Comic Books

Is It Good? Deadpool Vol. 4 #6 Review

March 20, 2013

Deadpool #6 sees the conclusion of the Deadpool vs. the Zombie Ghost Presidents story arc. (Finally.)

Last time around reanimated George Washington, the POTUS Pack leader, made things real personal; he snapped the neck of the “one S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who believed in [Deadpool],” formed an undead army with his newfound black magic, and proceeded to take shit over. Oh yeah, he also damn near gutted our boy Wade too.

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Now it’s final showdown time: The Merc with a Mouth vs. the most beloved president of all time (in sinister, phantasmal form). Who ya got? And Is It Good?

Deadpool Vol. 4 #6 (Marvel Comics)

Just as with last issue with Ronald Reagan, Posehn and Duggan go hard once more with their sly political satire. Call it what you will: A political cartoon on HGH, The Daily Show on crack — it’s still pretty damn funny even six issues in:

And informative too!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here: Deadpool is a character at his strongest when his humor and bat-shit craziness is balanced with a commensurate sense of lethality; too much absurdity and no gravity? You tread on Looney Tunes territory. The guy can sling guns with the same proficiency as his puns, and many writers often forget that fact. That’s why it’s good to see that notion isn’t lost on Posehn and Duggan, as exemplified here:

Upvote for Princess Bride reference.

Tony Moore continues his solid work on art duty. He musters just the right mix of gritty and slapstick. From the melted sinews on Deadpool’s face to the irregular liver spots on William H. Taft’s many belly rolls to the marked facial expressions, the immaculate details in Moore’s work bring Wade to life with more vibrancy and style than we’ve seen for him in the recent past (and in most other Deadpool titles).

8.5

Solid art as usual by Tony Moore.
A lot going on in this issue and the conclusion of the long-running Zombie Presidents story arc.

While most jokes hit, there are so many that some of them miss and feel contrived.

This issue continues with the motif of Deadpool as Marvel’s pariah. He’s not quite good enough to be an anti-hero and not quite bad enough to be a villain, but somewhere in between and the speculation over which direction he’ll take is always fascinating. We’ve seen this done best with writers Joe Kelly and Fabian Nicieza in the past, so hopefully Posehn and Duggan can continue elucidating Pool’s inner turmoil while throwing some exciting new elements into the mix. The conclusion of this issue sees the introduction of a huge plot twist that will shake up Deadpool’s comfort zone in a way we haven’t seen before, so things are looking up for the future.