Deadpool Team-Up #894

By Ivan Brandon (writer), Sanford Greene (art), Nathan Massengill, John Rauch (colors) and Jeff Eckleberry (letters)

The Story: Our favorite Mouthy Merc is hired to kill famous vigilante Frank Castle— the Punisher— in order to avenge the death of an innocent man killed in Punisher’s crossfire. Deadpool gets far, far more than he bargained for when he follows Punisher’s trail down into the sewer and discovers that his prey is already dead, but still moving about. And worse yet, it has friends…

What’s Good: What can we say about our poor, overused Deadpool? He can be written, drawn and utilized in any number of ways, and that leaves him wide open for abuse and mischaracterization. Fortunately, things don’t go so badly for him here. Although none of his lines or antics are particularly good, they aren’t awful by any stretch, and will almost certainly give you a chuckle or two. Sadly, when it comes to these Deadpool spinoffs, that seems to be about the best one can hope for.

The story itself is actually one of the most creative ones that this series has seen so far. The problems Deadpool has to solve are interesting, and the trouble he gets himself into is (at least mildly) unexpected. Greene does a great job bringing this madcap story to life, and his take on Frankencastle’s monster posse are the highlight of the book. It’s a lot of fun just to look at the different designs and poses he has for them. His more human-centric art doesn’t fare quite as well— Deadpool’s proportions, especially his head, seem rather off and inconsistent, and the panels are often over-cluttered. Still, it gets the job done and tells the story effectively enough.

Deadpool #900 – Review

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Deadpool stories by some of my favorite writers?! Needless to say, I have some pretty high expectations for Deadpool #900.

“Close Encounters of the F*cked-up Kind”

By Jason Aaron (Writer), Chris Staggs (Pencils), Juan Vlasco (Inks), and Marte Gracia (Colors)

The Story: Aliens abduct Deadpool. You probably know what happens next.

The Good And The Bad: “Close Encounters of the F*cked-up Kind” is a basic, predictable “aliens abduct someone they can’t handle” story. Regardless though, it still manages to be pretty fun. Chris Staggs’s pencil work, while a bit rough, is mostly impressive and compares favorably to Paco Medina’s work on the ongoing series. Jason Aaron’s dialogue is humorously immature at times, but it works well enough and fits the story.

Grade: C+

“Silent but Deadly”

By Fred Van Lente (Writer) and Dalibor Talajic (Artist)

The Story: Deadpool fights a trio of mimes.

The Good And The Bad: While there isn’t a whole lot of dialogue, Fred Van Lente’s story about mimes that have the power to make their miming actions a reality is one of the best things about Deadpool #900. Artist Dalibor Talajic does almost all of the hard work and definitely does Van Lente’s script justice. Talajic’s art tells the story extremely well, though a few panels are a bit hard to follow because of how the powers being used work. A sword fight without swords cannot be an easy thing to draw, so I give all the credit in the world to Talajic for making the scene work far better than it has any right to.

Grade: B

“Shrunken Master”

By Mike Benson (Writer), Damion Scott (Artist), and Lee Loughridge (Colors)

The Story: Deadpool sees a shrink in order to work through some issues.

The Good And The Bad: Mike Benson’s Deadpool story is definitely the oddest one of the bunch. It’s dark, surprisingly serious, a bit psychological, and somewhere between gritty and surreal (not to mention very “indie”) visually. Personally, I think it’s compelling and very well executed. That said, there’s no question it seems a bit out of place among the lighter stuff in Deadpool #900. One thing’s for sure though: Damion Scott and Lee Loughridge make a great team.

Grade: B+

“Pinky Swear”

By Joe Kelly (Writer) and Rob Liefeld (Artist)

The Story: Deadpool looks to cash in on a bet.

The Good And The Bad: I’m not going to bother with the debate about Rob Liefeld’s art style. Why? Because his work for “Pinky Swear” sure as hell isn’t going to change any minds. As for the story, Joe Kelly does a nice job of delaying the whole point of the story for comedic effect. Had the story been even a page longer though, I probably would have lost my patience with the whole thing. Kelly’s dialogue is funny, but the story drags on for longer than it should.

Grade: C

“What Happens in Vegas…”

By Duane Swierczynski (Writer), Shawn Crystal (Artist), and Lee Loughridge (Colors)

The Story: A crime scene investigation… Deadpool style.

The Good And The Bad: In order to get the most out of Duane Swierczynski’s Deadpool story, you have to have some familiarity with the whole crime scene T.V. show fad. If you do, you’ll probably find Swierczynski’s script to be pretty damned funny. Stereotypical investigators, talk of sex crimes, a bloody crime scene…it’s all there. It wouldn’t work nearly as well if Shawn Crystal’s artwork didn’t capture the vibe of Swierczynski’s script, but, thankfully, it does in every way.

Grade: C+

“Great Balls of Thunder on the Deep Blue Sea”

By Victor Gischler (Writer), Sanford Greene (Pencils), Nathan Massengill (Inks), and Dave McCaig (Colors)

The Story: Deadpool goes on a cruise and disrupts Dr. Octopus.

The Good And The Bad: While the bright and colorful artwork by Sanford Green and his team is a bit jarring, it’s certainly not bad in any way. It gets the job done and helps make “Great Balls of Thunder on the Deep Blue Sea” one of the more enjoyable reads in Deadpool #900. Victor Gischler’s script is nothing special, but it definitely makes good use of the Doc’s arms.

Grade: C+

“One Down”

By Charlie Houston (Writer) and Kyle Baker (Artist)

The Story: A “meta” Deadpool story in which the character wonders about his life.

The Good And The Bad: “One Down” is a pretty trippy story all around. From Kyle Baker’s bizarre visuals (Deadpool Vs. a pirate Fin Fang Foom anyone?) to Charlie Houston’s “meta” script, nearly everything about “One Down” is strange. It works, but the story certainly isn’t for everyone.

Grade: B-

“Deadpool & Widdle Wade: Turning Japanese”

By James Felder (Writer), Pete Woods (Pencils), Walden Wong (Inks), and Shannon Blanchard (Colors)

The Story: A reprint of an older Deadpool story, “Deadpool & Widdle Wade” is the largest story in Deadpool #900. It’s about Deadpool dealing with a Japanese mobsters Deadpool clone.

The Good And The Bad: I’m a bit torn about “Deadpool & Widdle Wade.” On one hand, it’s creatively decent and pretty fun all around. On the other, it’s a reprint that’s taking up space that could have been used on other new Deadpool stories.

Grade: C

Conclusion: Deadpool #900 is a great value, but none of the stories in the book fall under the “must read” category. Pick it up if you are a fan of the character.

Overall Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Justice Society of America #21 – Review

By Geoff Johns and Alex Ross (writers), Dale Eaglesham and Nathan Massengill (art).

The Story: The hammer that has been on its way down for the last few issues of JSA finally drops as Gog reveals himself to be the evil false deity that the elder members of the JSA suspected all along.  After Gog’s nefarious intentions are publicized, infighting amongst the JSA ensues while Gog tries to convince his devotees about his purity of purpose. However, when his followers eventually fall out of line Gog metes out vengeance in proportion to what he once gave.

What’s Good: It’s good to see the JSA wipe that creepy, crazed smile off of Gog’s face. There are some very sly homages to the Kingdom Come universe as a couple of JSA members take on the appearance of their Kingdom Come counterparts.  Additionally, Johns and Ross do a great job of producing and working with new religious themes, rather than just copying the same ones that drove the Kingdom Come story.

The art team does a fine job of dealing with a crowded environment, while retaining character integrity and group dynamics.  The action scenes are detailed and clear.

What’s Not So Good: This story suffers from the fact that the creators have made Gog so powerful that it seems ridiculous for the JSA to decide the way to deal with him is to “destroy his body.” Gog has turned people into trees, filled-in an earthquake he created, and sent people to other dimensions with a mere gesture, so it’s hard to believe that Star Girl and Hour Man punching him in his foot will have great effect.

Also, everything that happens in this issue has been predictable for the past several issues of this series. The fact that we arrive at this junction after the useless Power Girl detour and the decent, but mostly unnecessary, one-shots is a little frustrating.

Conclusion: This is a one of the better chapters in the “One World, Under Gog” arc. It resolves many plot lines while developing interesting new ones, especially regarding some of the newer members to the JSA. I look forward to the next issue and I’m very curious to know what impact, if any, this arc will have on the greater DCU.

Grade: B

-Rob G.

Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods #2 (of 4) – Review

By Rob Willaims (writer), Steve Scott (pencils), Nathan Massengill (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Michael Heisler (letters), Tony Harris (cover)

Like many Indy fans, Crystal Skull was a bust for me. That’s not to say it didn’t have good parts, it just had a little too much prequel George Lucas flavor. I spent a lot of time growing up watching the Indy trilogy. It’s a story, and a world that can translate very well to comics. Sadly, just because something can make the move to comics doesn’t mean it will.

Rob Williams’ has been passable so far. There are moments of dialogue, moments of action where it feels just like the movies, and then there’s the rest of it. For the good, the plot points hit the mark. They definitely have the “from bad to worse” feel that’s a trademark of the films. Unfortunately, much of the dialogue is hit or miss. The same deadpan humor, and hatred of having his hat knocked off remains. The problem is several unfortunate word choices. I don’t know how many times Indy needs to say “crap” in a bad situation, but it almost seems gratuitous and, enough, make a drinking game out of it.

As for the art, Steve Scott’s pencils aren’t anything special, the images are clean and clear, which is nice, but I’m still waiting for our favorite archeologist to get a little dirty and gritty. Even when Indy escapes the freshly blown cave, he looks like he just stepped out of the shower. There simply aren’t enough action scenes to get Indy to look Indy.

As for the little action in this issue, it is pulled straight from the films. Indy running to Jock’s plane, is an example of this. While it’s nice to see Jock again, the scene is just too familiar. A more positive side to that coin is the use of the red-line on a map for the travel scenes. It’s a nice touch.

Adapting a license like Indiana Jones to me, should simply be a “go big or go home” mentality. The story’s pacing is slow and it’s plot feels unpolished. We don’t know anything about this key, or it’s origin, or what it protects. Not enough questions are introduced to get you interested. As a result, it leaves the title to be too bland, or generic for such an action-packed franchise. Things might pick up, and the book might have a great climax in the end, but I wouldn’t hold my breath after two clunky issues. I’d say, wait for the trade. (Grade: D)

-Ben Berger