DC Comics and Batman #122 Spoilers & Review follows.
Deathstroke On The Run, Robin On The Hunt and MUCH More Action In Shadow War Part 2!
The book also has a few variant covers below in addition to the main cover above.
That last variant is part of a connecting variant covers image.
The promise of the issue can be gleaned from its solicitation.
BATMAN #122
“SHADOW WAR PART 2”
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art and cover by HOWARD PORTER
Backup art by TREVOR HAIRSINE
Variant cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
Linking 1:25 variant cover by ROGER CRUZ and VICTOR OLAZABA
1:50 variant cover by JOCK
$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/5/22Ra’s al Ghul is dead, and Talia is out for revenge! Batman is on the case to find Deathstroke before Talia’s elite killers do! But Batman starts to piece together that not everything is what it seems in Ra’s’s death…and knows whom he must interrogate to get answers…Talia herself! Can the two former lovers ever work together again?
Plus, a backup tale showing the secret first fight between Batman and Deathstroke!
The book opens with a one-pager that summarizes what happened in the Shadow War Alpha #1 kick-off issue (full spoilers here) as well as an ominous scene that is difficult to place yet.
Director Cameron Chase of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) find a freshly minted ginormous hole that may have been how the faux Deathstroke got into to town stealthily to kill Ra’s Al Ghul.
While Batman and Chase wonder why “Deathstroke” so effectively assassinated Ra’s Al Ghul, but deliberately only shot his daughter his daughter Talia, we see Deathstroke Inc.’s Society of Super-Villains attacked by Talia’s Demon’s Shadow.
That includes a very lethal new character called Angel Breaker causing the real Deathstroke and his “son” (clone) ReSpawn to uncharacteristically flee?!
Elsewhere, Batman and Talia’s son Damian Wayne aka Robin is able to ally with Deathstroke’s actual daughter Rose Wilson aka Ravager to hunt him down!
The book begins to end with Batman confronting Talia who claims to not have hired Deathstroke to kill her father, despite she benefiting the most from is death as she now leads his empire, but she remains badly wounded from his attack.
It also appears that the two co-parents of Robin may still have lingering feelings or lust for one another?!
The back-up tale is rather compelling as it retells the tale of how Batman and Deathstroke first met, in a very direct reboot, which involves Deathstroke attempting to fill a contract by someone put out on the first Robin Dick Grayson who is wearing is classic short pants still.
Is that someone the Joker?!
Next up is Shadow War Part 3 in Deathstroke Inc. #8 in stores on April 26, 2022.
The solicitation follows and variant covers follow.
DEATHSTROKE INC. #8
“SHADOW WAR PART 3”
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art by PAOLO PANTALENA
Cover by JONBOY MEYERS
Variant cover by CHRIS BURNHAM
Linking 1:25 variant cover by ROGER CRUZ and VICTOR OLAZABA
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/26/22
Deathstroke and Respawn are on the run! Deathstroke Inc. has been destroyed, and his villain associates killed by the Demon’s Shadow! Deathstroke must explain to Batman why he killed Ra’s al Ghul…but first he must survive the hundreds of deadly killers coming for him!
That variant cover is an homage to Mike Zeck’s classic 1991 Deathstroke The Terminator #1 cover for a book that kicked of the then ongoing Deathstroke The Terminator series.
The Shadow War event, through the Batman, Robin and Deathstroke Inc. series plus a few one-shots, has a checklist released by DC Comics below.
The Pulse:
A compelling, action-packed and emotional issue that advances all of the various plot threads in even handed measure in he main story. The art was dynamic as well servicing the story well. The back-up was also quite engaging telling a rebooted story of how Deathstroke and Batman first encountered one another. Also being rendered beautifully. A very satisfying and entertaining issue. 8.5 out of 10.
