Hey, didja hear? There’s a new Deadpool movie…
By PETER STONE
Rob Liefeld created Deadpool. He created it, wrote it and drew it through the character’s existence. In fact, he returned relatively recently to continue the story of the Merc With a Mouth. However, other writers and artists have had the chance to play with Rob’s baby, creating slightly alternate views of Wade Wilson. Deadpool is irreverent, annoying, talkative and almost impossible to kill. (There’s always hope, right?)
Then the movie Deadpool came out, staring Ryan Reynolds who is also irreverent, annoying, talkative and pretty damn hard to kill. (Not that I’ve tried, but that is what I’ve heard.) Then a second movie came out to lesser success but still very popular. Now, on the eve of a THIRD movie being released, with a guest star we (as the audience) never thought we’d see in costume again (Psssst. It’s Wolverine!), I thought I’d talk a little about one of my favorite Deadpool stories.
It’s called Deadpool: Wade Wilson’s War, a 2010 four-issue Marvel Knights miniseries written by Duane Swierczynski and drawn by the amazing Jason Pearson of Body Bags fame. Pearson rarely did art for a series or mini-series. His intensity was on the same level as a Michael Golden. So, to get four issues of this level of art is beyond wonderful. The writing is right in line with what the character is and even breaks the fourth wall occasionally to great comic effect. Paul Mounts, as the colorist, does a spectacular job, exciting and very readable.
The story focuses on our hero (?) in front of a Senate subcommittee, testifying about how he obtained his powers and how the government used him and a few others as a high-end black ops team. Deadpool’s usual running buddies are there in the form of Domino, Silver Sable and, just to make things really exciting, Bullseye. Pearson draws the women sexy and bodacious while the guys are somewhat over the top. Then there’s the guns, guns, guns. This is not a group of people you want to hang out with because I’m not sure they are even aware guns come with safeties. Thirty bad guys… no problem. Fifty… a pittance. For those of you who like shooting, deadly playing cards, and maybe a severed head or two, this is the book for you.
Along the way, Wade tells the story of his creation. Not exactly the one from the movie, but pretty similar. Of course, Wade turns it as if he was a good-looking, young Army soldier, but the reality is far different. He’s more of a terrified, weaselly-looking dude who screams and cries a lot. By the end we’re pretty sure Wade is psychotic.
One of the great things about this series is the slightly “realistic-cartoony” (yes, I just made that up) art of Pearson combined with Swierczynski’s irreverent wit. Deadpool just won’t shut up, whether he’s talking to “good” guys, bad guys, senators, the reader or even himself. At one point he even says he’s tired of his own voice. (This is after he stops a whole barrage of automatic-weapon fire Matrix-style so he can explain something to us.) Pearson plays it perfectly somehow without showing Deadpool’s real face. Well, we do get to see it once in a horrific full page shot… and let me tell you, it’s 1,000 times worse than the movie version.
Before you go thinking that this is just a shoot-em-up story, there are a few twists and turns, some epic betrayals and a few deaths of beloved characters. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Deadpool doesn’t seem to be able to die so we’re still stuck with him.
Then there is the final question: “How much of what Wade Wilson told us is real?”
This is a great little series that really plays with the “insanity” (?) of Wade Wilson and what he thinks is real and what isn’t. Pearson draws probably the best Deadpool and handles the action perfectly. It’s kinetic, visceral and weird. Pearson is one of the best and it’s too bad he never finished that last Body Bags. His humor matched Swierczynski’s, which is probably why they worked so well together.
I highly recommend it. I think Ryan Reynolds would dig it too.
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MORE
— BURIED TREASURE: Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen’s SHOCKROCKETS. Click here.
— BURIED TREASURE: Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz’s BROUGHT TO LIGHT. Click here.
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Peter Stone is a writer and son-in-law of the late Neal Adams. Be sure to check out the family’s twice-weekly online Facebook auctions, as well as the NealAdamsStore.com, and their Burbank, California, comics shop Crusty Bunkers Comics and Toys.
