Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #1 Review

(Originally posted at Modern Age Comics)

by Aaron Weiss (ballershots.tumblr.com, @baller_shots)

Nobody can accuse Marvel Comics of being ignorant of the internet fanbase and their impact. Marvel has gone above and beyond connecting with their fans, running several Tumblrs, creating a surprisingly cool Facebook game, and giving work to several indie comic and webcomic artists who are normally shunned from the superhero comic world. One of the first major steps Marvel took in pleasing the internet fan base, however, was giving a major push to cult anti-hero Deadpool after the success of Cable & Deadpool, giving him his own team of Deadpools, letting him run rampant as the comic relief (and excellent shot) of the otherwise bleak X-Force, and putting him front and center for the rebooted Marvel vs Capcom series. Needless to say, there’s been a bit of over-saturation. Like a really rich chocolate cake or most poisons, a little goes a long way. This isn’t me hating on Deadpool. Comics need characters like Deadpool to remind us how ridiculous comics can be sometimes (for crissakes, he was drawn by Rob Liefeld! It don’t get more ridiculous than that.)

So when I first saw that there was a new Deadpool limited series, I kind of groaned. A little groan. Tiny little baby groan. After seeing the title of it, I gave a louder groan. I don’t care much for fantasy-land comics, and Deadpool killing a bunch of heroes is straight-up fantasy. I’m a canon man, and it’s hard for me to get into a comic that I know is bull hockey and doesn’t “count.” Even with me coming into the comic with what some would call a negative mindset, I was actually charmed early on. Well, as charmed as one can be seeing the Fantastic Four endure some BRUTAL kills. Big props to Dalibor Talajic for his art. If there’s one thing you have to see in this book, it’s the fairly realistic way Mr. Fantastic dies, or at least, it accurately depicts how he’d probably look if he got overstretched and lost control of his physical consistency.

Cullen Bunn’s writing is… okay. Just okay. The title, as you can imagine, is far from the wacky, psychopathic hijinks Deadpool usually engages in, and has more of the regular psychopathic hijinks that, say, Carnage deals in. After getting thrown in the loony bin and finding a “new” voice inside his head, Deadpool decides to kill everybody. All the heroes. Or people. Or villains. The preview for the next issue indicates the Avengers are on the list, but it’s not clear why, or where this new voice in his head is coming from. Deadpool has a couple of wisecracks here and there, but otherwise, he’s just going on a murderous rampage for no clear reason. He even kills the Watcher, who was narrating this tale!

Overall, the series looks to be a murderous and not-quite-humorous romp through the Marvel Universe, as Deadpool kills everybody. Don’t say they didn’t warn ya.

Pros:

-Great art. If there’s one thing you want to see from Deadpool, other than way offbeat humor, it’s nasty, nasty kills, and this book’s got ‘em.

-As someone who hates, hates, HATES Reed Richards, I can’t tell you how satisfying it was to look at his slow, painful death.

Cons:

-The writing, while consistent, isn’t that interesting, making it harder to engage beyond a visual level, which might leave the lovers of “funny Deadpool” out in the cold.

-IT’S NOT CANON DAMMIT. Sorry, I’ll slink back to the comic book

shop where I belong, along with by Super Big Gulp full of Dr. Pepper, bottle of Clearasil, and box of year-old Moon Pies. Mmm, Moon Pies. Best. Processed Cake. Ever.

Grade (6/10)