With Wings to Fly Away From Liefeld Hell
Huzzah! Liefeld is gone from DC! And his traces are slowly being wiped away as Deathstroke returns to his Pre-Liefeld armor. This is a pretty nice cover too. The view is a little too close, but it has a lot of nice energy, and the way Hawkman's wings frame Deathstroke is awesome. Plus it highlights the return to form with Deathstroke right out to show you how he's been un-Liefelded.
As you can probably tell by the cover, Eduardo Pansica delivers some slick and sharp artwork. He's done fill-in art before, but whatever inker and/or colorist he has this time REALLY gels with his style to produce some nice fluid results. All the shiny armor looks perfect without going nuts.
I guess it was brought up in Liefeld's run, but apparently Deathstroke's armor is made partially of Nth metal. Or Higgins may have mentioned it and I forgot. Either way the combination of that and Deathstroke's nature as a mercenary makes him a PERFECT choice to crossover into the Hawkman: Wanted storyline. The thing that bugs me is that this clearly is supposed to take place AFTER Green Arrow #14, but where IS Green Arrow? Last I remember, he and Hawkman were fighting together, and now even this issue ends with Hawkman and Deathstroke back-to-back. Where is Hawkman #14 going to pick up from?
Deathstroke's inner monologue is really nice. It explores the setup, and eases you back into Deathstroke if you're coming here from Hawkman or left the series in disgust when Liefeld took over. Deathstroke's dialogue is.... MOSTLY good. There's a bit in the middle where he starts to get a little strangely goofy, it really caught me off guard, not just based on knowledge of the character, but based off his portrayal thus far in the issue. I mean, Deathstroke REALLY doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would make a 'your momma' joke, even if it is just acknowledging that one might be made. On the flipside, there's a brilliant continuity nod and possible foreshadowing where Deathstroke mentions possibly setting up a school for young metahumans. It's an interesting idea because Deathstroke isn't all evil. Much of the antagonism he did with the Teen Titans was a demonstration of the cost of the lifestyle, very believably playing the role of the villain. I can see them coming back to this down the line for an interesting change in direction for Deathstroke; or perhaps a spinoff.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
Josh Williamson may have killed Voodoo, but he's saving Deathstroke. I couldn't hate Williamson just for his work on Voodoo because he delivered my hands down favorite issue of Superman/Batman; with Supergirl and Damian on Halloween. Williamson just doesn't seem to have a complete grasp of Deathstroke, throwing in the occasional goofy banter that seems really out of place. Overall it's a solid issue and I'd recommend Deathstroke fans who left due to Liefeld to take a look, because he's definitely being repaired.
