Deadpool #22 – Review

by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Mike Hawthorne (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool needs to get to the man who has put a bounty on his head. Thankfully, he has help from some special agents…

The Review: Being purely objective and detached from anything is a difficult task. To try and let go of personal experiences and opinions is almost impossible, as it permeates the very being you are as well as your beliefs. Reviewing comics is something that is supposed to be done in a purely objective manner, which is what I try to do each time I open an issue and analyze it.

Lately, it had been a bit difficult for me to properly review Deadpool, for a very specific reason. The story arc The good, the bad and the ugly was something that no one really saw coming in terms of quality. It was a great arc that went ahead with a tone and some themes that were generally very surprising for a Deadpool story, being rather serious instead of silly on many occasions. Thus, it kind of made me analyze this series based on the merits of this arc more than the merits of a singular issue, which made the latest two issues a bit less-appreciated from my part.

Thankfully, both Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn went ahead and cranked the action and humor up a notch in this issue, proving that they can return to the previous tone of the series without throwing away what they wrote some issues prior. Overall, I’d say it’s an improvement, but there are still some little issues all along, like most comics out there.

Deadpool #22 – Review

By Daniel Way (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art), Marte Gracia (colors), and VC’s Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: A one-and-done issue in which Deadpool find himself mixed up with the dastardly doings of a small town Georgia Sheriff station. Can our favorite Merc stop the wave of corruption infecting the office? Who can he trust? Has he finally found the woman of his dreams? Only the voices in his head know for sure.

What’s Good: Daniel Way’s Deadpool book has always been the best of an overstocked lot, and that doesn’t change in this issue. What really sets this apart, though, is the fact that Way gives us not only the best-written Deadpool of the bunch, but the best-written supporting/guest cast as well. ‘Pool has some absolutely fantastic lines (especially in the rather…surprising opening sequence, which I won’t spoil here except to say that it put me on the floor laughing), but all of the other characters have their own distinctive voices as well. Many writers—even the good ones—sometimes fail to do this, giving the small fry characters dialogue that sounds either so vanilla its completely unmemorable, or (worse) too much in the style of one of their main characters. None of the Way-Pool books I’ve ever read have fallen into this trap, and it’s amazing what a difference a detail like this makes both in terms of enjoyment and in ease of following the plot.

Tan Eng Huat has art duty, and does a bang-up job. None of these panels are going to be framed anytime soon, but the whole book has a rough and exaggerated feel to it that fits the mood of the story very well. There are a couple of weird angles and a few instances of strange character proportions, but nothing big or consistent enough to be a bother or distraction. Overall, very solid work. Marte Gracia does a great job backing him up with the colors as well; everything has a dark, brooding—almost horror-movie-esque—look that contrasts brilliantly with the absurdity of the dialogue and a lot of the drawings. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but either way it works out nicely.