Review by Frank Plowright
One of many hugely enjoyable aspects of Christopher Priest’s Deathstroke series is how he constantly picks at what he’s already delivered. Robin’s role in Batman vs. Deathstroke was well conceived, and his accompanying Deathstroke a well played out mutually antagonistic relationship, but believed complete with that book. It isn’t, and the past rarely lies completely dormant, so Robin feels some responsibility for what Deathstroke did during Arkham, unaware of the bigger picture. Another Teen Titan, Kid Flash had a run in with Deathstroke during The Lazarus Contract, and also has some unfinished business. Before all that, however, we have the usual Deathstroke mayhem with a philosophical discussion between Commissioner Gordon and Wintergreen sifted between bouts.
Robin doesn’t kill, but what only Red Arrow among the Teen Titans knows is that beneath their headquarters he maintains a jail, the logic being that supervillains find it all too easy to break free from facilities specifically designed to hold them. It’s his intention that Deathstroke become the latest resident.
Priest shares the writing with Adam Glass, but The Terminus Agenda is set squarely in Deathstroke’s morally murky world. Secrets cause problems, and while Robin strives to better Batman, he’s still too young and inexperienced, a matter the writers bring home as the Teen Titans begin a proactive agenda that could have gone disastrously wrong. The story title is also the code name for something unpleasant conceived by Robin that slithers its way into the light. Artists Bernard Chang, Carlo Pagulayan and Fernando Pasarin maintain the styles of the parent titles, and although there’s a considerable gulf between the cartoon exaggeration of Chang and the more standard superhero art, it doesn’t hurt the story.
As with The Lazarus Contract, this is a crossover to be enjoyed by fans of both series, as different as they may be. It’s usually only the all-encompassing company crossovers that bring fundamental change, but The Terminus Agenda has considerable consequences for both Deathstroke and the relationships between assorted Teen Titans. An epilogue chapter runs through the assorted feelings they have about what’s happened, and the implications continue as their continuity heads back into Seek and Destroy. Deathstroke continues with R.I.P. Alternatively Priest’s entire run is collected in Deathstroke by Christopher Priest.
