Deathstroke #35
DC Comics
Written by: Christopher Priest
Art by: Carlo Pagulayan
Colors by: Jeromy Cox
Letters by: Willie Schubert
So, in Deathstroke #34 we found out Adeline Kane, Slade Wilson’s ex, planted the phony paternity test results. I was under the impression that also meant she had created the test results.
Turns out I was wrong.
We discover in Deathstroke #35 Tim Drake’s “evidence” that supposedly proved Damian wasn’t Bruce Wayne’s son are these same results. But he never told anyone and, as Bruce pointed, Tim wouldn’t falsify these records.
With Tim being dead and all, there was something missing.
Either Adeline had falsified these results years ago and waited to set things in motion, or someone else created the results and Adeline stumbled upon them and could not pass on the opportunity to stick it to Slade.
Now, I don’t doubt her hatred for Deathstroke. Like she said, “I actually wish I had thought of it.” But these documents were clearly birthed out of Tim’s research. I don’t get the feeling Adeline would be able to connect enough dots to create this mayhem from that alone. That’d be a huge reach on Christopher Priest’s part.
Which why it’s strange Batman thought she was the one who put everything together. He knows when Tim found the documents, so he has an idea of how old they are. Why would Adeline go through all this and sit on it for years and years? And again, she’d have to know a lot about Batman and Robin to know the impact of this information.
Very strange that he was fooled on this one.
Deathstroke figured it out though. I don’t think he knew the part about Tim. He might, but we the readers don’t know for sure. Regardless, he figured it out once Batman highlighted Adeline has the motive, resources and would benefit from this fight. Somehow that brought Deathstroke to Talia, who was a candidate to start the mayhem at the beginning of the series.
I was not aware she did it because she wanted to build a family-army with Deathstroke. Knowing that now, her doing it years ago makes sense – as opposed to months prior to Batman receiving the results. (When I say it “makes sense,” I’m using the definition of that phrase loosely. Talia took the idea of “using your kid” to a whole new, twisted level.)
Priest did an excellent keeping Talia out of the picture and quiet on the list of suspects in this series. While she’s at in the forefront in a way because of Damian, she kind of slipped my mind as this series went along.
I’d also like to point out Talia is a very bad parent. As is Deathstroke. Don’t be like them.
Score: 9