[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]
Writer: Priest
Artist: Diognenes Neves
Summary
The newly formed team known as Defiance, under the leadership of Deathstroke, find themselves in the middle of a deadly battle against a dictator who has control of the Radiant Men! As the team scrambles to defeat a foe with superhuman strength who can make duplicates of himself, Slade seems to have gone on a mission of his own! Who will step up with the team leader missing in the middle of battle?
Positives
It seems that Slade Wilson was actually serious about starting over and becoming a hero. The team Defiance seems to be content with helping him accomplish that goal — but trust will obviously be an issue here between teammates. Priest did a great job showing us a team that already has distrust among each other–and Slade leaving them in the heat of battle just makes things worse.
Negatives
Priest gave me no negatives about this book. My only complaint at first was how Deathstroke just leaves his team so he can search for his old ally Dr. Light. However once you get more into the book, you see that Slade approaches the now retired Dr. Light to ask for a favor — and to ask for advice. It seems that The Society has a grievance against Slade Wilson, and he intends to find out exactly who his allies are now, first among them being Dr. Light.
Verdict
I’m looking forward to seeing how Defiance ultimately plays out. It’s a mixture of heroes and villains on this team — with a former villain calling the shots. I hope that in the future we eventually see Defiance work together with either the Justice League or Batman’s own team in Gotham. I’m eager to see how the superhero community reacts to a reformed, and now team leader Deathstroke!
