Okay. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’m not a Liefeld hater. I don’t automatically drop something or cry to the heavens when I see his name atatched to a project. But after seeing his writing on the last couple of issues of Hawk and Dove, I admit to growing trepidation about his involvement with already three already strugging titles.

Deathstroke 9 didn’t really help ease my concern.

First the art. It’s Liefeld art. If you like it, you like it and if not…well, you probably hate it. It’s not my favourite, but I knew what I was in for so it would be silly for me to complain about that.

(Still gonna give it a 2 though. “Average” seems fair since it’s average Liefeld.)
No for me, the question mark was his writing. I liked a bit of his Hawk and Dove and found other parts way too overdramatic. Unfortunately, this issue slides into the latter category.

Most of this book is actually not bad. Not great, but not BAD. Deathstroke’s inner-monolouging is okay and more acceptable in that it makes this a reasonable jumping-on point for people who may not have as much familiarity with the character.

Then things take a turn toward the bleh in the middle of the book. Like, literally where the staples are.

Now we’re meeting yet another clandestine organization within the DCU (apparently covert organizations are the main contributors to employment). But what’s REALLY bad is Lobo.

Let’s be honest; there are Lobo fans who have probably been looking forward to him appearing in the new 52. But I don’t think this is what they were expecting.

I won’t go too far into it, suffice to say one second he’s hollering, “Fraggin’ maggots!” and the next he hollers, “You DARE exile the last son of CZARNIA!?” Say what? Did Thor suddenly possess Lobo?

That sort of weird inconsistency is the sort of thing that bugs the crap out of me. It’s those little things that just pull you right out of the story while you say, “huh?” Add to that the weird explanation for why he’s there and I think Lobo fans will probably be a bit disappointed. Or a LOT disappointed.

I appreciate the effort, Mr. Liefeld. And I’ll likely pick up issue ten since that’s what I’d committed to with my LCS. But this has been on the bubble for me for a while. And bubbles have to burst sometime.