Saturday Splash Page #13

"The Darkest Timeline of All," in X-Men '92 (vol. 1) #1, by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims (writers), Scott Koblish (artist), Matt Milla (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars started from the point where all the universes were destroyed, after Earth's heroes failed utterly to prevent this. Doom was able to destroy the Beyonders, because Doom is goal-oriented like that, and made himself god of a single surviving world, cobbled from pieces of those destroyed universes. Like Crisis on the Infinite Earths, but a lot less stuff salvaged, and much more messily pieced together.

Yes, even messier than Hawkman.

Marvel decided to lean into this by at least temporarily canceling all their ongoing titles. In their place, we got a bunch of four-issue mini-series, set in different zones of Doom's world. This is probably the oddest of those, considering it's playing off the early Nineties X-Men cartoon, of all things. Well, sort of. Sims and Bowers bring in characters that were not part of that cartoon, as part of what is a weird story.

The X-Men get an invite to a rehabilitation clinic supposedly helping violent mutants set aside their destructive and self-destructive impulses. A clinic run by Cassandra Nova, who in this reality is a clone body of Xavier's (made by Apocalypse, I do not remember that plotline) that is possessed by the Shadow King. Nova has some weird plan to smooth out the X-Men's rough edges and neuroses, to make them into bland, pleasant sorts, presented as making them "BSP Approved", meaning Broadcasting Standards and Practices. 

Yeah, I don't know. It feels like meta-commentary, but it isn't like the cartoon wasn't in some ways nerfed by the BSP back in the day. We didn't see Wolverine violently carving people up, just robots. Same for Bishop and Cable shooting things with their giant firearms. Nor was there much suggestion anybody was getting any, but Nova apparently felt there was just too much tension and innuendo going on between Gambit and Rogue. And this is all part of a plan to make sure Robert Kelly (who is Doom's "baron" in this sector) gets killed by some Frankensteined mega-Sentinel, so Nova can take his place. It doesn't work, thanks to an assist from a bizarre X-Force squad. Having Bishop and Cable on the same team seems like it would violate some limit on the number of firearms you can carry.

I think this comic must have been released digitally first, because some of the panel layouts are just bizarre if it was designed for print. Not at all what Koblish's layouts look like on anything else I've seen of his, or anything else I've seen that Bowers and Sims wrote. Pages with lots of empty black space and only one or two panels (like the page up above). I assume those were meant to read like you swipe and the next panel pops up, closer to a still in an animated feature. There are voice balloons where Nova says one thing, and there's a big red "X" stenciled over it and a little note saying it's inappropriate, with different, less suggestive dialogue in another balloon nearby. That said, the psychic battle between Xavier and Nova has some neat bits in it, with Xavier's consciousness being scattered into a bunch of little orbs that look very freaked out. I don't buy the Shadow King, Xavier body or no, can overcome the Phoenix, though.

As far as the four Secret Wars mini-series I've actually read, I'd probably rank this third, although I haven't re-read Master of Kung-Fu in a while.

Random Back Issues #54 - Deadpool #6

In the name of presenting both sides, the New York Times will run an editorial arguing this was the right move because those people on the coasts haven't taken cyber-Jesus into their hearts, or they'd know about the hurricanes already. So they deserve to die.

During Gerry Duggan's post-Secret Wars run on Deadpool, there would be these issues flashing ahead to 2099, showing how things were going for Deadpool. The answer, as it usually is, was "poorly, depending on which Deadpool you're talking about."

You've got one Deadpool in some sort of digital-looking suit, flying around on some A.I. dragon, with a whole legion of "Bobs" for henchmen. She and her crew make "stims", so, drug dealers. Deadpool is supposed to take drugs, not deal them! Worst cosplay ever! But she starts the issue on the run from the police, who she claims she can't actually fight all of. Well, sure, but if you're really Deadpool, you should just enjoy causing as much destruction as you can before being thrown in jail. 

Damn, I've become a gatekeeper fan, what a horrifying fate. You know what? Nevermind, you're Deadpooling just fine as you are.

She chooses to escape instead, retreating to a crappy apartment where we find regular Deadpool as an old man with a beard, shackled to an easy chair, forced to watch C-SPAN 2099. Wade isn't happy to see her, and when she asks if that's any way to speak to his daughter, replies he has no daughter. And she replies. . .

 

Well, if the alternatives are "no dad", and "Deadpool for a dad", yeah, that's probably the right call. Maybe she can go join the Straw Hat Pirates? I'm pretty sure we've only seen three of their actual, biological dads (Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji's), and they all either abused or abandoned their kids. She'd fit right in.

This isn't Eleanor though. This is Warda, a child he had with Shiklah at some point along the line. She wants to know where her mother is. Wade's mind is more of a mess than normal, with an additional eighty years of whatever added to it, so good luck. He tells her she's trying to find Jimmy Hoffa, and when she responds she doesn't know who that he is, admits he can't remember either. He suggests Preston might know (where Shiklah is, not who Jimmy Hoffa is), even though they were on the outs as then. Preston was a spy, so she knew all sorts of things. He also says he can't remember why he was angry at her.

 

All he can remember about what happened with Shiklah is some sort of fallout that may have been related to Elle dying. Given Wade's memory problems, I think that's questionable testimony. Just as likely he conflated two things, although Shiklah did, during the Civil War II tie-ins, possibly suggest she'd kill Eleanor for making him soft. (We'll find out Eleanor's mutant power during these 2099 issues and that would have made it a real challenge for Shiklah.) I'm not sure if I can believe him wearing that outfit. It's almost too stupid-looking, even for Deadpool. More like something Liefeld would draw for Cable.

Warda tells him she wants to hurt him as much as he hurt her, and sets the C-SPAN on repeat before leaving. Then Wade cries for Eleanor, which um, wrong kid, Wade. But then he notices the Texan up there vowing to dissolve the EPA to solve the problem of the environment, and wonders why everyone doesn't just listen to the Texan?

Elsewhere, the Bobs deliver "stims" to The Rose 2099, who is a woman with either a holographic or actual crystalline rose around her head. On their way home, the Bobs are jumped by a mysterious woman wearing a mask and a red cape with weird white lines on its inner lining. She wants to know how to find Deadpool (meaning Warda), and wants her to know it.

This would run through at least three more of these before being resolved in a larger-than-normal 25th issue. I liked them better than most of the arcs in the present day Duggan did during that stretch. Probably because watching Wade have to deal with a century worth of accumulated family shit was kind of funny.

[3rd longbox, 195th comic. Deadpool (vol. 4) #6, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #137

"Couldn't You Just Cheat On Him With a Younger Version?", in Despicable Deadpool #287, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) 

I ended up taking a break from Deadpool for most of 2017. The post-Civil War II arc was a waste of time of Deadpool trying to hunt down and kill Madcap, only to fail and let him escape. Then, they'd gotten in the habit of doing extra-sized $10 issues, where the extra content was usually underwhelming. Then there was a crossover between all the Deadpool related titles as Shiklah went to war against the humans. Then there were Secret Empire tie-ins. 

So I skipped about 8 months. By the time I came back, they renamed the book, did the "legacy" numbering, and Deadpool was a wanted criminal for his part in HYDRA Captain America's crimes, hated by all. Although Duggan really tried hard to convince us everyone was pissed Deadpool killed Phil Coulson. Agent Preston, sure? Nice Captain America, yeah possibly. But why would Rogue give a shit about Phil Coulson?

Stryfe had saved Wade's daughter and Preston's family when Madcap exposed them to a bio-weapon, and called in his marker. First Wade was supposed to kill Cable and cut out his heart. Which he did (sorta), but the impact was totally neutered by Duggan having Cable state he never liked or trusted Wade. If Cable's just one more person who thinks Wade's a fuck-up, instead of the last person who believed in him, then who cares? Did Duggan think the audience had some sort of intrinsic interest in Cable himself? Pfft, nobody actually likes Cable.

After that, Deadpool had to kill three more people (including Cable/Deadpool supporting cast member Irene Merryweather for reasons that were never, to my knowledge, revealed), while dodging the X-Men, Captain America, and Rogue. This did lead to one good issue, where Wade repeatedly makes Cap look bad in front of the public, which had been so willing to accept the "evil, Cosmic Cube-created alternate version" excuse. I gave up on the book after that.

There was another arc of, I think, Wade putting a bounty on himself and trying to get the villains to kill him, without success. Then the final, 300th issue, that I bought used a month ago. Which opens with Wade spraying himself with some alien super-weapon and calling out the Avengers, only to learn the weapon is something that makes everyone puke. Yes, it's multiple pages of an extended vomit joke. Be glad I didn't use the full-page splash of Giant Man inundating an entire street. 

Then he meets Gerry Duggan, kills him, steals his car, and tries to wipe all his memories back to at least the Gail Simone era. Unless "Black Box" was a reference to Gareb's presence in Cable/Deadpool. Hard to tell. Basically so Skottie Young could take Deadpool back to being an amoral mercenary. Well, at least there was a reason this time for the character setback. That's more than Daniel Way gave us. And I guess I can't fault Duggan for knowing Marvel would undo everything he did, and at least this way he got to do it his way.

Since it hasn't finished yet, we're skipping over the current Kelly Thompson-written run, and moving to assorted one-shots and mini-series. There's still about a month of Deadpool stuff to go, but we'll get through it.

What I Bought 2/14/2018 - Part 1

It was 70 yesterday, and it's right around freezing today. I thought spring didn't start for another month? I actually found all the books I was looking for this week, so let's get to it.

Deadpool #294, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Ruth Redmond (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - The pin with the wicked grin on Madcap's cloak is a nice touch.

Madcap has pulled himself together and come looking for revenge. But Wade's life is already burned to the ground, so by the time Wade finds him and they start to fight, Madcap's already a little bored. When Wade's master plan for taking Madcap off the board reveals itself, Madcap's actually grateful for the change in scenery. Which leaves Wade, once again, alone in the wreckage of his life, as Stryfe hounds him to hurry up and kill Evan.

Wade's solution was pretty clever, and even plays off his recent appearance in Rocket Raccoon's book, I assume. Maybe Deadpool made some other trip to outer space I don't know about. Koblish drew Madcap more simplified than Hawthorne had been. Big open blank eyes and a big empty mouth. It reminds me more of how Madcap typically looks, in the few older appearances of his I've seen. He's getting off his pointless obsession with destroying Deadpool, and back to. . . whatever the hell it was he did prior to that. Annoying everyone, I think.

There's not anything else I have to say. I appreciate Duggan providing some sort of resolution to the Madcap subplot, considering how pissed I was when he kicked the can down the road prior to Secret Empire. But, as he touches on here, everything has moved on. Wade has bigger problems, and there's not much weight to dealing with Madcap now. Nothing's at risk if he fails. Wade was desperate for the win, really needed to see someone he didn't like miserable for a change, and he can't even manage that. Next issue we get to see if Wade really does have a plan to trick Stryfe and save Evan. The way things are going, I wouldn't bet on it.

Ms. Marvel #27, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - A strange lightning bolt appears, and Kamala now has to contend with a bunch of miniature, alternate versions of herself. Just another Wednesday in the Marvel Universe.

Red Dagger and the Legion of Substitute Marvels track Zoe's phone to the Inventor's lair, where he's busy monologing about how he's going to use the elderly for an energy source because they contribute nothing. Zoe's not OK with that, and neither are her friends, but their opponent has created a giant turtle who nearly stomps on Nakia, only for Zoe to push her to safety (and nearly be squashed herself). The bad guy escapes, but our heroes realize they're out of their league. But there just so happens to be one other Ms. Marvel they could call.

So, Carol Danvers for the first time since Civil War II ended. Damn, now I remember that Civil War II is something that existed. Boooooo. It makes sense, at least. I know Danvers was portrayed in at least a couple of other titles after that event as not wanting to lose her friends over philosophical differences (Spider-Woman was one, probably whatever Danvers' book was called at the time, too). So she wouldn't take the approach of Kamala being dead to her, but she's been smart enough to let Kamala decide when she wants to see Carol again. It just so happens someone else is contacting her.

I'm expecting Gabe is going to get a chance to shine next issue. It feels like the others have all had the chance to do something at least a little cool. Mike with the inflatable fist, Zoe working with Harold to find his friends, Nakia being the one smart enough to track Zoe by her phone. Gabe was sort of cool jumping on the giant turtle - although that poor turtle looked like it was in agony when it first popped up, it doesn't know what the hell is going on - so maybe that qualifies. We'll see. Leon did give Gabe a funny reaction shot when Carol made her big entrance. And he gets to bag on Red Dagger's hero dialogue. Perhaps Gabe is the "Meat and Sarcasm" guy. Being a superteam's Sokka isn't the worst thing in the world.

My favorite panel in this issue is after Red Dagger and the Marvels make their big entrance, they all strike poses. I don't think they're deliberately mimicking the Ginyu Force, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was Leon's inspiration. Then the Inventor counters with the classic, "arms folded across chest while minions swarm the heroes" stance. He's kind of a goof, but he has at least some of the villain style down pat. Although it's hard for me to believe he was able to escape Red Dagger, a guy used to running across rooftops with ease.

What I Bought 12/27/2017

I was hoping to grab all three comics that came out this week, but the store was missing one. I should have it by next week. Hoping to review the remainder of December's books then, so I can do all the Year in Review posts the second week of January. Will I manage it? Eh, probably not.

Despicable Deadpool #291, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Deadpool using those stupid filters for his selfie is the most heinous act he's ever committed.

Wade presents Stryfe with Old Cable's heart. Then Regular Cable bursts in and there's a fight. Wade gets a call during the fight from Stryfe, standing over Eleanor as she dies of Madcap's bioweapon, threatening to withhold the cure. So Wade turns on Cable, telling him he planted a bomb to kill Hope at some point. Cable leaves in a huff, Wade goes home to sulk.

There are a few points that are enjoyable. Wade being 'ported into Stryfe's HQ in the middle of pissing in a phone booth, while drinking a beer. Mostly for Stryfe's appalled look. Heck, Stryfe has a blimp HQ, which is way cooler than I ever would have given him credit for being.

Part of me thinks this is an extremely long-con between Wade and Cable. Meaning, they know Stryfe would still be wary of Deadpool double-crossing him at this stage, so they're pretending to have a dramatic falling out to ambush him somewhere down the line when he doesn't have vampires or whatever planned. I doubt it, since I think Duggan intends to burn all Wade's bridges, but I'm always suspicious of the swerve.

I'm not sure that's a good idea. Leaving Wade isolated and friendless sounds suspiciously like what Daniel Way did with him, and that wound up being a meandering, pointless run. Wade is hopefully going after Nazi Cap next issue, so fingers crossed he guts that guy like a fish, then defiles the corpse. Then we can all agree to pretend Nazi Cap never happened, OK?

The quiet moments at the end, when Wade is left alone, those I like. Koblish shows him being carried along by the water passively. No energy in him. Just tired. It's been a different look for Deadpool, who even when depressed usually shoots something or drinks and swears loudly. He doesn't even have the drive for that. Koblish and Filardi handle those well. Colors are dark, but calm and fairly monotone. Wade, when he does move, has his shoulders slumped, leaning on the wall for support.

The overall idea Duggan's going with is one in theory I want to see, but the execution so far, not hitting it out of the park.

Tick 2017 #2, by Cullen Bunn and JimmyZ (writers), Duane Redhead (artist), Jeff McClelland (back-up story writer), Alex Harris (back-up story artist) - I can't imagine the Tick is very good at chess. Then again, I wouldn't have thought he could play the piano, either.

Tick and Arthur reach Canada, where the Tick is flooded with memories of being a regretful lumberjack and fledgling hero as part of some superteam-in-training. Which means he's not much use to Arthur when the clowns and ninjas show up again.

That's pretty much it, as far as plot goes. How much they plan on having the Tick's current personality and character be a result of who he was is something I'm curious to see. Sometimes writers have the character become entirely different when they lose their memory (see Mitch Shelly in either version of Resurrection Man). Other times certain things are retained, or leak through whatever the blocks are. With the Tick, he seems to have retained his desire to uphold justice and fight evil, but had forgotten French.

Redhead seems to draw almost all the other characters with more detailed faces than the Tick and Arthur. Even the ones with masks have more shading and inking. Except Spotted Fever, which seems significant. Redhead's art works pretty well, although panels seem crowded and almost claustrophobic at times. Which could be the Tick being overwhelmed by all these memories. He spends the entire issue rushing from one place that he now remembers to another, Arthur struggling to keep up (and unable to understand the Tick's French).

What I Bought 12/13/2017

I can't stand that commercial with the kid using the tablet and her mom asks what's she's doing on the computer, and the kid asks what a computer is. Give me a break. We are not so far into the future that kid has no idea what a computer is.

Despicable Deadpool #290, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Well, they certainly know what the audience wants.

Wade and Cable travel into the future, where things are bad. Then they travel even further into the future to see Really Old Cable, so they can kill him and take his heart. Hey, I got a prediction right! He is less happy to see Deadpool than I hoped, and Deadpool very quickly grows tired of Old Man Griping and shoots him, then cuts out his heart. He and not so old Cable prepare to confront Stryfe.

Well then. The story feels excessively drawn out. We're four issues in, and it feels as though we could have covered this in two issues. I think Duggan and Koblish are banking on the reader enjoying seeing Koblish draw cool stuff, indulging in Kirby aesthetic. Like the vampire dinosaurs last issue, or the train station full of Cables this month. Those are cool, although one Cable is more than enough, but it lacks emotional content.

The problem is Duggan writes Cable and Deadpool as seemingly hating each other. Cable, certainly, appears to barely tolerate Deadpool, even if Wade wasn't trying to kill him. Which takes some of the bite out of the story. The punch of the story was theoretically going to be Deadpool be forced to try and kill one of the few people he likes and respects. If Wade isn't hesitant about killing a Cable, and Cable doesn't like or trust Wade, why am I supposed to care?

You can have Wade determined to do it, to save his daughter, and Cable understanding Wade's problem, but having obvious objections to dying or helping Stryfe. Otherwise Deadpool might as well be trying to kill Bullseye, or some random hero he doesn't give a crap about, like Captain Britain. Take that away, especially with the obvious bait-and-switch on the death, and there's nothing left. Stryfe is already a clone of Cable. So what if he wants to make more clones of Cable?

The last issue will have to really hustle to salvage this.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #27, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist and trading card artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - The cover working well either side up is a nice bit of design work there by Henderson.

Nancy and Tippy-Toe wake up to a world where everyone is super-interested in how Tippy and Doreen defeated Galactus. They've been abducted by intelligent squirrels and brought to their homeworld because an unusually buff Silver Surfer showed up and told them to produce all their precious stones or Galactus will eat their world. After it is blown up by the bomb they left. Nancy and Tippy are left to try and figure out how to solve this. Doreen is back on Earth trying to find them, and ends up at the door of the Sorcerer Supreme, which is Loki now. Really? Why not just give the job to Gwenpool? However, before Loki can transport Squirrel Girl across the universe (in a terrible outer space wardrobe), Dormammu appears to test his new Sorcerer's mettle. Well, that's not a good thing.

I was pretty down on last month's issue, but I'm excited for this. I have no idea how Squirrel Girl is going to outwit friggin' Dormammu, but I'm sure she'll manage it somehow, and I'm curious to see it. I'm certainly not counting on Loki to save the day. That page where Doreen and Loki can perceive the attack? That was pretty. Love the colors, and Dormammu as an opponent that's only partially even physical. Also, that image of him Rico Renzi did for the trading card was pretty good.

There are a few good gags and jokes in the book, as always. The online reviews of Dr. Strange's home was a personal favorite, North's story about trying to b.s. his way through a physics test, too. I know I considered something similar in pre-calc, during the trig proofs section. "You included this on the test, so it's obviously provable," or something. Which is not true at all, but I wasn't going to do any better trying to remember those rules about sine = 1/cosine radians something something. I hated trig proofs. Anyway, I appreciate North's attempts to fast talk his way through it.

What I Bought 11/9/2017 - Part 1

There were no comics out this week I was interested in. Here's a couple of books from last week I was interested in. There were five comics from Marvel last week I wanted, I found four of them so far. Only two or three other books for the remaining weeks of the month.

Despicable Deadpool #289, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - How is Cable missing at that range? Wade at least has the excuse he's missing an arm (and holding his gun sideways). Cable's aim must rival an Uzi-toting bad guy from an '80s movie.

Deadpool confesses to Cable surprisingly quickly, so the two try going back to kill Stryfe right after he gave Wade the cure for the plague weapon Madcap used. Stryfe anticipated this and unleashes dinosaurs. Cable anticipated that and has a neurotoxin ready. So Stryfe unleashes a bunch of vampires, who bite the dinosaurs, who then bite Deadpool. Before the vampire dinosaurs can spread, the military decides they're sick of leaving everything to the Avengers and nuke the city. Before his death, Cable opens a time portal and warns Wade and Cable not to try ambushing Stryfe like that.

So the entire issue is to explain why they don't just solve the problem with time travel. I feel that could have been solved by Cable simply handwaving some explanation for why it wouldn't work. Wouldn't have needed 20 pages for that, unless Bendis was writing it. I do kind of like Cable and Stryfe essentially being a couple of kids playing together. Each one comes up with some bullshit counter to whatever the other imagines. Even so, my enthusiasm for this arc is dropping fast.

Koblish tries a version of the end three-way faceoff from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Just doesn't work as well without music. Also, he doesn't move the camera view in, or intersperse any panels of fingers on triggers. Points for effort I guess. On the other hand, he's very good at drawing a hideously ugly Wade, and he shows a good attention to detail. Wade's left arm being smaller than the right because it's still regenerating, the bullet holes in the back of Wade's mask where someone shot him earlier. And I think he tries to make his art style more similar to Matteo Lolli's on the page showing Stryfe giving the cure to Wade (which Lolli drew originally). His lines are a little smoother and thinner than normal. And four wide panels stacked on top of each other is a page layout Lolli uses pretty frequently.

Still waiting for Cable to get killed, though.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #22, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Gwen, you're supposed to write on the back of the postcard, not the front.

Vincent the Doombot brings Gwen to some underground castle so she can try to kill Doom away from Vincent's community. Doom has engineered all this and drops her in a cell. Which pushes Gwen to learn she can now move backwards in time through the gutters, so she escapes and confronts Doom, who is chatting mostly pleasantly with Vincent. Gwen realizes she's dealing with a Doom trying to reform, but is so desperate to be an Avenger, she pulls a stupid. Her powers somehow release an earlier (later?) version of Classic-Talking, Evil Doom from within Current Good Doom. Hastings really just wanted to write a Doom who talks like Dr. Doom, didn't he?

So Gwen really hasn't learned anything? She's still doing dumb, morally questionable things in an effort to "matter". Before she was trying to be important enough to not be killed off, now she's allegedly trying to be a hero, but it boils down to the same thing: She's recklessly endangering the lives of everyone around her because she never stops to think about what she's doing. Probably because she doesn't want to.

Which is fine! I was curious how her newfound commitment to not becoming a villain would play out, and here's the beginning of the answer. Having seen a future outcome she didn't like doesn't mean she'd become aware of all her weaknesses. And it isn't as though wanting things a particular way is unique to her, or comic book fans. Nostalgia's still a thing.

I think of the non-Guruhiru art teams on this book, Strychalski/Rosenberg are my favorite. There's nothing flashy in their style, but they can handle actions scenes or humor pretty well, which are the major components of this book. The castle has that imposing look to it where you could believe what Vincent said about it having many previous users. And I liked the panel where we see how Doom perceives Gwen stepping between the panels, where part of her has simply vanished. Just as a way to show how odd that might appear even to someone like Doom, who has seen (and done) some shit over the years.

Rosenberg's colors never get too dark, which keeps things easy to follow, but also keeps the book feeling more light. This story could be pretty dire, Gwen either dumping people into some empty void for all eternity, or her and a lot of other people getting killed because she brought back DOOM. But the book probably won't go that route, and so it stays brighter.

What I Bought 10/25/2017

The first issue of the Atomic Robo mini-series was solicited for this month, did not appear. You'd think they could avoid that with a story that was already finished online, but apparently not. There were two other books for me this week, but I only found one. We'll get to the other next week.

Deadpool #288, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - It's a nice cover by David Lopez, but I think a metal arm that belonged to Cable should look bigger on Deadpool. Wade's much shorter and slimmer than Nate.

Deadpool ambushes Justice Peace after his team-up with Thor from Simonson's run, and uses Peace's head to get into TVA HQ. As he slaughters them, Cable tries to convince his guard to let him out. Which he does just in time for Wade to show up. But Cable is able to retake control of the metal arm, make it pummel Wade, then rip it off him. Then he shoots Wade in the head.

I'm going to be really annoyed when Cable doesn't really die at the end of this. They're going to pull some loophole bullshit. So frustrating. At least Cable will have to live with the knowledge of the awful things Wade did with that metal hand. I love that Wade, even having just gotten his ass beat without Cable lifting a finger, made sure to mention that. Hey Cable, can your future self tell you how long until you lose that image from your mind?

Also, I thought it was Cable's scarred eye that does the glowy thing, but Koblish and Filardi are depicting it as being the other one. Maybe they figured it wasn't fair the right eye got both the cool visuals, and gave lefty one instead. Or. . . it's Mirror Universe Cable! Ugh, best not give Marvel any ideas. We already have Cable and Stryfe (Evil Clone Cable) and Nate Grey (aka, Nice Refugee from Alternate Timeline Cable) may be running around somewhere. Marvel needs to be reducing the number of people with Summers or Grey genetics in their line, not expanding it.

The colors still seem excessively dark. It's a dark story, I grant you, but they could still ease off the dimmer switch. With Koblish throwing blood and bullets and body parts all over the place, a little light would make things easier to track. Still, the violence is entertaining. Deadpool throwing heads at people, stabbing a guy in the eye with a handgun when he runs out of bullets. And the whole time trying to make jokes about the lousy situation he's in and the choices he's making. Calling himself the Man with No Morals, or the Man Without Remorse. Neither is true, but he certainly wishes they were. It'd make things easier.

I have a hard time seeing Cable's threat as having much weight. He's going to kill Wade if he doesn't talk? Even if we assume Cable can actually kill him, and that he's willing to go through with it, that's not going to get him anywhere. Deadpool on a good day would welcome death, and Cable should know that. Unless Wade thinks Stryfe would kill Eleanor after Deadpool was gone, just on the principle of it. Or for the hell of it. Which I could see him doing.

What I Bought 10/12/2017 - Part 1

Got four of the five comics that came out this week. Maybe I'll find the other and Giant Days from last week over the weekend. As it is, this constitutes almost all of the Marvel comics I'm getting this month. So let's start with two characters setting off on dubious new paths.

Despicable Deadpool #287, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Wade, that is no way to treat your action figures.

Deadpool is trying to kill Cable, with a chainsaw. Little low-tech, but OK, still a solid old-school murder weapon. The fight progresses to a hospital, and Wade isn't doing so good until Cable mentions Captain America. At which point Wade immobilizes Cable with an MRI, and cuts off his bionic arm. Before he can finish things, the Time Variance Authority arrives to arrest Cable for eventually becoming Stryfe. Leaving Wade with no recourse but to cut off his own arm, attach Cable's in its place, and use the time machine in it to chase after them.

I mean, I'm sure there were other ways to accomplish that, but the removing limbs approach was what Wade opted for. Pretty effective way to show he's not messing around. I mean, he cut his husband's arm off, that's severe.

I thought there'd be a little more reluctance on both sides, but Duggan plays them as less close friends than I was used to when Nicieza wrote them. Like they've both just been waiting for a chance to resume hostilities. Still, the moment where Cable wants to know why was telling. Once again, Deadpool has managed to surprise him, this time by deciding to try and kill him. That Cable even cares, that he doesn't just assume it's for money, has to mean something.

Filardi needs to brighten the colors up. Everything is murky, and combined with Koblish's tendency to get creative in how he transitions from panel to panel (or differentiates one panel from another), there were a few times I got lost halfway through a page. Had to stop, back up, figure out what was happening. I like the transitions, the ways Koblish leads the eye - he uses the chainsaw to point to the next panel as it's swatted from Wade's grasp at one point - but sometimes, it's a little much.

Anyway, I am still entirely on board with this arc, even if I figure it will go about as well as Deadpool's attempt to kill Sabretooth 25 issues ago went.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #21, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - That is an incredibly horrible costume for Trapster, I don't care how intentional it is.

Gwen wants to be an Avenger, and is out fighting villains. Who she then takes into that space between the panels, and dumps them into the void. Which seems a lot like killing them, which should not get you a place on the Avengers, but after Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, whoever the fuck else these days, sure why not? But Gwen's after big game. She wants to take down Doom, ignoring the fact that a) she should understand that in the pecking order of the Marvel Universe, they ain't letting her kill Doom, and more importantly b) he's not a villain right now. Because things have kept happening in the Marvel Universe since Gwen arrived, and her knowledge is getting increasingly out of date.

I can't believe she did that to Paste-Pot Pete. We need villains who just come up with weird inventions to rob armored cars, Gwen! They're a vital break from all the mass murderers and world conquerors.

Sooner or later, Hastings was going to have to address that Gwen's knowledge of the Marvel U. is going to be less and less relevant the longer she's out of the loop. Which is perhaps why she's gained this new power to move through the gutters, the spaces between panels. Her old power was knowing everyone's secrets, but that's going to be less accurate going forward. This is her new thing, though she's still kinda of using it like a villain. Making people disappear into Limbo is not the action of a hero Gwen. Knives did that to people in Trigun, because he was a genocidal lunatic asshole. Don't be like Knives.

I was certain I'd seen Strychalski's art somewhere before, but I can't figure out where. So perhaps it's Rosenberg's coloring that makes it feel similar to some of the other artists that have worked on the book? There's not a lot of fighting to judge her action sequences by, but she has a knack for some expressive faces. The Doombot's barely contained eyeroll at her "incredible new moves" went really well with the dialogue in that panel. The look of terror on poor Pete's face. Farewell Pete. Now who will Deadpool trick/coerce into helping him?

What i Bought 1/25/2017

I really didn't expect to do Wednesday's post until I sat down, and found I couldn't focus on any of the other possible ideas. I had to get it out there and out of my system. Well, that's what I originally started the blog for, albeit for less serious topics.

Only one book at this point. Maybe I'll have some others before next week's releases, who knows.

Deadpool #25, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Wade, don't have your daughters fight with pitchforks for your love. They'll probably both stab you, instead.

Wade sent Ellie to where he thought he buried Shiklah, but she finds Doc Samson instead. So big fight, a monster is unleashed, The Really Old Iron Fist is temporarily eaten, Ellie appears to be killed by Warda, but her mutant power makes that a futile effort, and Preston agrees to take up residence in Warda's mind and play conscience to her. Which sounds annoying as hell, frankly. If a person were the contrary sort, they might actively try to be worse to spite the new tenant in their skull. But I shouldn't expect good plans from a senile Deadpool.

There's also a lot of reference to the battles Wade and Shiklah will be having in future issues, but are in the past in 2099, and to what will probably be the ultimate end for HYDRA Cap, and some other stuff that we haven't seen yet. I was pretty unmoved by all of it. Little curious about Wade and Iron Fist being pals, but Danny always has been a bit of a chump. The reveal of where Shiklah actually is did work, though. Kind of sweet.

Related to that reveal, I would expect Wade's innards to look worse. The healing factor in constant battle with the cancer and all. Wade having no pupils even when not wearing the mask is a little strange. Maybe's he's actually blind. Daredevil's probably laughing if he is, or Wade thinks Daredevil is laughing. And there's a sequence near the end of all the fighting that got confused. Wade makes a crack about planning to have Ellie as Warda's babysitter. In the next panel to the right, he finishes by saying that now he's going need Warda to babysit Ellie instead, and says this while his nose is bleeding, which it wasn't doing two panels previously. But in the panel below the first one, Warda knees him in the face while saying his jokes weren't funny, and wondering what Shiklah saw in him (Wade's response is that he was good at oral sex). The panel to the right of that, she calls him a gross old man and punches him.

Based on dialogue, I think it's supposed to go left-right, diagonally down to the left, then right. Based on the art, I think it's from top to bottom, then diagonally up to the right, then down. I'm not sure which one is correct. The fact either could work theoretically is either smooth work, or a mess. You decide.

I did like that Warda's mask and suit are made of the malleable hexagonal pieces, and as the battle continues, they start to become distinct and fall apart. She's not sure she can actually kill innocent people, but killing her father doesn't seem to get what she wants. And she can't kill her half-sister, and she can't get back her mother, and being Deadpool isn't getting her anywhere.

Overall, not a bad story in theory. The execution was uneven, but it had some good parts.

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.

What I Bought 5/31/2016 - Part 1

I ordered my books two weeks ago, as I normally do, but didn't receive the usual e-mail telling me they'd shipped. So I figured there'd been a hold-up and got a bunch of other posts going for last week. Then they showed up at the usual time, so here we are.

Deadpool #11 and 12, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Matteo Lolli (artist, #11), Scott Koblish (artist, #12), Ruth Redmond (colorist, #11), Nick Filardi (colorist, #12), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Can't say I loved either issue's cover, although the symmetry of the two Deadpools is nice.

Deadpool does not kill Sabretooth. He does superglue Creed's butt to a motorcyle seat, which is something. And that was after Victor kept Magneto from killing Wade. 'Pool learned quite a bit in this issue. He killed his parents. His daughter is probably a mutant. He's visited Dr. Strange several times for help with his memories, but Strange actually installed mental blocks, and even though Wade made a video of himself for himself, Deadpool had always tried to kill Strange. But not this time. He's decided to focus on the good things in his life and go forward, instead of looking back.

And in issue 12, we see how well that turned out. His daughter from Shiklah still hates him. He thinks Eleanor, his other daughter, is dead (she's not). Preston is a digitized consciousness in holographic form that was gathering dust on a disc in the remains of the DeadCave.

Thank you to Duggan for having Deadpool, when he decides not to kill Sabretooth because he didn't kill Wade's parents, still try to rip him apart with a Mack truck because he did kill Vanessa. I've kept bringing that up for the last two months, so credit where it's due on using that fact well. Boo to Magneto for calling Wade the worst Avenger. Wade was in the middle of avenging someone Sabretooth murdered. That makes him the Best Avenger. Besides, everyone knows Iron Man is the worst Avenger. Nope, not Deathcry or Gilgamesh, Iron Man. That is the official ruling of Reporting on Marvels and Legends, until the next time it's convenient for me to change my mind for comedy purposes.

I'm more interested in the 2099 storyline than I was last time, in part because last time I was really hung up on how the art seemed to be deliberately aping Spider-Man 2099 #1, without being as good as Leonardi's art. I've come to accept that and just read the dang story, and Koblish is a good artist, although there are times he's is putting too much in there and it's hard to decipher what's happening). His emaciated Deadpool is pretty distinct from how I've ever seen Deadpool before. He's still scarred and messed up, but he's mostly frail and hunched in on himself. He's actually a little scared, and showing it, which is unusual. The way he taps his fingers together when asking who sent his rescuer, that's not a normal nervousness from him.

There's one panel in issue 11 that caught my eye, and it's not the one of Wong with an AK-47. It's when Adsit has convinced Wade it is him speaking through Sabretooth - via the power of magic - and Wade tells him to get out of Creed's head. As Wade says it, he has his gun positioned under his own chin, with the finger still on the trigger. Which seemed significant. Deadpool knowing on some level that's the one who actually killed his parents, and aiming his anger in the appropriate direction. Really, Butler would be the most appropriate direction, but Wade already dealt with him.

I think the circumstances of Wade, his family, and his (non-superhero) friends are the parts of this book that I'm enjoying the most. So I'm curious to see what direction Wade's newfound resolve to focus on what he's got and not on what was done to him takes him. I'm not sure I'm going to get that, though.

What I Bought 3/8/2016 - Part 3

I saw the Captain America: Civil War trailer, and goddamnit, Spider-Man is siding with Tony Stark again. I really wanted to root for Spider-Man, but I guess that isn't happening. On to a character who isn't stupid, he's just dealing with some trauma.

Deadpool #7, 8, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist, #7), Matteo Lolli (artist, #8), Nick Filardi (colorist, #7), Ruth Redmond (colorist, #8), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Yeah, there were a whole bunch of other people who contributed short stories in issue 7, but I'm not going to talk about any of those because they didn't interest me.

As it turns out, Wade keeps a little black book of grudges, and because his memory is shot, he periodically goes out and tries to settle those grudges. Even though he's done it who knows how many times before, and in many cases, can't even recall what the grudge was about. Mostly he's trying to keep awake because he's terrified Madcap's coming back. Ultimately, he keeps coming back to one note in the book: 'Creed was there'. He tries to figure it out, and is able to recall gasoline, which leads him to the conclusion Sabretooth is the one who killed his parents (when really it was Deadpool himself). Which is how we get to the next issue, where Wade sets out in search of Sabretooth. He checks out a place he recalls Butler bringing him to in the past, and finds a handprint, which leads him to an unpleasant fellow named Michael Logue, who has a heart attack when he sees Wade. Wade tells him to write down everything he remembers about jobs Deadpool did for Butler, and goes off in search of Sabretooth. Being an Avenger has its perks, and Wade swiftly tracks him down, then tries to take him out with the old, "piano wire stretched across the road trick". It doesn't decapitate Sabretooth like Wade hoped, but he's bleeding from the throat a lot, so Wade ought to have plenty of time to decapitate him the old-fashioned way, with a sword.

It occurs to me, didn't Sabretooth kill Vanessa, aka Copycat, aka Wade's girlfriend from even before he became Deadpool? Shouldn't that be reason enough to have a grudge against Victor? Does Wade not even remember that any longer? I know, I'm missing the point. all the "grudges" Wade settled are stupid petty bullcrap that even he, on some level, knows are pointless. He gets mad at Iron Fist for saying he looked like a melted candle (and while I don't understand what he meant when he told Danny he looks like Elvis had a kid with Santa's elves, anything that mocks that stupid, yellow-on-white costume is A-OK). He gets mad at Doc Samson's corpse for not helping him with his issues, even though he never called to make an appointment. He can't keep the big things in his life under control, or is afraid he can't, so he's retreating to concentrate on tiny, petty, crap that doesn't matter. Shiklah is getting seriously irate at how much he's ignoring her (also she's building an army, he should probably be worried about that), and he can't spend more than 10 minutes with her. Basically, Deadpool's never had many real responsibilities, and he's worse at handling them than I am.

That said, I'm totally OK with him killing Sabretooth. Even if he didn't kill Wade's parents, he's killed hundreds of other people. Screw it, say he's dying for that time he killed Psylocke or whatever.

I like how natural Koblish and Filardi make Wade look when he's sitting alone a table, eating a pint of ice cream and flipping through his book while wearing a Hawaiian shirt. It feels like it should be weird, or distracting, but somehow it doesn't distract from what's going on. Maybe because it's all just part of his attempt to avoid dealing with things. Also, they give Wade sparse patches of hair on his face and scalp, which adds nicely to his unpleasant appearance.

Lolli's Deadpool is a bit stockier than Koblish's or Hawthorne's, but he's very good at giving Wade these relaxed poses that are somehow still kind of terrifying (and I just remembered Lolli was one of the two artists on Hawkeye vs. Deadpool, so it makes sense he has experience drawing him). The shadows over Wade's face when he's talking to Logue help. Also the fact Duggan doesn't have him make jokes, or yell. He very calmly states what he wants, and then starts circling the guy, always keeping his eyes on Logue, and he's leaning forward just a little. The last panel of page 8 reminds me of a horror movie, when you see the crazed killer lurking behind the poor, stupid victim. Except this time the crazed killer is actually Deadpool which, hmm, isn't much of a stretch really, but you get my point. I will say Deadpool's stance on the last page seems wrong. If he's going to try and cut off Sabretooth's head with his sword, the foot he put on Creed's neck is in the way.

Not at all sure how this storyline is going to be spun out over three more issues, and I'm sure to be disappointed by the lack of actual Sabretooth killing, but I'm hoping for an entertaining knockdown, drag-out fight.

What I Bought 1/26/2016 - Part 2

You will be shocked, shocked! to learn things are not going well for Deadpool, in the present, or in the year 2099. So, more common ground between the two of us?

Deadpool #5 and 6, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Mike Hawthorne (penciler, #5), Scott Koblish (artist, #6), Terry pallot (inker, #5), Guru-eFX (colorist, #5), Nick Filardi (colorist, #6), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I'm reasonably sure that trap would work on the Rhino. Maybe the Trapster.

So Wade actually brings Eleanor to his townhouse/complex/HQ and waits for Madcap to try and kill her. At which point, Quicksilver whisks her to safety, so Wade's still a better father than Magneto. Probably Reed Richards, too. Wade tries to fight Madcap, who apparently looks hideous under his mask now (I didn't even know that was a mask), and blames it on his time spent in Wade's mind. Wade does have a big plant to hack Madcap into pieces, then throw him in some plastic box Stingray built, but it fails miserably, as Madcap incinerates himself with some alien weapon Deadpool keeps on him as a possible tool to kill himself {Edit: Whoops! It was to kill the demon Vetis if he came back. Sorry}. Everyone seems fairly certain Madcap will reform at some point, and Wade's left wondering about all the cryptic references to arson Madcap made, as well as the other things he did while impersonating Deadpool.

The other issue jumps to 2099, where the new Deadpool is Wade and Shiklah's daughter, who hates her dad and keeps him chained in an apartment watching C-SPAN, and wants to know where her mother is. Also she has an army of Bobs, and there's someone hunting her down. My guess is Preston, still in an LMD body, but it could be Shiklah.

Let's get issue 6 out of the way first. These pastiche issues are always hit or miss with me. I didn't love the Kirby one, but loved the "stop time-travelin' Hitler from killing Nick Fury" one, and the one where he teams up with the Heroes for Hire to fight The White Man. But this just did not work. I would say I'm too fond of the era being mocked, but outside of Spider-Man 2099, I don't really give a rat's ass about the 2099 books. But the art on the action sequences is a confusing mess, and if that was a deliberate choice (which I figure it was, because I know Koblish can do better), it was a bad one. Don't make your damn action sequences hard to follow just because the art of the period you're mocking was bad. All the small panels, and let's have the Bobs initially as weird, glowy outlines to get us wondering what they are in the midst of all it.

And maybe it bugs me a little because while the past issues of this type have taken place in the, well, past, this one's in the future. The former work as a way to introduce some character or problem that is about to pop up and give Deadpool issues, but with the latter, we find out these things that should probably be shocking or sad, but it's just kind of a thud. Oh, Wade and Shiklah had a daughter, and she hates her dad. OK. Ellie died and that made Wade go crazy. Sure. Maybe it's the fact none of that is terribly surprising to me. Of course things are going to end badly for Deadpool. That's how things always go for him, it's just he's currently doing better than he ever has before, so he has further to fall.

Rolling back to issue 5, The question I have is whether Madcap picked up some part of Wade's personality and took it with him when they separated previously? That's why Wade's been able to keep it together and not screw up everything he's got going so far, because the destructive, crazed and violent part of him got absorbed by this other, even crazier, even more unkillable guy? Or this could just be a lesson for Wade. For much of his life, he's been largely indifferent to the suffering of others, justifying that because of what he experienced at the hands of the Weapon X program. Wade passed it on, essentially, and even if he's grown beyond that now (mostly), that doesn't erase what he did in the past. So here's a prime example. Someone who, like Wade, was caught in a situation outside his control (being stuck in Deadpool's brain), and Wade may very well have tortured the guy, rather than doing his best to tolerate him. And now he has to deal with the consequences.

He's also having to deal with being a public figure right now, and we can see that wearing on him. He's in a situation where someone pulls off his mask, lots of people see his face, and no one is screaming or puking. They want pictures with him! But it means he has to play to the cameras. He's used to putting on masks, the humor hiding the pain and all that, but this is different. He has fears, and anger, and he can't do anything with it, because there's too many people watching, and they all want a piece of him. And he has to keep giving it to them.

I'm surprised that the Mercs for Money also speak in yellow dialogue balloons when they were their Deadpool outfits. I thought that was supposed to represent a specific timbre of Wade's voice. Unless he's even mass-produced and farmed that out.

Also, I really, really hope that Madcap's comment about having been up to lots of stuff while dressed as Deadpool isn't Duggan signaling he's going to use that to retcon out Deadpool appearances he doesn't like. Don't be like Jim Starlin when it comes to Thanos, Mr. Duggan.

What I Bought 8/4/2015 - Part 3

There are five comics coming out this week I plan to buy. They announced a mini-series this week for Deadpool and Cable, by Nicieza and Reilly Brown. It's going to be released digitally first, but I'm sure it'll be in print eventually! Woo! But while I wait for that, let's look at the end of his last series.

Deadpool #45/250, by Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan (writers), Mike Hawthorne (artist), Scott Koblish (artist), Terry Pallot (inker for Hawthorne), Jordie Bellaire (colorist for Hawthorne), Val Staples (colorist for Koblish), Joe Sabino (letterer for everybody!) - I'm strongly debating with myself whether to list all the creators from the six 5-page stories in the middle of this comic. I wasn't planning to discuss those anyway, they're fluff, but I may throw them in at the end of the review.

There are essentially two stories in this issue I am going to discuss. The first one, the one drawn by Hawthorne, follows the current storyline. Wade is returning from that Roxxon job that didn't go well, but not feeling too bad about himself, when ULTIMATUM attacks all his friends. Fortunately, between Wade's paranoia, Preston's SHIELD training, and having a necromancer and the ghost of Ben Franklin living with you, the terrorists' attempt to kill anyone fail miserably. Adsit did get gut-shot, but survived it. Wade plays against type, and sets about a careful plan, rather than pulling a Wolverine and just blinding charging towards the nearest idiot in a white jumpsuit and beret. He eventually lures everything ULTIMATUM has to a deserted, ruined farm in Kansas (which he purchased from its previous owner), and proceeds to kill everyone. He even keeps to his promise that he would kill Flag-Smasher last, even if this is a different one. Then he dumps his costume and weapons, and decides he and his friends will live out their lives on a yacht he stole (I guess he spent the last of his cash buying the farm and paying the guy who hacked the drones for him). This is interrupted by that other Earth crashing into 616-Earth and killing everyone, but, at least Wade didn't die lonely.

It's kind of an odd ending, even allowing for the necessary accommodation of Secret Wars ruining everything. Wade tried to show mercy previously, let ULTIMATUM go on about its business, so long as it do so well away from him. That ends up not being the correct course, so he kills everyone. Which is interesting in light of his decision to show mercy to Omega Red last issue, but it is consist with a theme of this run. Wade has generally been more merciful towards people he sees as victims, like himself. Omega Red, Butler's sister, that kid he saved during his fight with that demon. It predates this series, but there's his interactions with Evan (the kid that's supposed to become Apocalypse, and is understandably worried about that). With people he regards as having made their own poor decisions, he's considerably less forgiving. He killed Michael and sent him to Hell with no difficulties whatsoever, because heck, Michael sold his soul to a demon knowing what it meant. He was already going to Hell, might as well do something useful. Butler made his choices, Crossbones made his when he went after Wade, ditto former Agent Gorman who stiffed Wade on his "Re-kill undead Presidents" pay. ULTIMATUM would certainly fall in that latter category. Nobody made them become stupidly dressed terrorists, and certainly nobody made them reject Wade's generosity, so they die. What that means in a larger sense, I'm not sure. Give people a second chance, but only one? Some people don't know when to quit, and for them the only option is a bullet to the head?

It was kind of tragic watching Wade get a happy ending of sorts, only for it to be ruined by the end of the world. On the other hand, whenever things go well for Deadpool, he inevitably screws it up. I don't know if it's some subconscious defense mechanism, or just because he's crazy, but that's how it goes. He gets his life in a good place (usually near the end of a series), and by the start of the next one, he's lost everything somehow (see the change in his circumstances between Cable/Deadpool #50, and the first issue of Daniel Way's run). This time, he didn't have the chance, because the Avengers fouled everything up. Which makes the finale oddly touching. Everyone is dying, but Wade is happy, because they're together, and he didn't mess up. Hooray!

Hawthorne did a good job on the big battle. The initial shot from a distance, letting us see the big open space everything will be happening, but also giving us an idea of the forces aligned against Deadpool. Then the zoom in to Wade, leaning nonchalantly on the car, discussing his thought process on all this. Then he pulls back again as the drones start their attack, and it's all explosions and carnage, Wade hardly even present in the panels for the next couple of pages. Then once he gets more directly involved, on a given pages, Wade pretty much occupies the same place on the page as you move down. It conveys the sense they're all converging on him from every direction, and half the time, he's killing someone without even looking at them. He's looking at the next guy he's going to kill, because it isn't some revenge thing at this stage. He's just taking out garbage, essentially. It fits nicely with the mostly detached internal narration Posehn and Duggan give him (though he is at least a little pissed when he kills Flag-Smasher, but he doesn't know this isn't the same guy he magnanimously allowed to live back during Original Sin.).

The other story, the one drawn by Koblish, is another of the "lost issues", this one purportedly an Infinity Gauntlet tie-in Marvel of the '90s refused to publish because it made no sense. Wade steals the Cosmic Cube for Thanos (waiting to pick Wade up in the Thanos-Copter), except Wade saw the future when he grabbed the Cube, and uses it to pull a switcheroo on Thanos and steal the Gauntlet. Then he uses that so he can force everyone to show up for a roast of him. Which is about as unfunny as most of the roasts I've watched on TV. Howard's crack about taking a beating like the Hulk on an airline toilet wasn't bad, and Koblish drew Wolverine (making a special appearance from Hell) in Maddy Pryor's outfit from Inferno. That wacky Mephisto! I don't know if the low hit rate on the jokes was intentional or not, because at the end Wade tells the audience (meaning us) how much it sucks that his life, which is largely an endless stream of misery, is just entertainment to us.

Which kind of plays into my point about Wade always screwing up whatever good things he manages to put together. That's just me rationalizing the resetting of the status quo as we switch creative teams, but for the character himself, it's a string of misfortune being heaped upon him. He gains love and respect, then somehow loses it and winds up reviled again, so he can start all over, while people say he's just about dumb jokes and breaking the 4th wall. If that was my life, I'd find it pretty maddening. So that was interesting, even if the Howard the Duck appearance felt kind of useless. I sort of get Howard when Gerber writes him, but other than that, he doesn't do much for me. Maybe because I already have Deadpool to commentate on the absurdity of the world he exists in, and myself to commentate on the absurdity of the world I live in.

Beyond putting Logan in an entirely inappropriate outfit, Koblish draws the story well.There isn't much to do, admittedly, everyone is standing or sitting and either laughing hysterically or looking severely disgruntled. He made that kiss between Shiklah and Wade pretty hot, though. He used Reed Richards' stretching arms as panel borders on one page, that was a smooth maneuver. I assume the two guys standing in the shadows as Wade resets everything at the end were Posehn and Duggan. They're only in outline, but one's wearing a probably stupid hat, and the shape of the other's head -and his height - suggests Zippy the Pinhead, and I have no idea what either of those guys look like, so who knows.

So that's it for this volume of Deadpool. It's probably about the best send-off he could get, under the circumstances. He's supposed to get a new series sometime before the end of the year, from Duggan and Hawthorne I think, and I'm curious to see where they go with it. Will wade's happy family have returned along with him? If so, is he going to be struggling with his desire to take extreme steps to protect them? That would be a fairly Deadpool thing to do, try to do the right thing, but take it too far.

What I Bought 1/26/2015 - Part 11

Last set of reviews from this batch, so let's finish with a couple of more comedic entries.

Deadpool #40, by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn (writers), Scott Koblish (artist), Val Staples (crayon tester), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Thanks to a visit from Makes Brakes Fail Lass, I was able to read most of Deadpool's Axis tie-in, and I feel good about choosing to skip it. There were some good parts, but as with most event tie-ins, also a lot of crap I didn't care about.

This is set up as a coloring book commissioned by the Roxxon Corporation to convince everyone how wonderful gracking is. Gracking is like fracking, but with gamma irradiated water, and it's totally safe, and not at all cancer causing, and hey, who doesn't want fire to shoot out of their faucets?

Eventually even Deadpool realizes something isn't kosher, and so he teams up with Sarah Silverman, as well as co-creators of the comic Southern Basterds Jason Aaron and Jason Latour to fight the CEO of Roxxon, who turns out to be a secret minotaur. They kill him, though Latour dies in the process, only to realize corporations already own everything so trying to only buy products from ethical companies is a fool's errand. Hooray!

It's an OK issue, maybe hits a little too close to the truth to be too funny. Especially the part about how gracking doesn't work where there are mansions, only where poor folk live. And the Sarah Silverman guest appearance seemed random. Aaron appearing I could at least justify because I think he created that Roxxon exec, so if anyone is going to kill him, it ought to be his creator. Most of the jokes are on the cover. Koblish did well recreating the feel of a kids coloring book, along with Staples. The exec's face changes color sometimes, which I assume was the kid getting bored and wanting to use different crayons. The panel illustrating the dire threat wind turbines pose to dolphins was pretty funny.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1, by Ryan North (words), Erica Henderson (art), Maris Wicks (trading card art), Rico Renzi (color art), Clayton Cowles (lettering) - Seems appropriate, pairing Wade with the one character he fears most in all the universe.

Squirrel Girl is going to college, which means it's time to move out of the Avengers' attic and into the dorms. It's also time to fight Kraven the Hunter because he was in a bad mood and kicked some squirrels. Our heroine saves the day by helping Kraven find a new purpose in life, by upping his hunting game and taking on new threats. Then she finds out Galactus is on his way to Earth, and has somehow shielded himself from all eyes and instrumentation, except squirrel eyes. So it's off to space.

It's not the most dense first issue, but it's a solid start. Henderson and North introduced a couple of potential civilian supporting cast members, who will hopefully be further fleshed out as the series progresses. We got a good intro to her powers and abilities, but also the way she thinks. She's full of confidence in herself, but also open to trying different solutions to solve problems. I hadn't ever spent much time thinking about it before now, but I am curious to see how she spends her free time. Squirrel Girl has always struck me as a reasonably well-adjusted costumed hero, so it makes sense she would have some sort of civilian life, and other interests besides squirrels. Getting a chance to see those ought to be interesting. I do question the wisdom of having a squirrel and a cat sharing living quarters. In my experience, cats sometimes regard squirrels as something to kill, and honestly, squirrels can kind of be assholes sometimes. Not as bad as Blue Jays, but close.

Henderson's art and Renzi's colors fit the breezy, upbeat tone of the writing, and Henderson's doing well providing a variety of body types. Doreen doesn't have the typical super-hero body type, though some of that is the huge tail she has to conceal, but she's also very different from her roommate. It's an encouraging start, though I'm curious what mental jiujitsu she's going to pull on Galactus to divert him. Or are there space squirrels? Giant, ravenous space squirrels?