[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Priest
Pencils: Joe Bennett
Summary
Wedding bells will not be heard in the church today! Everything is on hold after Etienne is murdered at the altar! Holding Slade responsible, his own son attacks him wearing an updated and more powerful version of the Ikon suit!
Positives
Emotions fly all over and everything finally comes to a head in this book! Slade, Rose, and Adeline are all at attendance at Etienne and Joe’s wedding and everyone is trying to so hard no to kill the other person. I found it hilarious how all of these characters are sitting in the same row, promising not to do anything until after the wedding! Priest also gives some brief flashbacks of previous issues that give a lot of weight and emotional credence to the issue. I was especially excited to finally see Rose step up and defend her father. It was a great moment.
It had a decent amount of action, but this issue really centered around betrayal and emotions more than anything else. Everything from Slade sleeping with Etienne, to Etienne spying on Joe and Slade, and even Rose’s revelation about her own father come to a conclusion in this issue, and I really enjoyed the ride.
Verdict
Overall I thought that Priest told a great emotion-driven story in this issue. Everything that Slade has done has come home to roost and in the end he had to know it would at some point. In some ways I feel sympathy for Slade, but then I’m reminded that a lot of the pain he has is caused by his own actions as well. Everyone he gets close to ends up becoming bitter and hateful toward him. The more I read this series the more I want redemption for Deathstroke at some point. He’s too good of a character to stay completely a villain.
