What I Bought 6/21/2016 - Part 2

So like I said Wednesday, I didn't buy Deadpool #13 yet because it was too expensive for my cheap ass, even though it was probably a good value, in terms of cost per page, relative to other comics these days. But here's two other Deadpool comics, because Marvel publishes plenty of them.

Deadpool: Last Days of Magic, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Guru eFX (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - That is an awful cover. Just boring as shit.

So Dr. Strange is dealing with a threat trying to wipe out all magic in his book. Deadpool has some magic-using friends, plus his wife is a succubus that rules a Monster Metropolis, so this actually makes sense as something he'd get dragged into. He and his friends stave off total annihilation, but the Ghost of Ben Franklin decides it's time to move on to the afterlife (after confirming that story where he and Clea did the nasty in the past-y is in continuity), and Wade's necromancer friend Michael dies stopping the Empirikul's magic-eating machine. Wade does a spectacularly poor job delivering the news to Michael's girlfriend Daphne, who also has magic abilities, and may have actually cursed Wade. Or it may have just been a generic "Curse you!" When things go to shit in Wade's life, it'll be hard to tell.

I feel like Koblish was homaging/doing a parody of Barry Allen's death in Crisis on the Infinite Earths with Michael's death, mostly the panels at the bottom of page 23 where Michael slowly crumbles to dust. Except Koblish's art makes it seem slightly less heroic, slightly more comical. I don't know that it's intentional, although most of the moments for Michael up to then are making fun of him. Puking after using the teleportation spell, failing to try and heal someone (because the spell doesn't work anymore), the echo of the Ancient One facepalming at Michael planning to use Togbon's Journal. I think that's the point, he looks like a screw-up, and he isn't any sort of great mage, but he still saved a lot of people (albeit temporarily if Strange doesn't get his shit together and deal with this problem). Anyway, Koblish does an excellent job on Deadpool's desperation to try and help his friend, and his sadness when he can't. His immediate turn to Doctor Voodoo to find some way to bring Michael back, the way he stands there and takes Daphne's hatred. And the moment when Michael promises to make the Ancient One proud before teleporting away (followed by that facepalm), he had such a look of happiness, it was heart-wrenching. Guru eFX softened the color scheme a bit for those two pages as well, which helped. It's a quieter moment, the colors aren't attacking my eyes, things don't feel as frenzied, and so it lets everything sink in.

It's an effective tie-in, I just would have preferred it not whittle down the parts of Wade's supporting cast I actually care about.

Deadpool #14, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Mike Hawthorne (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I went with the Koblish-drawn continuing adventures of Deadpool and the UPC code through time. This issue, they landed in the worst story in Simonson's Thor run, that one with Justice Peace of the Time Variance Authority. If they erase that story and replace it with something better, the whole thing will be worth it.

The Ulysses kid with the precog stuff warned all the heroes about a Celestial (I think?) showing up, and the day was saved. But Wade is not being properly appreciative to his Mercs and they're planning to go into business for themselves. Oh no, please don't, you are such an integral part of my enjoyment of this book, he said with no emotion whatsoever. That's pretty much it, other than the Mercs trying to convince Cable to fund them, and Adsit leaving to return to SHIELD. After a half-dozen issues, where he did almost nothing as the guy running Mercs for Money day-to-day. I suppose this could all be part of the curse, shit falling apart rapidly for Wade, although, again, it's hard to tell. Deadpool is the last person who should be trying to run a business, given his lack of attention span and routine indifference to the problems (like bills) of others. But given Ben Franklin's warning of dark days ahead before his departure, and Ulysses telling Wade he wouldn't want to be believe in predicting the future either, if he had Wade's lifeline, yeah, it's probably the curse. Still, the rapid dumping of Adsit feels like I'm back in Daniel Way's run on Deadpool, where he careened one way then the other with seemingly no plan. That's not something I wanted to be reminded of.

At the end of the day, Duggan hasn't done enough with the Mercs for me to care if they stay or go. There's a lot he could do, since all of them represent different facets of Wade (which is no doubt why they were picked), but so far, it hasn't materialized (except with Madcap, I guess). The Mercs are just baggage distracting from the cast members I'd actually like to see Wade interact with (because it's actually been established how they play off him, resulting in me giving a crap about them): Preston, Eleanor, Adsit, Michael, whoops he's dead, oh well. If it's a point about Deadpool getting everything he thought he wanted, and losing all the stuff he really cared about (Last Days of Magic points out Wade has pretty much dropped his friends from the previous volume now that he's a big Avenger), fine, but it doesn't make it anymore enjoyable.

The high point of the issue is Cable explaining to the Mercs how he has money, which involves a flashback to Cable traveling back to the 18th Century with some cash, which he deposits in a bank, and draws from when he returns to the present. Not so much for that explanation, but Mike Hawthorne drawing Cable in a top hat and coat with tails, plus an eye patch to cover the glowy eye. I had not realized I ever wanted to see Cable dressed up like that, but it was great. Deadpool thinking precognition is a bunch of crap feels appropriate too. Otherwise, he'd have to acknowledge what everyone's been telling him about how it's all going to end badly for him, and I don't think he wants to do that.

That turned out very angry, but the books happened to combine to form a perfect combination fo everything that's frustrating me with Deadpool right now.