Sunday, October 26, 2008

DC Universe: Last Will and Testament #1

Overall- I haven't read any of the Final Crisis comics yet, they're sitting in a pile in my bedroom, but I figured I'd give this comic a read. It didn't have the Final Crisis crossover banner on it so I figured I could get away with reading this without spoiling the rest of the series for myself. Plus the fact that Brad Meltzer wrote it helped sway me to read it...

This comic put me in the funny position of not knowing exactly what to write about it. It made me really think after I put it down. What exactly would I do if I thought it was my last day alive... It's an interesting premise and it was interesting to see what each character planned to do with their last day on earth.

Some of it I totally agreed with, Wally with his family for example. While some of it I didn't see at all, Ollie wanted to be a babysitter instead of spending his final hours with Dinah? Wouldn't Roy rather be spending the time with just Lian? Other parts really made me smile though. Nightwing going to spend his time with Bats and Robin as opposed to his parents grave/Starfire really made me happy. I HATED Dick and Starfire's relationship and was glad to see him stay away from her.

All in all, this comic solidified, for me anyway, how well Meltzer writes Deathstroke the Terminator. Deathstroke is probably one of, if not my favorite DC villain, and Meltzer just writes him perfectly. Slade is a calculating, evil, vicious man. He isn't the kind of bad guy who'd stand atop a tall building calling out his enemies while rubbing his hands together and laughing manically. Slade would craft the perfect plan to defeat his enemy, then he'd go about enacting it silently. It's the smart, quiet one's you have to fear, not the loud obnoxious ones. Slade was at his @$$-kicking, evil best here. He is just one heartless SOB. Telling Geoforce he was no different then his "whore sister" did it for me. Here was poor Geoforce, pinned to a dumpster, failing his mission to avenge his sister and bleeding profusely. What does Slade do? He stands there with a condescending smile, telling Geoforce that he was and always would be a failure...

Jeez, I wanted to reach into the comic book and slug Slade myself! THAT is a real villain. A lot of times, you read a comic book and the villain just makes you roll your eyes or out and out laugh at them, but Meltzer does a fantastic job of really making you HATE Deathstroke. He's not nice. He's not likable. He's evil and that's the point. You are supposed to hate him. Meltzer does a brilliant job of eliciting this response. Even as a fan of Deathstroke, I wanted to see him lose. That's when you know a writer has done his job.

Ummmm, needless to say I recommend this comic book highly. I give it a 9 out of 10 very easily. If you are a fan of Deathstroke or even if you hate his guts, this comic is WELL worth a read.

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