Writer: James Bonny
Artist: Tyler Kirkham
Deathstroke’s recent puzzling dilemma involving his missing daughter, Rose, came to a surprising conclusion this month as his past came calling for revenge.
Turns out a former friend turned villain is to blame for Deathstroke’s latest troubles. As a mastermind seeking revenge for being abandoned (unknowingly on Slade Wilson’s part) in Northern Kahndaq, Wardell Chambers, a.k.a. Lawman, assembled a group of mercenaries of his own, including Slade’s mind-tricked daughter, Rose, to wreak havoc on Deathstroke’s healing factor before hunting him down to deliver a final death-blow.
But just before the moment of reckoning in which Lawman plans to take his revenge, the truth gets revealed about Lawman’s diabolical plan and Deathstroke receives help from his now clear-headed daughter, Rose, before ultimately being saved by an unlikely associate—Red Hood. Deathstroke, being the perfect opportunist, takes advantage of the moment to sever the tentacles of Lawman’s sidekick, Snakebite, temporarily incapacitating him.
As Deathstroke and Red Hood are about to escape together, Batman unexpectedly enters the fray and orders Red Hood not to intervene further (an order he obeys). But with Lawman and Snakebite’s attention focused on the Red Hood leaving with Batman, it gives Deathstroke all the time he needs to drive his sword through Lawman’s chest.
From there Rose helps the ailing Deathstroke limp away only to have Ra’s al Ghul, accompanied by Slade’s son, Jericho, block their path to demand Deathstroke’s assistance.
As usual, Tyler Kirkham did an outstanding job with the artwork, especially the larger, two-page layouts depicting several detailed action scenes. James Bonny’s writing was equally great. It stayed true to the series arc and, as with the previous issues, ended with as many surprises as answers, just as you’d expect. As an honorable mention for the end of this story arc, I think it’s worth mentioning that Bonny gave us two new, intriguing villains in the form of Lawman and Snakebite.
Now that this action-packed storyline has reached a conclusion, it’ll be interesting to see how things develop now that Ra’s al Ghul is on the scene. I have a sneaking suspicion that we’ll probably be seeing more of Batman in the future as well.
