Deathstroke, Volume 1: Legacy by Kyle Higgins

I don’t understand why DC did what it did with the New 52. I think they had a plan, but I have just been picking up titles that interest me and seeing if they are good. This one is. Solid five.

Title: Deathstroke, Vol 1: Legacy
Author: Kyle Higgins and several illustrators
Series: Deathstroke (2011), Book 01
Publish Date: August 14, 2012, DC Comics
Genre: Graphic novel, superhero
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics—The New 52 event of September 2011, Slade Wilson once ranked as the world’s greatest mercenary. But when his reputation starts to slip, and when a mysterious briefcase enters the equation, the man known as Deathstroke decides to carve a bloody, gory swathe across the DCU in a quest to show the world what exactly makes him the best.

Collecting: Deathstroke 1-8.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

Percy Procrastinator says…

It starts with Deathstroke getting a mission and being forced to work with a new team. He’s not impressed with the up and coming next generation and he makes his feelings known. He cuts ties with them and is back to being on his own.

Slade is a man that admires Achilles from the Illiad. He wants to be known as the best warrior and also have his own story last thousands of years. It’s what drives him to bigger contracts and to keep pushing himself, even as he feels the effects of aging.

While he is a villain, he is handled well. I felt sympathy for him but still knew he who is. It’s handled well. If anything, I think he spares a few too many people at times, as if the writer’s worry about that sympathy being lost, but I’m not so sure it doesn’t detract from his character.

The story quickly becomes Slade being shown up and having to prove himself to keep his legacy going. It’s not trying to tell a tear jerker or heart-wrenching story. I understood what he was doing and why but it doesn’t mean I wanted him to succeed. Further, a lot of this story is his own past coming back to haunt him. And that’s what made him a villain and why the story worked. He’s his own worst enemy and his actions have consequences. What kept me reading was how it was all going to be resolved and I thought it was well done.