Ra's al Ghul's dying in Shadow War Alpha #1 preview kicking off Batman, Robin, Deathstroke crossover

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The immortal Batman villain is dying and then assassinated in the March-May crossover

Shadow War: Alpha #1 art
Shadow War: Alpha #1 art (Image credit: DC)

Deathstroke will assassinate (or so it seems) a sickly and dying Ra's al Ghul, kicking off the upcoming 'Shadow War' event crossover. The upcoming event begins Tuesday, March 29 with Shadow War: Alpha #1, before crisscrossing the Batman, Robin, and Deathstroke Inc. titles for the following two months.

Shadow War Alpha #1 (Image credit: DC)

If you're saying to yourself, "waitaminute, don't Batman, Robin, and Deathtroke, Inc. already have something in common?" you'd be right. It's the prolific Joshua Williamson who writes all three series and, of course, is writing Shadow War.

The publisher promises William's epic will have "major ramifications" for the DC Universe.

Written by Williamson, the 48-page Shadow War Alpha #1 (cover price $6.99) is drawn by Viktor Bogdanovic (Detective Comics).

Here's a look at four preview pages from the special: 

Image 1 of 4
Shadow War: Alpha #1
(Image credit: DC)

When Slade Wilson commits his latest 'unthinkable act', Talia al Ghul and the League of Shadows are out to end Deathstroke and Deathstroke Inc. for good. Only Batman and Robin can track down Slade and bring him to justice before Talia gets his hands on him.

The special features a main cover by Jonboy Meyers (see above), with variant covers by Bogdanovic and Dan Mora.

Check out all the covers here:

Image 1 of 3
Shadow War: Alpha #1
(Image credit: DC)

Deathstroke has killed Ra's Al Ghul before. In the 2014 animated film Son of Batman, Slade Wilson acted as a mentor to Ra's Al Ghul's grandson Damian Wayne/Robin but ended up killing Ra's after being jealous that Damian, and not Deathstroke, was chosen to be his successor.

But subsequent marketing materials for 'Shadow War' seem to suggest Deathstroke may not be the true culprit and since this is Ra's Al Ghul, you also have to question is he really dead ... or will he stay dead even if he is?

After the Alpha special, 'Shadow War' continues in Aprils Batman #122, along with Deathstroke Inc. #8 and Robin #13, and then concludes in May with Batman #123, Shadow War Zone #1, Deathstroke Inc. #9, and Robin #14, and as you probably guessed, wraps up in the bookend Shadow War Omega #1.

Does Deathstroke rate as of the best DC supervillains ever? 

Chris Arrant
Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)