DEADPOOL #1

Capsule Review

The cover of the perpetually tongue-in-cheek Deadpool #1 sarcastically declares itself “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine,” and it might as well claim that title, given that the poor Fantastic Four are nowhere to be found in this latest Marvel reboot. But this issue didn’t live up to the claim for me, mostly because I didn’t know what the heck was going on. All my information about Deadpool is second-hand — I’ve never read a Deadpool comic before — and I know little more about the character now than I did before I cracked the cover of this issue. The cover showed a riotously popular Deadpool signing autographs in the middle of his own Times Square parade, but the book didn’t really connect back to that image. Instead, there are a whole bunch of Deadpools working together (and one of them appears to be Foolkiller!). Deadpool is now an Avenger, and he’s financing the team through his merchandising and his superheroic contract work. Writer Gerry Duggan offered some good dialogue and a couple nice gags (particularly involving Deadpool’s appropriation of the Heroes For Hire monicker), and artist Mike Hawthorne provided good visual storytelling and action, but I wasn’t charmed.

Approachability For New Readers

Not great. We’ve got the time jump since the reboot, a lot of characters running around, and nothing sketched in about our hero, his powers, or his past. You can leap in and figure it out as you go, but the book felt like it was missing a scorecard.

Read #2?

No, I’m out. Not because of any quality problems with the book so much as because I feel like I’m not part of this club.

Sales Rank

(#3 November)

Read more about the Avengers at Longbox Graveyard

• Avengers — Kree/Skrull War
• Longbox Shortbox
• The Bride of Ultron
• Avengers Gallery

Read more capsule reviews of Marvel’s All-New All-Different rolling reboot.