hey christopher priest wrote about his upcoming deathstroke series
http://lamerciepark.com/comics/deathstroke/
some highlights
>Although its feature set is manic violence, Deathstroke is actually a family drama falling short of a Shakespearean tragedy starring Slade Wilson as an ersatz King Lear, his ex-wife Adeline as Lady Macbeth, and Wintergreen as Prospero from The Tempest. Within this triangle are three souls: Grant the Evil Son, Joseph the Good Son, and Rose, who more or less weaves lanes on the Good Guy/Bad Guy Autobahn. The deeply dysfunctinoal Wilson family, who have many times betrayed and/or actually killed one another, struggle through the universal challenge of trying to love someone you can't stand."
>Fans familiar with Deathstroke should note we haven’t changed the series continuity so much as we have streamlined it a bit, creating what I call a composite history from events which originally took place years apart. Deathstroke has a long and complicated history of cast members dying and being resurrected and changing in various ways. I really prefer my series not be focused on reconciling or explaining all of the various past versions of the premise but instead stand on its own as a new version of the original classic.
>>84309967
can also read an excerpt of it here
http://lamerciepark.com/downloads/ds0_bear.pdf
Oh wow he's written quite a bit
>>84309967
>>Fans familiar with Deathstroke should note we haven’t changed the series continuity so much as we have streamlined it a bit, creating what I call a composite history from events which originally took place years apart. Deathstroke has a long and complicated history of cast members dying and being resurrected and changing in various ways. I really prefer my series not be focused on reconciling or explaining all of the various past versions of the premise but instead stand on its own as a new version of the original classic.
I've read deathstroke for a while now and i'll be suprised to find anyone who actually gives a shit about DS's supporting cast.
I really hope priest nails this and gives us a good deathstroke, character's basically just a book for DC to put fits in now so anything priest does is already gonna be better.
>>84310975
iirc when they asked if he wanted to do a book they listed a couple of them and he chose to do Deathstroke, I guess he's a fan
>>84311054
But of what. Early deathstroke was decent seeing a man fall so low. But current deathstroke is bottom of the barrel though.
Hoping priest does good.
only reason I didn't post the full article is its like 3 pages plus sidebars worth of content. there's so much good stuff in here, and his take on rose wilson sounds like a pretty good step in the right direction
>>84309967
that is truly some beautiful artwork, I love comic art sometimes. gives me chills.
>If you have never before in life read Deathstroke, please feel invited to jump in. Absolutely no prior knowledge of Deathstroke, his supporting cast, New 52 or even the Rebirth event itself is necessary to begin reading this book. Deathstroke: Rebirth may well be the most accessible comic I’ve ever written, and “The Professional,” our first story arc, is a rebuilding arc designed to reintroduce characters and concepts created by Marv Wolfman and bring them into 2016.
>The twice-monthly publishing schedule affords us a great opportunity in the writing by not forcing us to shotgun everything at you but build out our narrative brick by brick. This avoids my echoing criticism about story arcs issuing a story fragment then making you wait a month for the next story fragment.
>With Deathstroke, we are more or less doing old-style done-in-one’s; Priest in Denny O’Neil Mode writing within a planned episodic structure. Each issue is both a story and part of a larger story. This is a book that doesn't have to wait for the trade, it can be read issue-by-issue and still work (Rebirth being a notable exception as that story concludes in Deathstroke #1). In today’s broader and more visually-oriented style, telling a full story in a single issue can be a real challenge and make for a crowded look, but my goal is to give the fans more than their money’s worth: a good, solid read with strong characters we hope you will grow to care about and want to see more of.
>Also appearing in the book will be something too often missing from Deathstroke: humor. Full disclosure, Deathstroke: Rebirth isn’t all that funny. DSRB will, in fact, be funnier when you read Deathstroke #1 and then get jokes you missed in Deathstroke: Rebirth. Deathstroke will not, in any sense, be Quantum & Woody, but I see no earthly reason why comic relief could or should not be in the mix. Deathstroke himself is not funny and has very little in the way of a sense of humor, but expect a broader range of narrative.
>We’ve abandoned the first person narrative technique in favor of making Slade Wilson a man who holds his own council. Slade will never, under any circumstances, tell you what he is thinking. If he does, don’t believe it; he’s playing you. Ironically, by getting out of Slade’s head, we achieve a higher level of intimacy because now the audience has to guess, along with Slade’s family and friends, what his actual motives are.
>PriestStroke talks about 65% less than Deathstroke traditionally has. This is among the grab-bag of tweaks DC has graciously allowed me to make. My Deathstroke is much more laconic and is not at all pompous as he has been portrayed. This portrayal is based largely on my observation of Tough Guys. A guy who gets in your face and threatens and snarls and tells you he’s gonna kick your ass really isn’t all that tough. Real badasses don’t need the preamble; a guy who’s really going to hurt you just walks up and hits you. Let’s go. My Deathstroke doesn’t talk about it, he’s just there one moment and you’re chewing concrete the next. The only people PriestStroke actually talks to at any length are people he has a close relationship with—friends and foes.
On Rose Wilson
>Well, no, I hadn’t. I’m not sure Rose has ever been drawn as a teenager. I assumed she was early to mid-20’s, which would make her half-brothers mid to late 20’s. With due respect to previous writers, it really bothered me that a person so young could already be a hardened killer (I have similar concerns about the very popular Damian Wayne). In terms of character dynamics, I’m not sure such persons can ever be fully redeemed, and I’m really uncomfortable with the general handwave most superheroes seem to be giving teen (and even pre-teen) killers, most especially given our nation’s climate of violence. What do these characters say about our values?
>I am not suggesting every super-hero has to be pure or angelic. What I mean is somebody, somewhere on some page should express some concern for the emotional state and overall wellbeing of these very young people who have taken a life before graduating high school. What bothers me is that none of the other DCU characters seem to bat an eye, chalking killing up as perhaps juvenile delinquency.
>That’s the emotional headlock I’ve placed Rose in. I see her as a deeply conflicted very young person on the cusp of adulthood who is still trying to figure herself out. She ends up following Batman around in issue #5 (and driving the Batmobile!) lost in a kind of awe at this iconic hero and father figure of her mentor, Nightwing. Only, much like Deathstroke himself, Batman rejects her. She is a killer. Batman despises killers. Batman is the product of a killer. Batman should be extremely conflicted about Damian.
>It is this kind of deconstructive analysis that allows me to write Deathstroke, a book I might not even read otherwise.
>Comedic, over-the-top violence doesn’t crack me up at all. I think it’s terrible. Violence is awful. Killing is terrible and has real consequences. This book is about those consequences.
I'm ready for some 50 shades of SLADE
>>84311250
Sounds a lot like his Black Panther.
>>84311304
This is good. Seeing a problem and using the narrative to repair it instead of ignoring it because it makes you uncomfortable.
Take notes, Scott Snyder
>>84311054
Or he was the only non-minority option.
What i find funny is that Deathstroke continuity has been rebooted several times since The New 52.
First you had Kyle Higgin's run, which was ignored by...
Rob Liefeld's run, that went on under other's writers pen until it was ignored by
Tony S. Daniel's run, that was recently cancelled.
>>84311304
>She ends up following Batman around in issue #5 (and driving the Batmobile!) lost in a kind of awe at this iconic hero and father figure of her mentor, Nightwing.
Huh
That was one of the better things about Grayson's Nightwing run, letting Dick mentor Rose for a bit, so I'm kinda glad they're bringing that back
>>84311825
I don't know if they would have offered him a minority book other than Cyborg. Or if he would have turned down something like GLs on that basis at least.
>>84311304
>She ends up following Batman around in issue #5 (and driving the Batmobile!) lost in a kind of awe at this iconic hero and father figure of her mentor, Nightwing. Only, much like Deathstroke himself, Batman rejects her. She is a killer. Batman despises killers. Batman is the product of a killer. Batman should be extremely conflicted about Damian.
>lost in a kind of awe at this iconic hero and father figure of her mentor, Nightwing.
So Priest will likely ignore Lobdell's bullshit where Rose was Jason Todd's past squeeze. THANK GOD! Fuck Red Hood!
>>84311593
Yeah, but then you make the Damianfans angry, because Batman can't be mean to Damian for him being a killed. Not to mention Red Hood fans, who want to see him interacting with the Bat-Family despite being an unrepentant killer.
This sounds neat but I get the feeling it will be the kind of book best read in trades
Streamlining a series is still changing it.
>>84312271
Deathstroke need it, though.
>>84311304
Batman did get upset when Damian killed.
Granted, it lasted about a moment, but there was like 8, maybe 10 seconds where he got mad.
>>84312319
Yeah he's already been rebooted twice in 5 years so he needs to be streamlined
>>84311304
To be fair Bruce mostly ignores Damian these days it feels like, lol.
Though I agree that Damian being such a harden killer and Bruce really not caring that much anymore really doesn't feel right. So I like the approach he is taking with Rose here. Also nice to see the Rose/Nightwing relationship mentioned. I always thought that was such an interesting dynamic because of Dick's pre-New 52 rivalry with Deathstroke, but it got thrown away too soon.
>>84312319
I'm not saying he doesn't. Slade has been awful for so long.
>Shakespeare through manic violence
Priest is the only one i'm giving deathstroke a shot for
I already had high hopes for Prieststroke, this just add to it. Deathstroke already has a following so it won't get cancelled, and Priest's name will get more readers. I hope Priest has a long run. We haven't had a long run on a non A-lister since long.
>>84313551
Deathstroke's sort of in that sweet spot where he's isolated enough to not get caught up in events, crossovers, etc, b-list enough to handle an ongoing above cancellation level, not so b list that he and his book get shoved into other shit because he's that popular, and different enough to not really mess with since there aren't too many "villain" books.
It might be the first to stop double shipping, but dc may let Priest continue the story as long as he wants as it sells well enough.
>>84312228
he even says its episodic though - designed for single issues - but it will all connect to something larger down the line
>>84314087
in the sidenotes of the article, it says around or after issue 6 expect a crossover with dan abnett's titans.
>>84314642
Interesting how that will work. Titans is only monthly. Maybe a 3 part arc (second issue of month A for Deathstroke, Titans issue, first issue of month B for Deathstroke)?
They are...what!?
>>84314642
god damn it
>>84315337
>it's only 2-3 issues long
>titans get double shipped for a couple months with fill in artist
>titans has normal crossover issues and deathstroke does what night of the monster men are doing and has one issue a month dedicated to the crossover
lots of possibilities
Cool
