Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: avengers, deadpool, guardians of the galaxy, Ian Herring, Marvel Comics, negasonic teenage warhead, nic klein, sci-fi, scott hepburn, Skottie Young, superheroes, x-force, x-men

Deadpool #1 Review: Not as Bad as #300, but Far From Good

Deadpool is back to his mercenary ways and is during a contract on a superpowered biker when we join the Merc With a Mouth. His business is aided by the Negasonic Teenage Warhead, whom serves as the assistant and broker. Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, a new threat arrives that will, somehow, find its way to Deadpool himself.

In a follow-up story, Deadpool tries to come up with a better and more sympathetic origin for himself.

So, I absolutely hated Deadpool #300, and I stick by that assessment. That said, Skottie Young, Nic Klein, and Scott Hepburn's Deadpool #1 is marginally funnier and not an outright misery-fest, and I will gladly damn with fine praise in this instance.

There are some good jokes in this book, and the gags aren't drawn out to fatal lengths. Negasonic Teenage Warhead constantly berating Wade shows some self-awareness about all the self-awareness.

The second story is the reading equivalent of a flavorless rice cake. It references the origins stories of Hulk, Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. They don't really make any jokes about them other than one reference to the Man of Steel film and a few jabs at Batman. Just referencing something isn't a joke; you must actually do something with the reference. This is something Deadpool comics don't seem to understand. Also, recreation of a trope is not, in itself, satire of that trope. Also, boy some of these text walls.

That said, the Batman origin sequence actually has a semi-clever ending that will likely lead to a future Deadpool story.

Boy, this comic doesn't deserve Nic Klein's artwork. It's gritty, nicely stylized, and overall gorgeous. It would look gorgeous in something like Punisher, Wolverine, or even, ironically, Batman. Hepburn, joined by color artist Ian Herring, do solid work in the backup story too, even if it can't salvage the dull proceedings of that vignette's premise.

Deadpool #1 isn't as awful as #300, but it is dull as all hell and rarely funny. I'm not made to care about any of the characters, the satire is weak, and the art leaves me imagining better titles to take advantage of the talent on display. Of course I don't recommend this one. Give it a pass.

Editor-in-chief of Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston, also reviewed this one. You can check out his review here.

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