Deathstroke #8

Blah. We finally get away from the odd 'WAY TOO UBER-BADASS' covers to.... something still trying too hard, but not altogether misguided. It's just a little too simple for my tastes. The idea could've worked, but Deathstoke's pose is dull, and he's too big on the cover, he just takes up too much space.

Eduardo Pansica is on fill-in art duties for a second time, and once again I barely notice. His style is similar enough to Bennett's that I don't even want to try to find a difference. It's easy enough to pretend there's no difference. It makes reading a more enjoyable experience.

This issue takes all the moral and ethical quandaries posed by the whole first arc, and just lets them loose for some added exploration and mulling over. How Deathstroke treated Grant, how he acquired his pride and why he clings to it, how he defines what makes a legacy and its importance; all of it is essentially answered on the final page, after the rest of the issue builds to it.

There's not a lot of action, or at least no over-the-top stuff. There's a nice easy fight for Deathstroke to expend very little effort, and he lampshades the hell out of it, but with less lighthearted implications than lampshading normally carries. It's odd, that in a case where he should be an emotional whirlwind, he is instead more confident and focused than he was at the arc's beginning. What was meant to be a gauntlet to wear him down and break his spirit, has actually done the opposite.

In Conclusion: 5/5

This is definitely the deepest issue thus far, and it shows you how the more straightforwardly badass Deastroke can still be an interesting character, even if he's not showing a lot of the planning and emotions that made him a fan favorite in the first place. And personally I think, despite him being on the receiving end of a complex strategy this time, he's still showing a lot of the traits that made me a fan to begin with.

Mostly it was the last two pages that made this issue for me.