Search This Blog

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Marvel NOW! Deadpool #1 Review

*NO SPOILERS*

A beardy, whacko S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has gone rogue, taking it upon himself to resurrect deceased presidents so they can save America from itself (landslides, racial divides, Piers Morgan still being given work)...

And with the help of some occult magik, it looks like he's pulling it off--as Harry S. Truman emerges, zombie-like but compus mentus and crackling with electric energy, from the ether. But wait--Captain America's on the scene, and he takes the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent down with a toss of his shield, and decapitates Truman.

Job done. Right?

Wrong. Beard-boy's escaped and Truman's just the first of the dead prez's he's unleashing.


Cut to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, where we're introduced to the dumpy and weary Agent Emily Preston and ornery Agent Gorman - played by Tom Selleck - as Gorman rages against the Daily Bugle's 'Decapitain America' front page coverage, informing Preston that Cap's off the assignment--the world does not need to see Avengers taking out former presidents--and tasking her with finding a covert way of fixing the problem. A problem she describes as 'a bag of crap'--to be quietly gotten rid of without anyone knowing, without fanfare; a 'bag' that will 'explode' all over her--publicly--if she can't.


Meanwhile, Deadpool makes his grand entrance into the Marvel NOW! era by taking down a Godzilla-type-creature by bursting out of its stomach, shortly followed by Thor--who warns him never to speak of this 'team up,' before departing through the eye of a storm he creates with his mighty hammer. Wade Wilson then just has time to clunkily fill new readers in on the origins of his returned super-charged healing factor before undead President Franklin Delano Roosevelt rolls onto the scene, with Agent Preston and her crew in pursuit--and an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D/President-slayer job interview is unwittingly played out by the Merc with a Mouth...


The beginning of Brian Posehn & Gerry Duggan's run on Deadpool--illustrated by Tony Moore--is a fun set-up issue. The comedic/cartoony style Moore skilfully employs (well colored by Val Staples), combined with P & D's take on Deadpool and bystanders' reactions to him make for an issue played for gags--mostly successfully, though with the odd line that's just the right side of groan-inducing.

The book's a breeze to read through but with more content than Deadpool's previous series writer Daniel Way brought, and establishes a fun tone and begins a new direction for Wade (something he's been floundering, searching for)--a direction that Posehn and Duggan promise will allay any fears about these two primarily-comedy writers bringing us simply a comedy book.

As many of you know, I've been gunning to work on Deadpool for some time and have been making various moves that are hopefully bringing me closer to the Merc with a Mouth. Posehn & Duggan have said they're on the book for the long-haul and I'm looking forward to what they're going to unfurl--but that means my plans to write Wade are shelved for now--right?

No comments:

Post a Comment