Deadpool 4

Deadpool 4
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Moore (a)

I'll cut right to it. I really hate this title right now. Like, really and sincerely. I'm not sure if I'd be so fervently against it if it weren't for Remender's Deadpool and for Way's Deadpool, but this is a really awful Deadpool and, at least as far as the majority of Marvel goes, a bad book. There are fans of this book, I guarantee it. Maybe they have well-reasoned critiques of why this book is a satire, a look inwards at this society within today's comedy strictly built on pop culture references, non-sequitors, the increasingly ridiculous political stage, and more. Of why this book utilizes all of these things in such huge quantity simply to point out the ridiculousness and laziness of this kind of writing by filling the book about one of today's most popular characters, one of the early adopters of referencing the outside world, with an overabundance of it all, to the point of people putting it down in disgust. Maybe the book is asking why we have to fall back on these references so often instead of creating new stories and new dialogue, rather than taking lines from Arrested Development or the Simpsons or directly referencing people like Scott Adsit or Scott Aukerman. Maybe it's asking by showing. But I have sincere doubts at that level.

I can't speak to the writer's intent, only to what appears on the page afterwards. And this book is awful for it. There have been, throughout this short series, references to everything I mentioned above (and I quite like AD, the Simpsons, Adsit and Aukerman, this isn't a dig at them, just stating a small percentage of the references that've come into the book so far) and far more. We've had unsubtle mentions of Obamacare, the Tea Party, reality stars, the Simpsons, Arrested Development, Adsit, Aukerman, a number of disjointed presidential accomplishments (given, this arc has been about killing dead presidents but whose fault is THAT?), metal music, and more I can't bear to go look back at. I'm not willing to let this all be said then just summed up by "nerd rage" or something similar. Yes, I'm upset about something fictional. But this isn't even just about comic books. It's about that type of comedy style that the hypothetical and analytical fan of the book I alluded to earlier was talking about. I'm obviously a comic book geek. I think the last month of posts has proven that well enough. Even if I'd had a day of posts, I'd've proven that. And that's not even looking at my house or my conversations or my friends. That's just looking at this blog. But people ask me all the time if I like the show The Big Bang Theory, because BOY do they love it and I should too because I'm a nerd. But of course, it's garbage. It's not good writing. None of the characters are anywhere near real and very few, if any, are even slightly layered. It often feels like the majority of jokes on the show are simply adult humans with successful jobs and plenty of schooling not understanding, to a dangerous degree, social situations and/or simply referencing a nerdy thing. Someone quotes the Ninja Turtles theme song. Laugh track after the first line. Laugh track after the second line. That's not writing. That's simply echoing. This is what the new Deadpool feels like. There aren't characters here, there are faces that say words that we've heard before in the hopes that hearing them again might trigger something in us that makes us want to buy the book. I don't know why you would.

Like I said, I don't know if I'd be this upset over this book if not for Remender and Way's Deadpools. Was Deadpool still a bit of a comedian? Of course. Was he still unhinged and unpredictable? Yes. Were his morals questionable and, in fact, possibly non-existent? Yup. All there. But there was something to Deadpool. There was a believability to him that Marvel has always strived for. There was a bit of a loss of that somewhere in the '90s as sales needed severe boosting and people just drew on what was cool. They CBS'd it. And it killed Marvel. The resurgence of real characters with real layers and real human problems brought Marvel back from the brink and put it firmly on top. Am I saying that there's no room for cheesy books at Marvel? No. They'll likely always sell and this is the way to get it done. I used to love Adult Swim original programming so I accepted the two hours of Family Guy we had to endure to get to it (after Family Guy made the switch to this type of writing) because Family Guy paid the bills. But when you have every show run like that in the hopes you'll have another monster hit, you lose a real quality to your programming. I'm not worried about Marvel doing that and I doubt this book is doing so well it would happen. But I don't know why, with such a character-oriented history and such a breadth of characters with depth to choose from, you'd take a really popular character who has undergone real change and evolved in so many ways while still staying true to his original character, why you'd take a character whose past few years have so embodied what Marvel can be, and dumb him down to what he is now. This isn't nerd rage. This is about good writing and about why this kind of writing will never engender progress. No, not every book has to be about progress. Some books can just be hack and slash, cheap jokes. I just don't know why you'd sacrifice a popular character in your universe who had become so much more than what he was to match the basest of humor.





Okay, I don't usually break reviews up this way (you know, in the month I've been doing this), but I'm going to post this now and then post Deadpool Killustrated 1 and Punisher: Nightmare 4 later today. I think they wouldn't really get the attention they probably deserve here. I went a little off the rails up there. And man, I have tons more to say, but I'll spare you. For now. Until Deadpool 5, likely.