Hitman #8

"The Night the Lights Went Out"

2.25 USD @ November 1996

Writer: Garth Ennis
Penciler: John McCrea
Inker: John McCrea
Colorist: Carla Feeny & Heroic Age
Letterer: Willie Schubert
Editor: Dan Raspler & Peter Tomasi

Synopsis: At Noonan's bar. Tommy and his friends are drinking and telling stories about their past. Each one told their near-death experiences except for Hacken. Each one told an interesting story. Towards the end of the issue, a man broke into the bar with an axe but was recognized by Sean, who summarily sent the man back to his home.

Comments: This issue felt like a mini anthology as Tommy and the supporting cast told flashback stories about themselves with the theme of near-death experiences in the past. Solid artwork and storytelling by the creative team made this issue felt as if the reader was among friends and everyone was reminiscing about the past. But I have to give big kudos to colorist Carla Feeny and the Heroic Age. Each character's flashback story sequence had different color schemes that placed the reader in a different atmosphere pertaining to that character's story. The mood changed in each one and the colors helped enhance the setting of each individual's story.

Deathstroke #2

$ 1.75 USD @ September 1991

"Full Cycle - Chapter Two: Kidnapped"

Writers: Marv Wolfman
Pencilers: Steve Erwin
Inkers: Will Blyberg
Colourists: Tom McCraw
Letterers: John Costanza
Editors: Jonathan Peterson
Executive Editor: Dick Girogiano

Synopsis: Mrs. Neustadt's kidnappers attempt to kidnap the wealthy lady courtesy of her chauffeur but Deathstroke handled all the assailants, with a little assist from his friend Wintergreen. Deathstroke then took down the last kidnapper who was holding a gun to the lady's head with a slick maneuver shooting through her skirt and killing the kidnapper behind her. The chauffeur confessed the person behind this was someone who offered a lot of gold and was dressed up in a similar costume to Deathstroke. Deathstroke and Wintergreen left the premises to go visit Adeline in the hospital and then to Lisbon to find Mrs. Neustadt's kidnapped son. Leaving Mrs. Neustadt behind, who killed her chauffeur with one of the guns from the dead kidnappers.

Then somewhere above in a plane. Apparent agents or soldiers for hire were killed inside the plane and the navigator went to check to find a safe inside the plane compromised while a suitcase with a bomb was left which blew up the plane. A man in a costume similar to Deathstroke's parachuted into safety laughing in the air as he descended to the Earth.

At Stuttgart, Germany, Slade visited his wife in the hospital, as Wintergreen narrated a brief history about himself, his time at Oxford and the British Military as well as MI-5. He preferred research for intelligence unlike Deathstroke who preferred the direct approach, dark alleys, personal contacts, and through a weapon.

Finding one of the terrorists who hijacked the plutonium from the train in the previous issue who was now a prisoner incarcerated in a hospital, Deathstroke made his way to the patient's room and interrogated the prisoner. It turned out Deathstroke and "Alan" knew each other. He gave him the same details as Mrs. Neustadt, someone in a costume and nothing more, other than a contact, Bookworm whom Deathstroke knew. Unknown to Deathstroke American federal agents outside were tracking him.

At another part of Germany, Deathstroke interrogated Bookworm threatening to set his priceless book collection afire if he didn't reveal the information Deathstroke needed. And Bookworm told him it was Avral Kaddam in Qurac. The Federal agents received the information as well.

At Dhurhran Dhurhran, Qurac. In the middle of a civil war, an armored vehicle arrived at Avral Kaddam's base delivering the plutonium and advising the chemicals needed are to be obtained soon as ransom payment for Mrs. Neustadt's son. The man delivering the plutonium was in a costume similar to Ravager, Deathstroke's deceased son.

Meanwhile in Lisbon, Deathstroke and Wintergreen are involved in a high speed car chase with American federal agents, which they prevailed as the agents' convertible sports car ended up not turning in time thus veering off the road and into a fishing boat. Later on in Lisbon, Deathstroke crashed into the holding safehouse where kidnappers held Mrs. Neustadt's son. He easily took down the men, and impaling the leader's hand to the wall courtesy of his butcher knife, Deathstroke elicited more information regarding who was behind all this. And Mrs. Neustadt's son has been saved.

Several hours later on the other side of the world, at CIA Headquarters, six CIA agents are in a conference room watching a video report on Deathstroke. It delved into Slade Wilson's origin story, from his past history as a soldier, to being a family man, and the tragedies that followed alongside being Deathstroke the mercenary-assassin. Their primary interest is recovering the plutonium stolen by Quraci terrorists, but thought that Deathstroke may be involved with the terrorists. If that is the case then they want Deathstroke dead or alive.

And at Qurac, Ravager is on the phone with someone telling them he can't wait to reveal to Deathstroke that he is behind all this and that Deathstroke will die at the hands of The Ravager.

Comments: What I like about Marv Wolfman's writing duties is that he continued to somehow humanize Slade Wilson/Deathstroke no matter how violent and psychotic he came across in the pages. By having others narrate his story and populating the pages with supporting characters in Deathstroke's life we found that he has loved ones, a best friend he fully trusted, tragedies that followed his costume days where his son was killed and another deemed mute after the throat was cut, and to top it all off, Deathstroke saved a boy's life in this issue thus gaining sympathy from the reader. It's one thing to be an anti-hero, but sometimes it's hard to make the anti-hero sympathetic to the readers even with certain heroic deeds. The suspense is built up furthermore with the villain confirming he is The Ravager at the end of the issue. Is he Deathstroke's son back from the dead, or is it someone else utilizing The Ravager costume?

Steve Erwin continued solid artwork in this issue. The co-creator of DC's Checkmate of the late 1980's Erwin provided dynamic illustration from fight scenes to car chases, and providing fantastic quiet scenes like Deathstroke's time beside his comatose wife in the hospital room. This is definitely not a talking heads type of story, as we get drama, action-adventure, suspense, and dark-comedy all intertwined in one issue conveyed by Steve Erwin.

I look forward to issue #3 unfolding more of this story by the fantastic tandem of Erwin and Wolfman.

Deathstroke #3

$ 1.75 USD @ October 1991

"Full Cycle - Part 3"

Writers: Marv Wolfman
Pencilers: Steve Erwin
Inkers: Will Blyberg
Colourists: Tom McCraw
Letterers: John Costanza
Editors: Jonathan Peterson
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

Synopsis: In war-torn Qurac, Deathstroke went through the battlegrounds to reach Wintergreen and the rebels. And he goes into silent meditation. Meanwhile The General and Ravager were in the bunker HQ under attack by rebel planes. At CIA HQ, agents in a conference room discuss bringing in Deathstroke as a traitor.

Deathstroke and Wintergreen drove toward the General's HQ and barely making it there alive. Deathstroke had an inside man guiding him inside the HQ, but Ravager found out and killed the traitorous radioman, and lured Deathstroke into an ambush. They battled with Ravager using psych-ops tactics messing with Deathstroke's head basically telling him about the tragedy that befell Slade Wilson's family. Deathstroke still wouldn't believe Ravager was his dead son, Grant. Deathstroke got the best of him and was about to savagely kill him with a knife until the General put a bullet in his back. Ravager prevented the General from killing Deathstroke as he wanted him to suffer and not die just yet, and they made their escape. American forces arrived and found and unconscious Deathstroke and Wintergreen, and took them in to have Deathstroke stand trial as a traitor. And the issue finished with Ravager in the Potomac near Washington DC on a boat biding his time and looking forward to tangling with Deathstroke again.

Comments: Marv Wolfman really knows his characters. And you can tell with the plot and written dialogue and narration, that he has so many stories to tell about this character and his supporting characters. Steve Erwin's violent rendering of war is not glorified especially with Wintergreen's narration. The Deathstroke versus Ravager scene was action packed with each character going against the other violent move for violent counter move. And I actually was entertained in a violent story such as this. All because of all the layers upon layers within the story that ends up asking more and more questions drawing the reader more and more into the story as it progressed.