Oh, Deadpool. How I’ve missed you.
I’ve got a long, personal history with Deadpool, which I’ve discussed in earlier reviews as well as my interview with Kevin Shinick, who wrote the fun DP arc in Avenging Spider-Man. I wasn’t ever able to get into Daniel Way’s extensive run with the misadventures of Wade Wilson, but I certainly had to check in with the Marvel NOW jumpstart of Deadpool, which brings in writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn and artist Tony Moore. This new team manages to take a couple of concepts which are over-exposed – namely, Deadpool himself as well as zombies – and freshen them up by pitting the Merc With A Mouth against ZOMBIE PRESIDENTS.
Zombies are run of the mill, but Zombie Presidents are a buttload of fun!
We open with a Necromancer aghast at the divided states of America who decides the solution is to reanimate the presidents of old to save the country, but of course, zombies are evil no matter who they used to be. That leads to a front page Daily Bugle story featuring Captain America decapitating Harry S. Truman. That is publicity S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t want, so after a chance encounter between Deadpool and Zombie FDR filled with puns and subway mutilation, self-pitying S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Preston (who may or may not be a riff on Amanda Waller) recruits Wade to be their ZomPrez hunter. “You’re not the hero we want, you’re the scumbag we need.”
It’s quite entertaining, the way Deadpool comics should be. It’s silly yet dark, twisted and ridiculous, and Moore’s art is exceptionally gruesome with both the zombies and the depiction of Wade’s fugly skin condition – not to mention the first appearance panel where he carves his way out of a giant lizard’s gullet in a team-up that Thor would rather have back. This is also one of those times where Marvel’s Augmented Reality app was worth checking out, because even the little enhanced bits we get there are funny – including a cardboard cat puppet explaining the origin of Deadpool and a fast and furious historical rundown of the roster of zombie presidents that Wade comes across in Philly toward the end.
Here’s a swell chance to jump on board the Wade Train once again if you’d checked out for a while. Let the Good Time Charlies roll!
