Deadpool 26, Guardians of the Galaxy 13

Deadpool 26
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)

Another flashback issue for DEADPOOL as we go into the past to find Deadpool teaming up with Nick Fury to stop a time-traveling Hitler from scouring the timeline and killing Nick Fury to stop all of the interferences the Howling Commandoes have caused. Hitler gets his hands on a time machine when, just like has happened so often to him, a time traveler comes attempting to kill him and he defeats the time traveler. He goes through time trying to destroy Fury at various points in his life but has finally honed in on what Hitler sees to be his weakest time; his time between the war and the CIA. Cable and Deadpool have figured out his plan and are time jumping to try to save him. A giant battle ensues and Hitler actually succeeds, but not before Deadpool can send off a postcard which Cable receives in the future, allowing him to jump to the moments before Fury and Deadpool die and save them. The three of them slaughter Hitler then place him in the bunker while Deadpool yells through the door as Hitler about how he's going to commit suicide knowing the war is unwinnable.

This book is right on the edge of being maddeningly frustrating because there are parts of it that, ignoring how offensive some people may read it, are truly very funny and then there are parts that just carry on way too long and seem to be for no one's benefit. For example, I don't have any idea who is finding the many narrative interjections and editor's notes funny, particularly given how pervasive they are. On the other hand, there's a lot of really funny material in here, both in idea (the idea that Hitler constantly has to battle time travelers coming to kill him) and in the writing and things (in a sentence I never thought I'd find myself writing, Hitler is kind of the funniest part of this book). The style of the book, just as the style of all these flashback style issues, mimics a different time in comic history and it does a good job representing that time. Some really funny stuff in here but it's hard to really outright recommend this one because it is kind of hard to get through with all of the unnecessary stuff.

Guardians of the Galaxy 13
Bendis (w) and Pichelli and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c)

Jean has appeared in the middle of the fight and announces that she understands that she's been the Phoenix and they're right to be upset about it. However, she says, it's not like anyone else would have been able to control the Phoenix either so it's ridiculous to put her on trial when the Phoenix was always going to come and always going to be an unstoppable force. On top of that, the Shi'ar killed her entire line on the off-chance it might help, which isn't sitting well with Jean and she fights Gladiator using newfound power, an ability to meld her telepathic and telekinetic powers together, rather in the way that Psylocke does but maybe even bigger because anything goes, right? Oracle finally calls the fight off mid-battle and rebukes everyone, but it does the job of making sure everyone keeps away from one another, though Scott uses the opportunity to threaten at Gladiator for a while. They all go their separate ways and, upon returning home, Kitty kisses Peter Quill because I'm so mad and Scott announces that he's going into space with his dad and Kitty continues to be an ineffective professor and I'm still so mad.

Hey guys, if you like regular Bendis stuff and double-page spreads, you'll absolutely love this issue. That's about what I can say for this because I'm really having some trouble wrapping my mind around it. Bendis is doing so much to write his own history (as he is wont to do) that he's making things more and more ridiculous. On top of that, his go-to relationship stuff is always love triangles and, hey guys, I'm real sick of them, about as sick of them as I am of Bendis choosing the character he likes the best and flooding them with girls. This also continues to make it known that Kitty is perhaps the worst choice for mentor of these kids as she continues to show literally no control over them despite being completely capable in whatever other role she takes on in other books. GUYS. I'm really frustrated. If you like this book, I really am happy for you and I hope that you continue to do so. I'm also hoping that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY returns to the state it had been at before - it was certainly a slightly better book than ALL-NEW X-MEN and it's very clear that this TRIAL OF JEAN GREY crossover has been altogether too permeated with ALL-NEW X-MEN to really land with me. It also goes to my theory that Bendis is better writing solo titles than team books, at least in my view of him, and so adding multiple teams to this one didn't help anything for me.