Deathstroke Vol. 1: The Professional (Rebirth)

The New 52 did not initially handle Deathstroke well, and even as time went on, his stories never got quite to where they should have been with the character. Rebirth has finally turned things around for old Slade. Previously, Slade's personality was just sort of... off. He was shown as amoral, when the character should have an admittedly-warped code he works by. This is the first big improvement the Rebirth series shows; Slade is still most definitely a villain, as one character even admits, but you can now pinpoint where his thought process is coming from. Additionally, Slade was hardly a tactician in his New 52 books; I never got the feeling he was the smartest guy in the room. Again, this book course-corrects him back to where he was prior; Deathstroke is now planning on so many levels the reader will probably miss them at first.Of course, improvements aside, the book is very written. Between a well-paced plot, smart character dialogue, and enough humor to balance out the drama, it was hard to put down. Last, the violence in the book is done well; unlike the New 52 books he had, which were gratuitous to the point it lost all impact, this book uses it far more strikingly. By making the bloodshed more focused, it feels more significant when it happens.If you are a fan of Slade, you owe it to yourself to give this one a read.

Deathstroke's Rebirth title is an engaging first chapter though it is wildly different in tone from the previous late New 52 series that just ended. While that book wrapped up with Deathstroke mending his relationship with his daughter and son as best he could before sending them on their way to keep them safe from his world, this book wants to remind us that Slade Wilson is first and foremost a villain. The shades of grey that seeped into the other series is wiped clean and we see just how brutal and at times unlikable Slade can be. It is a dramatic 180 from the sympathetic tone of Tony S. Daniel's series. Christopher Priest shows the ugliness of Slade's world and his life (his abusive tendencies towards his children, his willingness to murder anyone for a profit, his inability to express his feelings) and it certainly may turn off many readers. The biggest problem here is that if feels as though there is a major disconnect between Priest's book and the final volume of Daniel's series (Family Business which was actually written by James Bonny after Daniels left the title). In the Daniels series, Slade's first son Grant was dead but his son Jericho was alive and often on the run with the third Wilson child Rose. Priest retconns the series by asserting that only Rose is currently alive, though without explaining in this first volume when Jericho died. The summary of the upcoming Deathstroke/Titans/Teen Titans event Lazarus Contract suggests Deathstroke is seeking to resurrect his dead son. Is this meant to be Grant or Jericho? It is a sloppy disconnect that makes Daniel's series feel completely tossed aside (something few other Rebirth titles have done to their New 52 predecessors). Still, this is a violent and entertaining read. Bringing Deathstroke's old ally Billy Wintergreen back into the fold was a great move and the interplay between Slade, Batman, Rose, and Robin in the final issues was brilliant. A solid restart for the character, but I would like to see some of the discrepancies addressed.

This was one of the best of the DC Rebirth series. Priest creates an interesting and well written backstory for Slade, while staying true to the character. I love the flashbacks; they add to the story without being confusing or unnecessary. The art is very good as well.

The Novel is a great read and keeps you interested throughout the story. Art was great in tell the story

Deathstroke has always been a character that I've been interested in, but haven't gotten around to reading until now. This volume has a really interesting storyline and ends with a cliffhanger that will leave you dying to know what comes next.

When I first started reading this I had to get on the interwebs and do some checking because of the similarities between Deathstroke and Deadpool. And what did I find?... That flat out stealing a character seems to be perfectly legal in the world of comics because Deadpool is a straight up thievery of Deathstroke.Anyway.This is the Rebirth issue and that's where I'm coming in to the DC Universe and even though the beginning is pretty confusing because of some time travel. That said I did like this quite a bit.Slade is a villain, yet seems to be a fully developed, three dimensional character. He appears to be emotionless (he's very distant to his wife and treats his boys like crap) and I'm not sure if that's because of the experiment that made him what he is, but you can see that he cares about them, and even his daughter. He's also very loyal to his friends.I like this character and I've ordered Vol. 2.

Haven't read much Deathstroke since the 90's but was clearly engaged in this book. I know the New 52 changed a lot of things in the DC universe, but it seems by this volume, things are back to normal. I'm going to buy book 2 now. Great series

So political. Continued references to political parties and demonizing one side was such a distraction to the plot. And the plot was already hard to follow. Every other page was somewhere different in the timeline. And the “double cross” got used so many times I couldn’t keep it all straight. Might’ve been better without the politics though. Feels like the author cared more about politics than staying focused on the actual story.Good art. Dialogue was good.Ultimately threw it away. My collection doesn’t need this.