A new year arrived, which means it's time around these blog parts to get into a fresh Deadpool comic! And this time it's actually a recent one, and it's effects are still being felt to this day. Kinda. I'll get into that more with the review, but it's just nice to get a closer-to-modern-day Deadpool than we've had before. And we're in keeping with the theme of multiple Deadpools! Kinda. Lots of "kindas" today, aren't there?
Deadpool & the Mercs for Money might be a familiar name for some of you regular comic fans out there. There is a similar title going on right now, but today we're talking about the first one. The original five-issue miniseries.
Some of the keener eyed among you may also notice the little Spidey notation on the bottom right of the cover. That's because the issue that I have in my possession also came with a free issue of Spidey #1, so thanks, Marvel! But I won't be reviewing that since it has nothing to do with Deadpool or his mercs for money.
This series helped jump-start the follow-up series, as well as two solo titles for a pair of the mercenaries we see here: Solo and Foolkiller. Sadly, at the time of this writing, it seems like those two series are going to be cancelled due to either their story wrapping up, or just low readership. I think it's more the latter. While Deadpool is one of the most popular comic book characters out there right now, his spin-off titles, as we've explored the past few years, tend to be a bit odd. Obscure, even. We've got one such title here today.
Some of that may be because of Cullen Bunn, who has a history with Deadpool. Bunn wrote this title as well as the "Killogy:" Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool Killustrated, Deadpool Kills Deadpool. Those series were met with mixed results, and I'm not sure how this series we're looking at today did critically. It must've done well enough to garner an ongoing sequel.
But after reading this issue I don't see how there's much in this tank outside of a miniseries.
The cover is alright, though I do like the idea of it. Deadpool has to stand out among the rest, but the mercs are blended in nicely as if they're just part of the money, part of the job. While I'm normally a big fan of what Declan Shavley brings to the table (I can start with Moon Knight and Injection and keep going from there if you'd like), his sketchy artwork here on Deadpool sort of puts me off. Jordie Bellaire's colors are great, though, like normal.
Is she the best colorist in comics right now? Yeah, probably.
Anyway we open at a research facility, where a caravan of trucks are bringing something in.
Now, I'm pretty sure that Deadpool and the crew are hiding in these trucks, but there's no evidence of that on the next page. It seems a bit odd. Perhaps it would've been better if they just jumped out of the trucks on the next page, but instead there's this:
They're clearly already mid-assault of the facility, so, were the trucks bringing them in? The package? It was a fine establishing shot, sure, but it didn't need to be an establishing page.
The one-liners here also fall a bit flat. Bunn can write a funny Deadpool (see the real one in Deadpool Kills Deadpool) but the mercenaries here aren't very funny. Slapstick, the crazy clown-looking one, gets the most dialogue of all of them and her jokes just aren't good. They're random. Of all of them, I would say Stingray is the funniest for his naivety at the whole situation.
And yes, this is a comic that has a simple "parental advisory" warning despite that LMD getting his face turned in by a laser blast. What even are ratings, anyway?
As the fight continues, we get to meet some of our mercs...well, except for Deadpool. I think the comic knows that if you're picking this up, you're well aware of who Deadpool is. Or at least the movie version of the character, since this comic released really close to the movie.
I'm also left to wonder if this was supposed to be Marvel's response to the growing popularity of the Suicide Squad? Another look at the roster points to some similarities: Slapstick, crazy clown lady like Harley Quinn; Solo, a man just in it for the quick cash like Captain Boomerang; Stingray, someone that could probably be using his powers for good if he decided to just try like Deadshot. These guys obviously don't have bombs hardwired for their brains but you can't help but feel that there was something going on.
This comic is way more cartoonish than Suicide Squad, though. Salva Espin does a good job of making this feel like it was meant for the small screen, with faces being taken straight from cartoons and the character designs matching something you might see on a Saturday morning cartoon. Well, besides Deadpool...or Masacre, if you think of it that way.
So after that gory score, they managed to claim the package--that they aren't allowed to open--and head off to make their delivery to the buyer. While some of them are curious enough to know what's inside, Deadpool serves as the moral focus and makes them keep their paws off.
One of the better scenes of the comic is the one above, when the crew is together in the Quinjet. While they're all criminals and (I believe) it's the first time we're seeing them all together, this does feel like a fun team to read. They're all just being themselves. Bunn doesn't have to try and force jokes here, he just has to let the characters speak like they naturally would. Deadpool's joke of "Where else? Craiglist." stands out because that's exactly what Deadpool would say and there's nothing else forcing its way in.
These fun interactions stretch a bit into the next scene in the desert, but the crew is quickly interrupted by a gang of D-grade super-villains!
Now, I've never heard of the Crazy Gang before, and after reading this I'm not sure I do. They just seem like a gimmick, something strange that Deadpool would interact with. The Crazy Gang doesn't even match up all that well with the dynamic of the Mercs, either. There's little chemistry between them that makes for good banter.
It just seems like the Crazy Gang was added for more slapstick (not the character, though the character has a stupid line and moment here that makes me roll my eyes) and it falls flat. Even when you sit back and just try to accept the madness, the comic can't seem to just go all that far with the concept. While Terror does lose his head at one point in an almost-funny moment, it's upstaged by a later moment he has where he swaps heads with one of the agents that're dead on the floor.
Masacre probably has the best moment of the fight, and I actually find it funny more in idea rather than execution. Masacre, this entire comic, has been speaking Spanish and none of it has been translated so far. I can sort of understand what he's saying throughout, but it's here that he loses me. And it is funny. It's just a quick, single panel shot of him holding a gun casually to one of the Crazy Gang saying something in Spanish. I love it.
When Deadpool finally decides to get involved with his own comic again, the group manages to escape. I think they would've eventually slaughtered these guys and I think that's what the comic was oddly shying away from...even though we just witnessed them destroy the LMDs at that base. It would be great to see these characters go all out, but for some reason Bunn has put a leash on them. Salva does all he can for the artwork, making it bright and colorful, and it does match the tone of the book.
At Deadpool's super secret safehouse, they decide that since their buyer tried to kill them, they can open up the package!
And hey, it's a robot! Cool.
Actually this robot is pretty neat. He's a robot that just spews events that have yet to pass, sort of like a prophet. One of them is topical, like how he gives a hint at the Inhumans and X-Men will be...I don't know, going to war. There's some other random stuff about the Kree attacking and about Doomworld being a thing in 40 years, and that's just goofy stuff. His little hint at a reality prolapse isn't very welcoming since we just had one with Secret Wars, but if the end of Civil War II and the current goings-on with the Marvel Cosmic are an indication we're due for one sooner rather than later.
But what's really important about these prophetic spurts is that someone might care about them. Oh, not Deadpool, nor any of the mercs. But rather, super villains on the Internet!
Thus, the comic comes to a surprisingly comedic close as Deadpool suggests they put the robot up for sale!
And while I'm left to wonder why Victor von Doom is still rocking his classic attire or why Mr. Sinister has an online buyer's profile, I really don't care. This moment is pretty hilarious. Despite the rest of the book, this is a solid cliffhanger to end on for a Deadpool comic.
Sadly, though, the rest of the book did not convince me to pick up the series back when it first launched. It just wasn't very funny, and it wasn't insane enough for it's own good. It needed to go further, more animated, more out of this world. The scene with the Crazy Gang made me think to myself "what is even happening" not in a good way that I was just accepting madness, but in a way that made me wonder why this scene was happening. It felt like poorly padded action just for the sake of it.
The artwork by Salva Espin is good at making the characters feel alive and animated, as well as distinguished from one another. Even the Crazy Gang had cool designs! Guru-eFX does the colors and the colors are arguably the best part of this book, giving everything a fun brightness to it.
I do feel bad that the year doesn't start off on the highest note, but hey, it couldn't have started off worse than the person we're looking at next: Bruce Banner! Or, more specifically, the very first appearance of the Incredible Hulk!
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