Deadpool 13, Nova 6, Thunderbolts 13

Deadpool 13
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)

It's another flashback issue for Deadpool as we get a brand new story from Deadpool's made-up past, this one placing him in the '70s and trying to ingratiate himself with Luke Cage and Iron Fist as the Heroes for Hire. Along the way, he beats up some random people on the street and in the bathroom, he annoys the Heroes for Hire, and he follows predictable plot point to predictable plot point. The issue ends, like the last flashback, with the reveal that the villain he defeated in the past is coming back out of the woodwork to fight in the present.

I've had no limit of problems with this series but I had somewhat higher hopes for this one. The last flashback issue was better than, I think, most of the issues of this series so far, and this Deadpool is at his best when there are other heroes around because they can play straight man to him. Despite that, the issue drags like crazy and is so stalled by all its references to life in the '70s and its desire to nudge you with its elbow as if to say "do you get it? This is a part of Marvel history! Deadpool knows it!" that it negates any good bits from the Heroes for Hire, instead boiling them down to the over-the-top blaxploitation attitude Luke Cage was back then and spending way too much time comparing Iron Fist's iron fist to predictable sex jokes. Predictable is the word I need to keep coming back to because, although the jokes aren't for me, I get that the jokes are supposed to be what's driving this book. You don't choose a comedian to co-write this without making sure it focuses on jokes. So people who are fans of this book could rage at me all they want about how we're not here for the plot, we're here because it's funny, and I'd still deny that in both parts. First, if you're just here for the jokes, why does this have to be a full-fledged series that will run through, at least, two years of issues (they've confirmed it will at least run through issue 21 already, giving me the sense that this book is doing pretty well) doing nothing but cracking jokes with the occasional plot point? Why couldn't that have just been some sort of mini or something that happens in the back of a real issue of Deadpool or something? More than that, though, the jokes are entirely predictable, seen from a mile away and created so awkwardly by supporting characters that they don't give any semblance of cleverness or with to Deadpool, just the guy who keeps yelling "that's what she said!" to inevitably hit on a real one at some point. Why am I reading this book? More to the point, why are you reading this book? Deadpool's an interesting character with seemingly real stories to tell (granted, not as interesting as some of the other characters in the long haul, but he's more popular so whatever) and we're throwing that away by encouraging this series. The art was pretty spot on here though. Nice touch.

Nova 6
Wells (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

We appear to be up to full present as Nova has defeated Titus and established himself as the new Nova in this universe and he's now officially, in this series, been asked to join the Avengers by Thor (hearkening back to AvX, which will seemingly still not leave us alone). He's also been gone for some time, though, as his mother has been worrying about him non-stop. He returns home to a lecture and to misinterpret a lesson from his mother before flying off again to be Nova in New York.

Bit of a break issue here for Nova as new writer Zeb Wells hops on to the book and establishes his own voice for the character. I will say, I liked this issue more than I've liked previous issues and it seems thanks to the new tone. It feels like a better written teenage character, which is such an important and difficult voice to nail down when you're not a teenager yourself. It often comes off as the stereotypical kind of teenager that you see in TV and movies that doesn't quite give you the sense of being a real person. Gillen and McKelvie are doing a great job over on Young Avengers with it but they also have plenty of characters to bounce back and forth between. Here it's even more difficult because Nova has to find a nice voice and keep it with no one to fall back on. If even one of the Young Avengers isn't written well (purely hypothetical, they're all written well), we would still have good characters surrounding them. Here, Marvel has invented a brand new teenage character and given no support system while he finds his feet. Wells' voice seems less predictable and a little more childlike while still maintaining the personality that Loeb left for him. This one is definitely an issue meant to reset us a bit, now that we're aware Nova can mostly handle his Nova powers and he's finished his first big fight, and to set up our next arc in very vague terms. Sam wants to go help the world as Nova and he might actually be able to do it. I'll be interested to see where this one goes.

Thunderbolts 13
Soule (w) and Noto (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Finally we get some answers about the mysterious Mercy in this issue as Flash confronts her and, finding that a little out of his league, goes and confronts Ross about her. Her origin is still pretty covered up, though Ross reveals to Flash that she was a regular-Hulk enemy back in the day (and a Wikipedia check confirms it, you guys) before going on to explain how he dug her up and why he brought her along. The conceit of Mercy is that she is incredibly powerful and she tries to help people who can't help themselves. Sounds good, but the "helping people" bit is more "helping people who want to die but don't have the strength to kill themselves" than it is "find somebody a job" or something. Her power levels are pretty through the roof and Ross admits to Flash that she's on the team because he wants to be able to keep an eye on her but, in truth, she might be more than he can handle.

It's an interesting issue and it starts to bring out a lot of new information for this team, which is useful. In addition to learning a little bit about Mercy's powers and her goals, we get a very brief look into why she's staying here, if she's more powerful than Red Hulk. He thinks that it's because she simply hasn't realized yet that she has a bit of the upperhand here but it seems more driven by her own goals than that. She tells Flash at the start of the issue that he's not interesting to her any more, explaining that she would have helped him commit suicide when he was at his lowest in life, when he considered it. Now he doesn't consider it (which is at the root of Ross' argument against her; everyone can have a bad day, week, year, etc. and be at the end of their rope but it doesn't mean people don't pull through it) but it seems like she's still interested in the rest of the team. It not only gives us more interest in Mercy, it really makes you look at the rest of the team that Ross has assembled. At first, they were all just stone-cold mercenaries, right for the job and willing to do whatever it took. Now, knowing that Mercy has interest in them, it's hard not to see them as the darkness they each have inside of themselves. Really interesting way to recast the team and give us a little bit more as we push forward. Good issue, solid series building.