Deadpool is back and I am psyched to the Nth degree. My favourite deranged degenerate has had a good run of late. He's had quite a few entertaining titles including: Dead Presidents, Night of The Living Deadpool, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool kills Deadpool, and Deadpool vs Thanos. And now, with his own film coming out next February, I recommend that newbies jump into the character for the first time with this new series.
Issue 1 starts off with a gorgeous half-page spread of Deadpool at night in some sort of wing suit gliding over a beautifully lit city block. The way the light from the street lights and the cars interacts with the road and the windows of the buildings really sets the standard for the rest of the book, and this book lives up to that standard throughout. Penciler Mike Hawthorne, Inker Terry Pallot, and Colourist Val Staples have done an excellent job of the artwork with interesting panel layouts and solid lines and colours. The characters are drawn very expressively and each one has a distinct appearance, even when masked as Deadpool. Not to mention the vibrant, lively cover by Tony Moore. All in all, this is a good looking comic book with an all-star team at work.
In this iteration, Deadpool is world famous and has taken Tony Stark's role as the Avengers' benefactor. To keep up with the demand of his new found fame, he's hired a team of down on their luck D-listers who dress up as him and lighten the work load. These include beloved Deadpool regular Madcap, previously one of the voices in Deadpool's head. Another interesting addition is James Bourne, or solo, who bears a striking resemblance to movie Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds. Clever, Duggan. Very clever. The story begins in Seoul, Korea, where deadpool -actually Solo- comes face to face with Korean Marvel hero, the White Fox. There have been talks about bringing this iconic Asian hero to the west, and this is her debut. After these three pages in Seoul, we meet all the Heroes for hire, starting with Terror the organ harvester and Foolkiller, and then Slapstick (my personal favourite so far) and then, in a hilarious gag, Stingray. Hilarity ensues right till the end, where we get a disturbing reveal about Deadpool's past. This sets the story very nicely for the coming issues. And it looks like we're going to be seeing Daredevil in action at some point, as Matt Murdock makes an appearance.
Leading the team is writer Gerry Duggan. Anyone familiar with Gerry Duggan or with Deadpool will know that Duggan and Hawthorne are fan favourites. I think that title's further established here. The humour is on point. It is different from the tone of the previous incarnations, but not so much so as to take away from the character. Deadpool has always been somewhat slapstick but here the humour is a little more subtle. There is the gag with Stingray crashing in through the window, but that's made funny by Madcap and Deadpool's reaction to it. However, you definitely see more of the trademark Violence in issue 2. Issue 1, while changing pace a little compared to Deadpool's other recent adventures, is still filled from start to finish with the zaniness and charm that made the character popular, including a George Stephanopolis cameo. So far, the fourth wall breaking that Deadpool is loved for hasn't been used (unless you count George Stephanopolis showing up), but considering the movie trailer broke the fourth wall, we can expect that in coming issues.
Excellent comedy aside, issue 1 has set up an intriguing story that promises a look into Deadpool's past and some disturbing discoveries on his part. Not to mention further appearances of the White Fox.
Whether you're a comic book buff or not, you should definitely be reading this.
Issue 2 carries the story along nicely and has an appearance from Hawkeye. Not to mention it has another shock ending and gets bat shit insane. So go and read it, ya nerds!
When I'm not writing sub-par, one-off comic book reviews, I'm pottering away on my woefully lonely Facebook page as Kyle J. White,
