Deathstroke has been a popular villain for a long time.  There have been other attempts at having villains be the star of a comic before.  Usually it ended being that the villain become less villainy.  They got softer and friendlier, and somehow were able to do good begrudgingly.  It becomes more of an after-school special about bad guys learing their lesson and getting better.

I was afraid that this comic was taking the same road.  Especially after he added some side-kicks to his team.  I was glad to see I was completely wrong.  If people want to read about a villain, they should read about a villain and not some villain/hero.

The cover is by Bisley, and it is a shame that he is not doing regular comics.  Joe Bennett does all the interior work.  I’ve like his work in the past, but I don’t think this is his best work.  It’s actually pretty good, it just never pops or has any stand-out moment.  I thought it was the inking until I saw that it was Art Thibert, who is one of the best inkers in the business.  I think future issues will be better.

Solid story with a twist.    B-    —-  Don

Deathstroke was always a cool-looking villain that never could support his own storylines. Since he’s always worked best when left alone for a bit, I didn’t expect a lot from his series except a slightly-more-superhero-bent Punisher book. In a way, that’s what I got, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be. I agree with sentiment about villains as leads – don’t turn them into a hero just because they have their own book. A protagonist can still be a pretty bad guy, and they get that right with this book. You still root for the main character even though he’s not at all the “hero” of the story. There’s a mystery about what’s in the box in the story that I wish wasn’t carried over to the next issue (and possibly farther?) – it’s a bit of a cheap shot, but I’ll admit it’s made me curious.

B-  —- Ed