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Deadpool #1
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
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Uncanny Avengers #1
UNCANNY AVENGERS #1
Capsule Review
And this time the title-blending spinning wheel of Marvel’s multiple-issue Avengers-verse lands on … the Uncanny Avengers! Here we have Spider-Man, Doctor (nee Brother) Voodoo, Deadpool, Rogue, the Human Torch, Quicksilver, Old Man Captain America, and someone called Synapse all together as Avengers because that’s the name on the cover, though you would be forgiven for thinking these were just the random action figures that fell from the box when you were putting it on the shelf. Writer Gerry Duggan’s bubbly script ticks along, and his characterization is strong, but I was put off a bit by Ryan Stegman’s art, which is forceful and bold but his characters are boney and a bit … ugly. The point of these Avengers, I gather, is to show unity between Avenger, mutant, and Inhuman, so of course our heroes bicker back and forth, and quit the team, and assemble in the former speakeasy basement of an old movie theater because … because … because Avengers mansion is up for sale on Zillow, I guess. Or because Cranky Cap doesn’t want to take other people’s money. I dunno. They wouldn’t tell me why. I’m confused and feel older than Old Man Captain America. I need a nap.
Approachability For New Readers
Poor. We’re left to connect too many dots on our own for why these disparate characters have come together, and there really should be some explanation why an iconic character like Captain America has suddenly reverted to his natural biological age. And for an Avengers movie fan? Forget it. The whole team they know is MIA.
Read #2?
No. It doesn’t add up.
Sales Rank
Read more about the Avengers at Longbox Graveyard
Read more capsule reviews of Marvel’s All-New All-Different rolling reboot.
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Moya
ryanmcswain
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