COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Deadpool #13
The latest adventure for everyone’s favourite merc with a mouth isn’t really what one would call Marvel Now. It’s a flashback issue set in the 1970’s where Deadpool teams up with the Heroes for Hire: Power Man and Iron Fist as they try to stop – not kidding when I say this – The “White Man” so yeah its Blaxploitation at its finest, but it is also a lot of fun.
Writers Gerry Dugan and Brian Posehn use pretty much every 70’s cliché for this parody issue; a family is bullied by gangsters for protection money and it’s up to Luke and Danny along with Deadpool – who is sporting an afro if you didn’t realize what decade the issue is set in – to save the day. The plot isn’t very deep at all, but as a satire of the generation it works. There are also plenty of other funny instances; poor Wade runs into a grumpy Aunt May and then beats up a baseball team who were going to a kiss concert as a result of their encounter.
There’s also a special “love” scene – if one can call it that – and it makes for one of the funniest pages I’ve seen all year. The use of arcade machines and pool tables just tickled my funny bone and emphasizes how much Deadpool is a character who should NOT be marketed to children.
The art by Scott Koblish is great – characters are nicely detailed and the action is energetic – and is really enhanced by the coloring of Val Staples who makes everything look very retro. There are various nice touches as well like small messages at the end of the page as well as certain colors made to look like dirt to emphasize the nostalgic feeling. My only complaint is that the issue didn’t go all out and give us newprint paper which would have been a real nice touch but that’s more of a personal annoyance rather than any actual fault to the creators of the book.
Deadpool #13 won’t change your mind about how you feel about the crazy killer – positive or negative – but it succeeds in what it sets out to do and is relatively harmless. If you’re in the mood to laugh and not take anything to seriously you can do far worse than this book.
7/10
Special Thanks to Druid’s Keep for supplying us with a copy to review
