[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]
Writer: Priest
Artists: Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Andy Owens
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Willie Schubert
Summary
Batman and Deathstroke are trapped beneath the Batcave with entire squad of police and FBI surrounding Wayne Manor! With the two adversaries exhausted and almost broken, Batman and Deathstroke must put their hostilities aside and find a way out of the cave!
Positives
After the last issue of Deathstroke, we find Batman and Deathstroke trapped in the depths of the batcave after their fight. Both men beaten and bleeding are now trapped, and thanks to Slade’s ex Adeline framing Bruce Wayne, the FBI are now surrounding Wayne Manor ready to raid it! Batman and Slade can’t leave through the clock in the manor, so they must find another way to escape–a dangerous climb down a cliff that could lead to a way out! Along the way the two have a conversation about the paternity of Damian, and the truth of who orchestrated everything is revealed to them both! Someone wanted Deathstroke to end Batman, and used Damian Wayne’s paternity as the trigger to send Batman off on his crusade in the first place to confront Deathstroke.
Negatives
I have no complaints about this issue at all. It was pretty ironic how all the fighting these two had in the previous issue now leads to them having to work together to survive. Deathstroke has an opportunity to leave Batman to his death, but instead doesn’t take it, and I really thought that was fascinating. I enjoy Deathstroke’s strict code of killing only for money–it’s a bad thing, yet it has it’s own honor to it as well. An opportunity to end the Dark Knight forever, and instead Deathstroke picks him up and helps him get to safety. At the end of the book we find that Bruce finally gets his paternity test results in the mail but casually tosses them in the fire telling Alfred that Damian is his son regardless. Priest doesn’t leave the question unanswered however as the fire reveals that Bruce is Damian’s father thankfully.
Verdict
Deathstroke #35 was an enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read the next issue! Hopefully we’ll see Batman and Deathstoke team up at some point in the future. Slade now knows who wanted him to kill Batman in the first place, and I must say I was pretty shocked at the revelation, especially knowing how close this person is to Batman. Hopefully we’ll see Batman and Deathstroke potentially retaliate together at the some point in the future.
