Priest Interview about Deathstroke: Rebirth

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>It sounds like we’re dialing back some of the more mythological elements we’ve seen in Deathstroke over the past few years in favor of something a little more straightforward. Would you say that’s correct?

Yes, we’re scaling back his world and trying to make Deathstroke more or less like the evil version of Batman. Like what if he had become corrupt at one point?

The Deathstroke I remember was the George Perez and Marv Wolfman character. That was what my reference was.

>One of the more common tropes when dealing with anti-heroes is that they often don’t care about anyone other than themselves. How much do you think Slade cares about his family?

I think he cares a great deal, but I see him as a sociopath. I see him as someone who really struggles to express emotion. I think Slade loves his children, but has a tough time expressing it. This isn’t a Deathstroke who’s going to be hugging Rose or angsting over Joseph. I see him more of the Hugh Laurie character from the TV show House. That character was an emotional cripple, and he demonstrates his affection or his caring about people in very roundabout ways.

We’re bringing the characters in slowly. We don’t see Rose until issue #3 and we don’t see the Joseph/Jericho character until even later.

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With Wintergreen, who is also pretty much a family member, he has a different problem. He’s kind of reached a point where he’s having ethical problems with some of the things that Deathstroke does. So he’s kind of hanging around with Deathstroke reluctantly because he’s no longer in lockstep agreement with some of the choices that Deathstroke makes in terms of jobs he takes and the people he pals around with. Wintergreen is having a real struggle with it.

The whole thing is kind of a morality play with a lot of push and pull in terms of good and evil, and also the consequences of the lifestyle that Deathstroke leads. We’re exploring the concept of heroism and villainy, and the difference between being a super hero and being a vigilante.

In order to serve justice, back in the Silver Age when life was simpler, we just had Spider-Man web up the bad guy and leave him outside the police station. You know if we actually did that today, the cop would have to let the guy go because without evidence there’s no arrest. The reason why guys like Deathstroke exist in the DC Universe is that unless Superman is going to lock all these guys up without a charge, Guantanamo Bay-style, or kill them, then it falls on guys like Deathstroke to find legal ways to walk between the raindrops. The guy I’m writing is not a compromised character. He is a super-villain, and he’s dysfunctional in many ways because of it.

>Finally, as the World’s Greatest Assassin, Slade kills for money and over the years, he’s killed a lot of people. So it stands to reason that he’s made A LOT of money. I’ve always wondered, what do you think he does with that money?

I don’t think he cares about the money. I think the money is how he keeps score. [Editor] Alex Antone and I developed a very different storyline for Rebirth initially, dealing with that very question of Slade’s wealth and what would happen if it was to get away from him and all of a sudden he didn’t have access to the toys. What if the guy was dead broke and we really showed you what this guy could do when he’s pushed out of his comfort zone? That was the arc we were going to start with. That arc is now being pushed back, probably to year two. Assuming we’re still around because for all we know, we’re all going to get fired as soon as this book ships. [laughs]

Source, if you needed it for some reason: http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2016/07/18/blood-bonded-christopher-priest-sets-his-sights-on-deathstroke

>>84587020
It feels so weird to be excited about Deathstroke. Hopefully it pulls in some good numbers.

>>84587140
I think it'll do alright, he has his characterfags. Priest has probably been away from the big 2 too long to have any pull though.

>>84587112
>Assuming we’re still around because for all we know, we’re all going to get fired as soon as this book ships. [laughs]
oh you

But I hope it's good so Deathstroke can have something good for 2 years

>>84587050
I really like this look. It's simple and functional, very DC-like after all the armored versions we've got within the past several years. Even the radio piece he has on the orange side of the mask looks like it blends well.

>>84587020
>If you look at the film Collateral with Tom Cruise. Half of the audience is rooting for the assassin character and half of the audience is rooting for Jamie Foxx’s character, but at the end of the day, the Cruise character, no matter how much you want to like him, he’s a bad guy. He runs around and kills people. So my approach to Deathstroke is he’s a hired killer. He’s an assassin. He’s a bad guy, and he’s the world’s worst bad.
How can Priest be so based?

>>84587020
>He’s a villain. He is unquestionably a villain. He’s Darth Vader. He is a bad guy.
>I think Slade is ultimately amoral and a sociopath
Eh. I prefer the other things he said though, Slade's addicted to the action, he doesn't take a contract for the money, he dopes it for the challenge. And i like what he said, he cares about his family, hell, guy isn't a douche bag, but he's just...he's just bad at expressing his emotions.

I'm so damned happy to see Priest writing a book again.

>>84587140
>>84587203
Actually Christopher Priest was trending on twitter the day Rebirth and the books were announced. Granted it's twitter but it's nice to see that people are still excited to read his books.

>>84587351
A lot of creators and Twitter people went "oh shit" with that announcement.

>>84587335
I guess we'll see how that's executed. Reading that I mostly got the feeling that he didn't want people thinking that he as going to make Deathstroke too sympathetic even though there would be emotional stuff too like the family interactions.

>>84587529
That was the most unexpected rebirth announcement.

>>84587529
Which is fantastic because that means a lot of people are going to be curious about this book because come on it's Christopher fucking Priest working on a book again.

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This is never going to make it past 20 issues

It has every capacity to be good that means normies will overlook it for schlock

>>84588012
Don't be this negative, the last (current) Deathstroke book ran 20 issues and hasn't yet hit actual cancellation level.

How long this one doubleships will be interesting though.

>>84588012

Dude, if Didio kept Palmiotti and Grey's Jonah Hex/All-Star Western going for years despite shit sells he's definitely going to keep Priest's Deathstroke afloat.

This will be one of those books that sell bad but get tons of praise.

>>84587020
As long as he's genuinely trying to do evil acts and not saving his family/settling past debts I'll be pleased.

When the story is about a villain, make him do villainous acts. Not good acts in bad circumstances with rough methods.
EVIL ACTS

>>84588012
The last Deathstroke issue hit 21k despite most other books being basically destroyed in sales thanks to rebirth so even with this one double shipping it'll sell okay

>>84588146
On his blog he said he and Abnett had a Titans crossover coming, probably some villainy there.

>>84588814
>On his blog he said he and Abnett had a Titans crossover
And my hype just disintegrated.

>>84589014
Only read downside for me would be Booth art and for a crossover they'd probably get a fill-in artist anyway judging by how the other books are doing theirs so I'm not too worried. We'll see though.

Please sell

I'm glad he's not going to be portrayed as misunderstood sad man and all out a villanious prick.

I'm excited about Titans crossover too. The team in Titans is pretty damn interesting and Abnett is a good writer, it'll be good.

he wrote even more about it on his website
http://lamerciepark.com/comics/deathstroke/

>>84587529
Because it was an 'o shit' thing, he's a great writer who was out of the game for a long time

>>84587335
He was the archenemy of a group of teenagers how can you not seem him as evil as fuck?

>>84590819
He seems excited, I hope it goes well so he sticks around at DC, I'd love to see him on Steel again (after he writes a bunch of white characters so he doesn't feel pigeon holed)

>>84587112
>it's a "rich character goes broke" episode
ugh

>If you look at the film Collateral with Tom Cruise. Half of the audience is rooting for the assassin character and half of the audience is rooting for Jamie Foxx’s character, but at the end of the day, the Cruise character, no matter how much you want to like him, he’s a bad guy. He runs around and kills people. So my approach to Deathstroke is he’s a hired killer. He’s an assassin. He’s a bad guy, and he’s the world’s worst bad.

Man I can't wait for this

>>84588012
it'll do alright

>>84587077
I'm liking the description of how he's using Wintergreen, since he was originally kind of an Alfred type character who aided and abetted Deathstroke's villainy like Alfred did with Batman. I hope he touches on how Wintergreen was, while loyal, pretty much a fatalist when it came to Slade, to the point that he was unsurprised when Slade killed him.

>living in an era where people consider Slade a villain but Wade a hero

>>84591691
at a time he was both Slade's Alfred and Robin

Know fuck all about Deathstroke, I might be reading this though.

I haven't read Deathsrtoke for a while. What was the end of that story when he was turned into young again?

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>>84590819
>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.
>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.
>her mentor, Nightwing
ヽ(´▽｀)ノ

>>84592100
From what he's mentioned so far in interviews...

Read:
New Teen Titans TPB #1
Teen Titans: Terra Incognito
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
Teen Titans: A Kid's Game
Nightwing: Renegade

>>84592835
>>84592100
Also Deathstroke: The Terminator Vol. 1: Assassins

>>84592649
>the only thing Devin Grayson did that was worthwhile

>>84587050
>>84587077
So is this his pre-Rebirth costume or does he have multiple costumes in this?

>>84593261
Devin Grayson's Gotham Knights run was wonderful.

>>84593396
This was the costume Tony Daniel gave him when he started on the book.

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>>84593396
he seems like the kind of character to get multiple outfits of the same colors

>>84588814
>>84589014
I like how he talks of a Titans crossover on one hand, then talks about being judicious with placing Deathstroke in front of other DCU characters. What is the point of the crossover if someone doesn't die? Why should he hate them if they don't get Grant killed? How did Dick become Rose's mentor if Bludhaven and the old Titans never happened?

Will any of this be explained?

/co/ I wish you were as hyped about this as I am

>>84596364
I am hyped

>>84587020
>He’s a villain. He is unquestionably a villain. He’s Darth Vader. He is a bad guy.

This pleases me

>>84594318
love it, but that white arm thing triggers me. wished it was all Orange.

>>84596623
>white arm thing
It was originally supposed to be sleeveless and instead of that white thing it was skin showing. But their was some mistake and it got coloured white. And then someone (I think the editor) liked it so much it stayed

>>84587020
>He’s a villain. He is unquestionably a villain. He’s Darth Vader. He is a bad guy.

B A S E D
A
S
E
D

>>84587020

Eh. Priest is great but Deathstroke is garbage. It evens out to "eh".

>>84597822

Every character is garbage. Every character is great. It's all down to the writer, characterfag.

>More than that, I’ve pushed DC to be careful who they stand in front of Deathstroke. Deathstroke is a killer. He doesn’t knock people out and turn them over to the police. Much as fans would love to see Deathstroke versus Aquaman or Deathstroke versus Harley Quinn, my point is, if Deathstroke loses every encounter it dilutes the brand. If he wins but chooses not to kill his opponent, it violates the character.

Finally somebody who gets it.

>>84587020
>He’s a villain. He is unquestionably a villain. He’s Darth Vader. He is a bad guy.
Thank fucking god. Anti-Hero Slade a shit

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>>84596611

>>84598744
Perfection

>>84588012
Bat-characters always sell well, Midnighter was the only excpetion

>>84599716
>Gotham By Midnight
>Gotham Academy
>We Are Robin

not exactly

>>84598931

Thank you for that. Is this from the new Flintstones book?

>>84599782

Gotham Academy had a decent niche audience that settled to be fair. That Yearbook shit was a mistake

>>84600645
yes
it's good, read it

>>84600645
yep

>>84587077
>>84587050
Doesn't look half bad. I'm assuming this is Jason Paz' part?

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Variant by Stephen Platt

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>>84603844

with colors by Peter Steigerwald

WAIT
HOLD UP
DIDN'T THIS DUDE DIE?!

wtf
ghostwriting

>>84599782
Gotham by midnight was the only low seller in them.

>>84599782
You forgot Red Hood/Arsenal. Marvel would cancel his 15k ass.

>>84599716
>Midnighter
>Bat character
No. Next you'll be trying to tell me that Wonder Woman is a bat character

>>84605518
Not that guy but...
>Midnighter
>Book starring Wildstorm's Gay Batman
>Part of Mark Doyle's Batman family editorial group
>Title is spun out of Grayson and uses him as frequent guest-star
>Main villain is Prometheus, Morrison's Anti-Batman
How was it not a Batman book?

>>84605713
>How was it not a Batman book?
Because it didn't star Batman. But I said he's not a bat character. Which is true.

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>>84605721
The last two years of comics have repositioned Midnighter into an ancillary bat-character.

>>84604266
>confusing Priest and McDuffie
kys racist

>>84605800
Are they the best black comic writers of all time indisputably? Is Ewing black? I've always assumed he was.

>>84605816
>Is Ewing black?
But first, are there publicly available photos of him?

>>84605820
just googled it, he looks Jewish
I thought Ewing/Gillen were the same person for a while
so I'm not racist
just ignorant

>>84605816
Aaron McGruder I think deserves to be there.

Kyle baker is more known for his art, but I would put him as a contender.

Maybe Robert Washington for his Milestone work.

Talent starts to get thin after that. Who's left. MD grimm?

>>84606021
that Walker guy who only writes black books that I made a bet with the owner of my lcs his Cyborg would be shit and Yang would be a successful DC writer so I'm winning that bet
I'm gonna get a few cels from Johny Quest and if I lost he'd get all my Marvel comics my ex's great uncle was the letterer for in the 70s, all signed, including some signed a few Ditko signed that she gave me before she caught me cheating

>>84600645
Yeah buddy. And it'c chock full of reaction-able panels and pages.

>>84590910
>I don't read comics lel

>>84606021
George Herriman the GOAT

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>>84596623

>>84587020
Good; he's a fucking murderer.

>>84606308
I know he has depth as a character but at his base he's a really bad person

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>>84599716
>Midnighter
>Batcharacter
Casuals fucking OUT

>>84604987
No GA and WAR ended up selling very poorly a few issues in

>>84591092
Not coming for multiple years, read the post

>He’s Darth Vader.
That implies the opposite of your claim, Priest.

>>84599716
Midnight is at most a Grayson side character. He is most definitely not a bat character

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>>84587020
>He’s a villain. He is unquestionably a villain.
Does this mean he will fuck an underaged Terra again?

>>84605721

Midnighter became a Bat-character.

Question is, will Apollo become a Super-character? That'd be neat.

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>>84609363
Fund it.

>>84597999

That's really not true at all. Characters have inherent qualities that make them better or worse, more likable or less. Deathstroke is an edgy evil Mary Sue, and that as a concept is very much "worse, less".

>>84605083
>15k
What? The series was around 20k and only fall around 19-16k when rebirth started.

>>84605713
Maybe because he's a hyper violent edgeguy who murders his enemies brutally and belonged to an entirely different non JL/Outsiders Superteam and is a Wildstorm character (as you mentioned) if you had to put him as an X-character

>>84609443
>I only read Identity Crisis

>>84609179
Yup and Rose.

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>>84609587
Neat.

>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.

>>84611267
>Post-Rebirth, the Deathstroke series becomes more introspective and character-driven. Slade (Deathstroke) Wilson and his adventures are toned down somewhat to be more in-keeping with the assassin’s core values: stealth, secrecy, invisibility, silence. This may grate some of the series’ current readers who have grown accustomed to Deathstroke leveling city blocks and battling space aliens and fiery demons, so I’m certainly more than nervous about how this new vision of the character—a kind of evil version of Batman—might be received.

>We’ve slimmed Deathstroke down from what were becoming Hulking proportions. In my view, an assassin can’t possibly be effective if he’s running around, bandolier clanking, firing full auto like the Schwarzenegger Terminator. I see Slade more like the icy-quiet, emotionally stunted Jean Reno character from the genre-defining Léon The Professional or Vincent, Tom Cruise’s stealthy hit man from the Michael Mann classic Collateral. The Rebirthed Deathstroke is a shadow man, an urban legend, who moves invisibly, silently, strikes without warning, and vanishes.

>As I see him, Deathstroke’s true super-power is his intellect. Marv and others have loaded him up with these other powers—virtually all of which I find to be unnecessary and tedious in the sense that I have to find ways to demonstrate them. I’d be much happier if Deathstroke simply was what I believe Marv intended him to be: the evil version of Batman. Slade’s most potent super-power is his innate genius (we are abandoning the silliness that Deathstroke, “uses 90% of his brain capacity,” which is ridiculous. If Slade could access 90% of his brain capacity he’d be Charles Xavier).

Literally every word of this is music to my ears. It's so fucking good to have Priest back.

>tfw christopher priest lives in your city, and you delivered pizza to him once.


Didn't really say anything, It was just an interesting thing I noticed on the receipt paper

>>84611283
>(we are abandoning the silliness that Deathstroke, “uses 90% of his brain capacity,” which is ridiculous. If Slade could access 90% of his brain capacity he’d be Charles Xavier).

Thank fuck for that.

It's a strange situation when Deathstroke is the book you're most excited for in Rebirth. Deathstroke is a special character who has a stable fanbase to keep him above cancellation and not big enough to for "not muh".

>>84609443
Even Liefeld's Prophet can become great on the hands of writers and artists, as we've seen.

>>84611267
Oh man, he really gets the character.

>>84611455
Didn't that just get thrown away 20 or so years ago and his brain's processing power is 10x stronger than a normal human's?

>>84609443
>Being a dumb characterfag.

have slade and midnighter fought yet?

>>84606066
>cheating
You don't deserve those cels. Also, something being shit seems to subjective for a bet.

>>84609363
>Midnighter became a Bat-character.
No he didn't. Stop being an idiot

>>84587020
>I think he struggles with relationships and so forth
Well I hope that Priest doesn't forget that Slade deeply cares for his family

>>84600699
how so

>>84606950
much better imo

is marv wolfman's deathstroke run any good?

>>84615523
Yes

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>>84598744
>>More than that, I’ve pushed DC to be careful who they stand in front of Deathstroke. Deathstroke is a killer. He doesn’t knock people out and turn them over to the police. Much as fans would love to see Deathstroke versus Aquaman or Deathstroke versus Harley Quinn, my point is, if Deathstroke loses every encounter it dilutes the brand. If he wins but chooses not to kill his opponent, it violates the character.

So They're going to play it safe and have him kill off D-listers or nameless militia thugs?

>>84615545
Or Golgo 13 that shit and have it always be two stories, one about the target and one about Deathstroke. And then at the end, one of them is dead.

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BASED PRIEST RETURNS

TOM CRUISE COLLATERAL REFERENCES
SLADE MUST KILL AND NOT KNOCKOUT TARGETS
RESPECTING PREVIOUS DICK/ROSE CONTINUITY

MY DICK IS DIAMONDS

>>84615545
>So They're going to play it safe and have him kill off D-listers or nameless militia thugs?
As opposed to what? Having him kill popular characters or get the shit kicked out of him every issue? That's like complaining that the Punisher isn't shooting Spider-Man villains

>>84615953
> punisher

you know that's a great comparison, if priest has slade go around the world, gathering intel on organizations, moving up the ladder, and just wiping out other scumbags to the highest bidder instead of muh morality, it'll be god tier

>>84590819
reads like antihero shit to me.