives the impression of a man who is lying to himself about “why” he goes to rescue Jericho, and knows that lie is the reason normal people would, and so he follows the ritual and hopes it gives him faith.
For all its violence and apparent moral degradation, this is a story built on an assassin fighting a terrorist group after all, the storytelling is clear and highly moral in its judgement of Slade Wilson and his alter ego. Through the depiction of violence the series displays the primary difference between Wilson and someone like Bronze Tiger is that Wilson is plainly better at it than them. As he pulls a job in a South American country he murders at least 30 people, casually and with finesse, but justifies his going back on a contract through a moral argument about his client that is at odds with the traditional depiction of the character but highlights the contradictions running through him. The production team know Slade Wilson is a bad guy and treat him as such, the character has yet to obtain this level of awareness.
The title of the series is derived from a story within a story, it’s a basic children’s fantasy tale with clear, natural and inherent, good and bad characters. Slade likes to think of himself as the Knight of this story, he was in the eyes of his son Jericho before it all caught up to him. Situating that story within this story helps to further reveal the contradictions and failures within Slade Wilson the character.
Overall J.M. DeMatteis script is function and efficient. That efficiency makes it a bit cliche in spots but sometimes you just need to make a characterization point and move on. When mixed with the animation everything works out, though it is a bit predictable for anyone familiar with the property.
Continued below3. Depictions of Violence
Warner Bros. has been surprisingly lax in regards to the depiction of violence in their animated version of DC property. Sometimes this level of violence is in the favor of a subject like Deathstroke while other times it can feel out of place and needless for others. In the case of the first episode of “Knights & Dragons” the constant blood splatter that comes from Slade’s actions is a nice reminder of the physical cost, both in the victims he creates and somewhat the toll on his body as he rotely pops bullets out and heals. At first the framing only allows the capture of the blood splatter a somewhat half measure of showing the violence (though understandable given the medium.) That decisive framing, however, eventually pays off for when things turn real violent and Slade separates Bronze Tiger from his arm. Despite all the bloodletting that moment of physical violence lands with the horrifying and spectacular thud a moment like that should.
Director Sung Jin Ahn and the rest of the animation team get a lot out of the stylized character design and action sequencing. Smaller interpersonal moments, the phone call home early on, are a bit rough and stilted but when things get going the first part of “Knights & Dragons” is an action delight that shows what good staging and character design can get you.
This show isn’t for kids for many reasons, this being near the top of the list.
4. Playing with the Timeline
When this was originally announced it was said to be part of the Arrowverse, that obviously isn’t the case any more. The series is better for it, while it’s always nice hearing Manu Bennett inevitably call everyone “kid,” being on its own Earth has given series writer J.M. DeMatteis and director Sung Jin Ahn more leeway to play with the constituent parts of the Deathstroke property without having to fit itself into a pre-established cannon. Which allows this to be a fun spin on Wilson Family drama and gives it a dramatic efficiency (the HIVE queen being Rose Wilson, etc.) that would be lacking had it tied into the Arrowverse. Knights & Dragons is setup to be a good story of Slade Wilson and the family that hates him configured in a newish way for returning fans and catch new fans up on the delicious idiosyncratic nature of the property … when it isn’t being an action fest.
5. Part 2?
I am somewhat confused as to the release of this series. The announcement stated it was to be a 12 episode series. Normally these CW Seed animated series have been micro sereis with episodes small run times – though that has changed in recent release like Freedom Fighters: The Ray. This first episode runs just under 40 minutes. The second episode has yet to be posted.
