THE X-AXIS
24 February 2008
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This week:
CABLE & DEADPOOL #50 - "Symbiosis Mitosis"
by Reilly Brown and Fabian Nicieza
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #22 - The Deep End, part 2 of 5
by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon
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It's a hectic weekend, so I'm keeping it short. Luckily for me, there's
not a great deal out this week. So let's look at the final issue of
CABLE & DEADPOOL, and then have a glance at where the character heads
next, in Wolverine: Origins.
Cable & Deadpool made it to issue #50. That's really quite surprising,
when you think about it. Consider for a moment the publishing history
of these characters. Their heyday was back in the nineties, when they
both got solo titles. Times moved on, sales dwindled, and both books
were relaunched as Agent X and Soldier X - only to tank anew. So by the
time Cable & Deadpool came along, both these characters had failed twice
in rapid succession. And they didn't have much excuse to appear in the
same story, either.
So by rights, this should have been a disastrous comic which spiralled
into rapid oblivion. Instead, Fabian Nicieza managed to make it work,
by building the series around Cable's utopian pretensions, and
positioning Deadpool as a court jester, comic foil and uncertain
acolyte. It was Cable's story, but from Deadpool's perspective, leaving
us a little uncertain about whether he really knew what he was doing.
And then, of course, they yanked Cable out of the book in order to stick
him in a crossover and relaunch his solo series, and that was the end of
that. The stories since then have been hit and miss. The book has
effectively become Deadpool Team-Up, and that's a very difficult format
to pull off without seeming incredibly contrived. We've had some shaky
stories, and without Cable to serve as an anchor, the book seemed rather
directionless.
Nonetheless, it goes out on a high. Artist Reilly Brown has taken over
as plotter for the final two issues, with Nicieza contributing a script.
And it turns out that Brown is pretty darn good at this. Faced with the
thankless task of wrapping up a somewhat directionless series that got
hopelessly derailed a year ago, he actually manages to give the book
some resolution.
Instead of a straight team-up, this story has Deadpool teaming up with
all the major New York heroes, as Venom-infected dinosaurs run wild in
Manhattan. It's a nicely judged premise for this book - absurd, yet
still within the bounds of the Marvel Universe. Deadpool gets to team up
with the big names and prove himself by saving the day; supporting
characters get their own little moments of resolution; Cable doesn't
appear but still manages to help out; and everything wraps up with the
cast gathering round the TV to hang out together.
Nicieza produces some of his best dialogue, with some genuinely funny
one-liners and silliness that still let the story work. (Deadpool
insists that he must be a proper hero because he registered during Civil
War: "I'm a loyal, goose-stepping vague analogy!") And Brown is an
excellent action artist with the light touch to carry off comedy. Why
he isn't working on a higher-profile comic, I have no idea. Between
this and the last issue, he's done some unexpectedly entertaining work,
and shows real promise as a writer/artist.
This issue isn't a proper resolution to the series that came before.
That would be impossible without picking up Cable's storyline, which is
apparently off limits. But it's a worthy final issue that at least
gives Deadpool a well-deserved send-off, and it's just plain good fun.
It's a real shame they're not continuing with the book with these
creators, and on these lines. On the strength of this issue, Brown could
have done some great comics.
Rating: A
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But what happens to Deadpool now? Well, the good news is that he's
getting an ongoing solo series, just like Cable. The bad news it that
it's by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon, the creators of WOLVERINE: ORIGINS.
Their current storyline, "The Deep End", is a five-issue arc, presumably
setting up the new series.
The plot: some villain or other has hired Deadpool to kill Wolverine.
So they fight for two issues and counting. Really, that's it.
I can't say it's completely without good points. There are a couple of
moments here and there, largely due to Dillon's storytelling. But taken
as a whole, it's just depressing. It's flat, it's banal, and there's
virtually nothing to it other than two characters fighting. Apparently
next month we can look forward to more of the same, and I have a sinking
feeling the whole five months is going to be devoted to a single turgid
fight scene.
Way is writing Deadpool as a delusional maniac with multiple voices in
his head - usually living in a cartoon world, but with the occasional
contribution from voices that are a little more in touch with reality.
This seems like a gimmick rather than an interesting take on the
character. Way has either lost sight of the character's trademark
flippancy, or simply can't write it. (And it's not an easy voice to do,
I'm sure.) Nor does it work as pathos. Instead, we have what seems to
be a multiple personality version of Deadpool, and none of those
personalities is especially interesting.
When I reviewed the last issue, I said that it was mildly entertaining
and raised a few smiles. And it did. But this is a second straight
issue of the same thing, which is both repetitious and exposes the fact
that "The Deep End" doesn't have a plot. And it pales in comparison to
Cable & Deadpool, the title that is being cancelled to make way for it.
Five issues of this extended fight scene is an unenticing prospect; an
entire series by the same creative team is downright terrifying.
Presumably Marvel see this as a step up for Deadpool, but for the life
of me, I can't understand why.
Rating: C-
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Also this week:
ULTIMATE X-MEN #91 - Part two of the Apocalypse storyline, as lots of
assorted guest stars show up to help fight the new villain. The angle
here is that Apocalypse can take control of all the mutants, and Kirkman
certainly does a reasonable job of establishing him as a major threat.
The Ultimate imprint doesn't pile on the guest stars that much, and as a
result it still comes across as a reasonably significant event when they
do it. The main weakness here is that Apocalypse hasn't got much of a
personality, beyond "evil, ranting villain." Nice art from Larroca,
though, and it's basically fine. B
UMBRELLA ACADEMY #6 - The final issue of the first series, although it's
clearly going to be one of those "series of miniseries" books - in other
words, an ongoing title with intermittent gaps. When Dark Horse
announced that they were publishing a superhero comic by the lead singer
of My Chemical Romance, you could have been forgiven for expecting a
dodgy pet project that was only being published in order to take
advantage of his fanbase. But in fact, Umbrella Academy has been a
great little book, charming, quirky, funny and well-constructed. No, it
doesn't reinvent the genre - but it's a good example of how this stuff
should be done, from creators who have chosen to build their own version
of the team book, rather than play with the same old familiar characters
(or obvious knock-offs). I really wish there were more comics like
this. A
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There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more
Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth
Art.
http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
http://www.ninthart.com
Next week, X-Men reinvents itself as X-Men: Legacy, which at least means
we'll never hear the word "Unadjectived" again. And the Black Widow
guest stars in X-Men: First Class #9.
--
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS -
http://www.thexaxis.com
IF DESTROYED -
http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
NINTH ART -
http://www.ninthart.com
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