Deathstroke #43

I'm behind in a lot of my comic reading but I wanted to get this done while the arc is still fresh. (I know there's one more issue but still.)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Just what was Slade trying to do with Robin? I'm a little confused on his end goal since he thinks he's "fixing" Damian. Say that Damian does what he wants...is Slade trying to get killed by him or just seeing if he'd do it? Does he think Damian will continue to kill or does he just want to prove a point? While I liked the twist of Damian seeing more of a parallel between Slade/Talia than Slade/Bruce I don't like how Talia was portrayed. I mean even Morrison had Talia have a moment's weakness yet Talia coldly orders her men to aim to kill her son when their training him?

The irritation at Slade ruffling his hair was not only amusing it was pretty telling for Damians' character. If it was the other Robins I'm sure they'd be annoyed, weirded out or dismiss it completely but Damian dwells on it to the point he obsesses over it. He's just furious with Slade and disturbed that the assassin shows affection towards him. More so when Slade is able to get into his head. 

We will get more of the fall out for the secrets being kept from Djinn, Crush and Roundhouse in TT. What we do get here is a better idea of just how far Damian went with his personal prison idea. In this arc he's already gone after a man that was trying to turn himself in and we still don't know if he wanted the man to die. In this issue see how he put in a couple people that might not have been that bad and made it impossible for them to escape. Because they'd die if they went too far, which Slade points out is a Ra's Al Ghul move. Alfred even commented on Damian thinking like his grandpa before this.

I don't like regressing characters but the way this is written is more like a struggle which I appreciate. As shown in this arc both Damian and Emiko still have trouble dealing with their upbringings which isn't easy to shake. The mislead with Damian not being the one to take the kill shot was well down. The Emiko reveal was previously hinted at and works within the story. I can't speak for how the character is written beyond this arc since I haven't had much exposer to her. But I found the way it was built up was really well done. 

I assumed Joey would take up his dad's mantle but judging by design images it's Rose. Which makes sense I just thought Joey would feel guilty for setting his dad up for the mission that gets him killed. I don't think Damians' eye injury is serious (especially with a healer on his team) just done as a nod to being similar to Slade. This arc was a pleasant surprise after Lazarus Contract. 

Questions Raised?: When Damian said he was going to imprison Jason does that mean he'd torture him and put in the death by escape cause? That's some dark stuff on it's own but when doing it to a  family member? It makes it a thousand times worse even if they weren't the closet members in the family.