Deadpool #21 – Review

by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Scott Koblish (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool now has a price on his head, courtesy of a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. Guess who’s unhappy about it?

The Review: This book is problematic for me right now. While it had the tendencies to diverge from pretty good to rather forgettable, the very last arc proved that it could actually exceed in quality the range previously established. With The good, the bad and the ugly being over and setting for a better take on the Merc with a Mouth, this title now has to live up with the fact that it proved it can actually be excellent. Still, with the last issue being somewhat problematic, can the duo of writers provide a good tale featuring the regenerate degenerate?

They do provide the entertainment that is the bread and butter of this series in this issue, yet not in the grandest or most ridiculous of ways. While this issue doesn’t do anything bad per se, it does not do anything spectacular either, giving this issue which works quite well in the grand scheme of things, yet does not rise above the other issues of this series.

What it does right, still, is in how both Duggan and Posehn are able to spin the many plates of the general story in the series. The return of Dr. Strange, the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. did not pay Deadpool back in the zombie presidents affair, how agent Adsit is aware of Agent Preston and her situation and many other smaller threads are mentioned and updated here, providing for some nice touches for those who were following the series so far. With the story in itself being the natural evolution of several of those subplots, it’s nice to see that both writers do have a general direction for the title as it provides for plenty of opportunity for more shenanigans down the line.