Deadpool #57 Review

For those who've just joined us, thanks to a serum ordered up by supervillain Tombstone, Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool no longer has his healing factor, and its dawned on him that he'd become over-reliant on it and his Merc with a Mouth skills aren't what they used to be; so he's hooked up with his 'frienemy,' the skull-masked Taskmaster, for some retraining after getting his ass handed to him by lame-o villain The Trapster a.k.a. Paste Pot Pete.

Taskmaster and Deadpool have gone to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility to steal some weapon-shrinking Pym Particles, but Tasky's screwed Wade over--leaving him to draw fire from the S.H.I.E.L.D. 'bots while he nabs the particles (though this can be somewhat justified as Tasky presumably thinks Deadpool's still unkillable). While this is going on, Paste Pot Pete, who's learned of Deadpool's newfound killability, has shown up to finish him off.

DEADPOOL REBORN Part 3: 'Get Your Swagger On'... *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

For starters, that cover image above? Forget it. If, like me, you were hoping for 'Pool to lay the smack down on Pete, you're not gonna find that; but Wade does basically 'own' Pete, in a different way, here--and shows him that the Merc with a Mouth hadn't adjusted to his now-fallible status in their previous encounter--which had provided Pete with a lucky break that ain't gonna happen again.

Then there's the matter of Deadpool getting past the S.H.I.E.L.D. 'bots and getting payback on Taskmaster--in which Wade more fully demonstrates that he's getting back on his game by smoothly taking care of bizniz.

...Before it's revealed that Taskmaster knows Deadpool's lost his healing factor and has screwed him again by selling this info to Black Box.

However, though Deadpool didn't get this when Taskmaster screwed him the first time, Tasky has fulfilled his part of the deal they entered into when they agreed to team up to steal what the wacked-out Wade had mistakenly believed to be 'Pimp Articles;' he has given Deadpool the on-the-job training he needed to get his skills back on track.

Which is good, because Black Box has a tendency to sell the important info he collects, and word is now gonna get out that Deadpool's lost his healing factor and is killable.

There are some amusing lines from Wade in here--including a messed-up 'Human Centipede' threat that took me a bit of working out before I lost my lunch from it, and our boy and the voices in his head are settling back into comedic/ass-kicking mode after the more serious/introspective tones of recent events. As for the action, the artwork from Shawn Crystal, though nice, doesn't immerse you in the action as much as it should.

The Evil Deadpool arc's artist Salvador Espin returns for the 'Blacklisted' arc--featuring the return of a bunch of old Deadpool foes that have 'Black' in their name--kicking off in late-July's Deadpool #58, and once again I'm intrigued at what's coming.

If you haven't checked out my big Deadpool Preview yet, you can get the skinny on what's in store for Wade once the cat's out of the bag regarding his newfound vulnerability here...