I was enjoying Kyle Higgins' run on Deathstroke until that ended prematurely and the book veered into a much less palatable direction. Fortunately, with Justin Jordan at the helm, it's possible to just pretend that the past six months never happened. Jordan has quickly put the series back on track with a simple but winning concept. How do you give the world's greatest assassin a worthy challenge? Hire him to kill an unkillable man.
Jordan wraps up the clash between Slade and Koschei this month. Having taken the measure of his opponent in the previous issue, Slade is now ready to carry out his master plan. Luckily, Jordan didn't allow this storyline to wear out its welcome. Koschei is an amusing villain, to be sure, but he's not deep or imposing enough to be menacing Slade for four to six months straight. Jordan wastes little time moving his protagonist from one clash to the next. Unfortunately, because the nature of Koschei's power is so poorly defined, there's no real "Aha!" moment as Slade unlocks the key to fulfilling his contract. Readers are just forced to take the revelation at face value. But in any case, Jordan delivers an enjoyable showdown with a dark enough edge to remind everyone that this isn't a superhero book, and Deathstroke isn't a nice guy.
Issue #16 benefits from a stronger sense of visual consistency. There's only one penciller and inker on board compared to the countless artists credited for issue #15. Edgar Salazar's pencils are solid, if a bit lacking in flair and energy. Scott Hanna's inks at least bring a sharp sense of refinement to most panels.
As abrupt as the transition into the next conflict is on the final page, this issue makes it clear that Jordan will continue to provide Deathstroke with challenges and foes worthy of his reputation.
Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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