Deathstroke #48

Third Strike

Marv Wolfman Writer
Sergio & Octavio Cariello Pencils
Will Blyberg Inks
Chris Matthys Colors
John Costanza Letters
Keri Kowalski Asst. Editor
Pat Garrahy Editor
Deathstroke created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez

The cover is by Sergio Cariello, and in theory, it's a great cover. All the Titans and Deathstroke charging at us on a moonlit night. But in practice, it fails miserably. Everybody looks off — especially Terra, whose breasts have grown far too large for the outfit she's wearing.

This issue is divided into a bunch of short chapters — Chapter Ten: Rose, Chapter Eleven: Steel, Chapter Twelve: Crimelord, Chapter Thirteen: Baran, Chapter Fourteen: Vigilante, Chapter 15: Steel, Chapter Seventeen: Wintergreen and Chapter Eighteen: Deathstroke — The New Titans! I'm not sure why they skipped Chapter Sixteen, but they did. Anyway, we'll be focusing mainly on the last chapter, but there are a few key details before that.

Slade Wilson learns that his estranged wife, Sweet Lili has died (in Deathstroke: The Hunted #45) and that Rose is his daughter. Slade is too busy being an assassin/anti-hero to care for a teenage daughter he's never met, so he arranges with Sargent Steel to have Rose join the Titans. But before that can happen, Steel sends Deathstroke and the Titans off to Dallas to take down the terrorist Crimelord, who apparently has obtained some Soviet nuclear missiles. Meanwhile, for reasons unknown even to the Crimelord, the Syndicate is destroying all his operations around the country.

In Dallas, Deathstroke teams up with Arsenal, Supergirl, Darkstar, Damage, Terra and Impulse, who naturally wants to scout ahead of everybody else. Arsenal orders him to wait for the rest of the team, and since he's talking to him over a radio, he asks, "Do you copy?" Impulse answers with "Whadda ya want me to copy?" When Arsenal gets mad, Impulse asks, "Jeez, who shrank your undies this morning?"

Deathstroke then straps on a stupid propeller-thing to his back so he can fly around next to Darkstar. They then find a giant spaceship, which Darkstar identifies as a Syndicate freighter. She explains that the Syndicate is behind half the crime in the galaxy and the Darkstars have been tracking them down for months. Our heroes don't know what the Syndicate's connection to Crimelord is, but they decide to shift their plans to prevent the freighter from leaving. A huge fight ensues, and Deathstroke and Darkstar become separated from the group. They blow up a huge tank, and once the explosion clears, they find that the rest of the Titans have been knocked out.

I believe Marv Wolfman started building up to this Crimelord/Syndicate war for months, if not a year in advance. Everything would probably make more sense had I been reading Deathstroke, The Darkstars and The New Titans. But as Impulse's role in this matter has been rather limited, and so is my knowledge. I am quite upset that such heavy-hitters as Impulse, Damage and Supergirl were taken out so quickly, but I hope the next installment in this story will help explain this.

None of the letters in Deathstrokes mention Impulse, so we'll head straight to the ads.

Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden. On the Klingon frontier is a secret weapon. Possess it, you will be immortal, invincible, unconquerable. Starfleet believes that James Kirk has gone rogue, that he now controls the weapon. To stop him, they will use any means necessary. William Shatner with Judith & Garfield Stevens, Steve Erwin, Jimmy Palmiotti. DC graphic novel adapting the pocket books novel.

Ron Lim spreads his wings in Hawkman. Taking flight in April.

Up next, The New Titans #122: Part 2 of the 4-part "The Crimelord/Syndicate War." Supergirl officially joins the Titans as the team accompanies Deathstroke on a mission to stop the warfare between the Crimelord's forces and the alien Syndicate.