Deathstroke and The Curse of the Ravager #2 - Sept. 2011

Comics Weekend "Red Tide" by Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Bennett, and Tony Shasteen.

Picking right up where the first issue left off, this Flashpoint mini is an extended flashback, showing us when Aquaman and Deathstroke first met.

After stabbing Deathstroke in the gut with his trident, Aquaman strides aboard the ship, flanked by his brother Ocean Master:

Aquaman pretty much lays waste to Deathstroke's crew, as violently as possible (all while protesting "I do wish all this killing would end", which is hard to buy when you're cutting a guy's head off as you're saying it), along with his brother's help.

A villain named Scavenger (not the Aquaman's old foe, sadly) foolishly tries to take a shot at the rampaging Atlantean:

After Aquaman deals with him (let's just say Scavenger won't be going jogging any time soon), another of Deathstroke's crew, Clayface, decides he's had enough and tries to run away. But where is he to go?

Aquaman tackles him, knocking him into the water:

The rest of the issue takes place thousands of miles away, and focuses on another ship, this one captained by Travis Morgan (aka The Warlord). Back on the Ravager, Deathstroke has his wounds healed by Sonar (the man, not the system).

Later, the two ships face off, but an unexpected party shows up to tip the scales on Deathstroke's side:

...to be continued!

Jenny Blitz is a new character, so the big reveal didn't have a lot of impact on me. Truth be told, as soon as Aquaman left, I pretty much tuned out to the rest of the book (which I've said many times, over many decades now). That said, I'll pick up the third issue to see how this all wraps up.

There's a line in the middle of the book, where Sonar--who wasn't topside when all the murderin' went on--asks Icicle, who was, what happened up there. Icicle's response is "Aquaman and Ocean Master is what happened", a nice shorthand for: it wasn't pretty. While I obviously don't want to see this bloodthirsty version of Aquaman outside of Flashpoint, I would love to see Aquaman's rep as a tough guy precede him in the regular DCU, as it does here.

One of the smart things DC did with these Flashpoint tie-in minis is make them short: three issues is a solid length to tell some sort of a story, but then get outta town before it all goes on too long.