Recent DC Comic news has been released that Christopher Priest & Dan Abnett are going to “JJ Abram” the classic Teen Titans story line “The Judas Contract” originally written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. I’m NOT hating on this news because there’s NOT many details other than Priest & Abnett are doing their own alternate version of the original story with their current DC Comics titles: Deathstroke Rebirth & Teen Titans. I just don’t understand WHY anyone would mess the The Judas Contract story again given they’re saying the original story had happened. So it’s like… #YeahBuWha?!
Here’s the original interview with Christopher Priest on Capeless Cursader and some snippets from that below…
We’re doing a JJ Abrams-ing of “The Judas Contract… we are not dismissing that or ret-conning that, but as JJ Abrams did with “Star Trek,” we are now telling our own alternate version of it because of the speed force, and was Wally there or was Wally not there, and where was Starfire, and was Terra really underage when Deathstroke slept with her?
In order for the Deathstroke book to function, I need to tell the definitive, at least post-Rebirth, version of Deathstroke’s origin. Which involves the at the time Teen Titans, so I need to know who was in, who was out, and all that other stuff. So that’ll be the first half of the year, we’re just rebuilding Deathstroke’s cast and establishing Deathstroke, so that’s 1-11. Issue 12 will begin the second arc where it’s retelling that classic story and basically retelling the Titans origin over in “Titans,” and retelling the Deathstroke origin over in Deathstroke. Dan and I are kind of collaborating on it.
I’m trying to write Deathstroke as if there had never been a Deathstroke comic before. So if you’ve never read Deathstroke, you know nothing about Deathstroke, you don’t even like Deathstroke, sample the Rebirth, sample the #1. Because Geoff and I kind of talked about it, and we wanted to set this series up as if it were a motion picot or a television series. Rather than have Geoff and the TV people come in and adapt it to that, why don’t we just set it up as if it was a TV show in the first place and make it as translatable to the screen as possible.
Target me Confused
Glad to hear that Christopher Priest isn’t dismissing the original The Judas Contract story but this is what I don’t understand about the DC Rebirth stories / universe. So the previous pre-Flashpoint DC Universe of comic book history *kinda* existed / maybe? When it suits the writers? That’s what bothers the shit outta me. DC Comics would be better to make up their mind and give a CLEAR fnckning definition vs keeping it all vague and confusing. I understand writing “Deathstroke as if there had never been a Deathstroke comic before” given the messed up nu-52 DC universe but does that mean they need to re tell the The Judas Contract story?
I hope to enjoy Christopher Priest’s run on Deathstroke but I’m kinda hesitant given what I’ve said about the vagueness of their DC universe.
