Deathstroke #27
Writer: Christopher Priest
Artist: Diogenes Neves, Jason Paz, Jeromy Cox
Cover: Ryan Sook 
Publisher: DC Comics $3.99

All good things must come to an end eventually in life. Jobs, school, even friendships and loves. But there’s a difference between a natural end and digging your own grave, between forging relationships and destroying them. For the last arc or so, Christopher Priest has been delving into whether Slade Wilson has the capacity to change. Which he’s tried to accomplish by restoring what he broke: to make lasting relationships with his family, become a good mentor, and become a superhero to redeem himself of his crimes as a killer. However, the gravitational pull of his sins wouldn’t allow him to escape his past. After all it’s difficult to trust someone who’s always willing to betray or manipulate people including his own children, eventually nobody will believe the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and no one will believe a Slade Wilson who claims he’s trying to change, especially when the clarity that led to a snap life decision is beginning to recede.

The focus for the last few issues has been upon the disintegration of Slade’s new philosophy after being kidnapped by the Secret Society and now by his old friend Dr. Ikon. As Priest has spent the last arc making clear: good intentions don’t change past misdeeds, nor can the future be changed when you refuse to confront the past. The nearly two years worth of buildup in this comic finally begins to converge into a tangible whole.

As always with this comic, Diogenes Neves and Jason Paz tell a clean story between flashbacks that connect well between the past and present segments occurring here in Slade’s life. Jeromy Cox’s colors also help in keeping things vibrant, especially with the myriad cast at work here. That being said: the globe-spanning story here is finally beginning to come together, anyone that wants to see what the opposite of redemption is won’t be disappointed here.

4 Goblets out of 5