This review contains spoilers.
Because the world is a hungry animal…ready to rip out your throat
Deathstroke #14 is written by James Bonny with art by Tyler Kirkham and colors by Arif Prianto. In this issue, Slade Wilson believes that Lexcorp may have kidnapped his daughter Rose.
Previously on Deathstroke, Slade learned that his daughter had been kidnapped. He believed that the Suicide Squad had done it on the orders of Amanda Waller but he was wrong. It was also revealed to the audience but not Slade that Rose faked her kidnapping.
The cover by Kirkham and Tomeu Morey is fantastic. The image of Deathstroke’s mask cracked while being held down by an unseen foe is an immediately intriguing image. It is the type of cover that would make a person want to pick this up even if they haven’t been reading.
The comic begins with a flashback to Rose’s childhood. Slade explains that he will do anything to protect her and also that he tried to show her how bad the world was from his point of view. It then cuts to the present where Deathstroke is being taken down by several guards. He manages to defeat the guards before the comic cuts to 48 minutes earlier.
This is a consistent problem I have with this series. There is no reason to show Slade fighting the guards and then cut back to explain. I understand that Bonny is trying to hook me with some action but it actually does the opposite. It confuses me and makes me feel like I missed an issue. Every time writers do this, it is incredibly distracting and not needed.
Slade and Victor Ruiz, his friend, believe they have tracked Rose to Lexcorp. Deathstroke runs in and takes on the various security which includes the guards from earlier and Lexbots. Eventually, Mercy Graves shows her face and knocks Slade on his ass before one of Lex Luthor’s armored suits appears being controlled by an A.I. version of Lex. The suit continually beats on Slade for a while when it is revealed that Rose is watching the events on a monitor with the mysterious man from the previous issue. The comic ends with Deathstroke escaping the A.I. suit and discovering an army of Bizarros.
Verdict
There honestly isn’t much to say about this issue. Like the last story with the Suicide Squad, this feel like it is being dragged out way too long with too much mindless action. Kirkham’s art is fantastically detailed as always and makes the action a little more fun but this really isn’t that engaging. It may have been more interesting if Slade had fought Mercy more instead of the robot. With that, we could have had some more dynamic martial arts but every fight is just a beat down with the losing side never having a chance. It’s not terrible but I think it would better to wait for the trade.
