Which video game you think Spidey and Deadpool are playing on the cover of Spider-Man/Deadpool #10?
Do you think Spidey gaming from his customary upside-down-web-ceiling-hang position benefits him the same way it does for other pastimes — like haymakering Green Goblin or tongue-kissing Mary Jane in a dark alleyway? Or does he do it because that’s how he’s most comfortable?
Also, does Spider-Sense apply to video games? If so, Spidey could pull fighting game feats that’d make Daigo’s full parry comeback look pedestrian by comparison on the reg.
We find out the answer to one of those questions, plus — Itsy Bitsy (the mutant, six-armed femme fatale made from Spider-Man/Deadpool DNA) and Patient Zero (her BDSM Vulture looking creator) are back and bringing the ruckus in the latest issue of Marvel’s Masked Money Makers Team-Up #10. Is it good?
Spider-Man/Deadpool #10 (Marvel Comics)
Observations
- Because my life revolves around pointless curiosities (or should that be… adventures in poor taste? ::puts shades on::), I asked r/deadpool the very same question I threw out there in the introduction: “What video game do you think Spidey and Deadpool are playing?” Here was my favorite answer:
That’s right, Superman 64. Those of you who think Superman got the shit-end of the stick in Batman v. Superman should go play this game and watch as the last shreds of admiration and enjoyment you had for the Man of Steel slowly melt away for all eternity.
- Deadpool’s “clubhouse,” described by writer Joe Kelly as the “pinnacle of materialism and a symbol of all things wrong with matrimony in one incredibly expensive package” is… a lot cleaner than I thought. Also, markedly less empty beer bottles, human refuse, used condoms and dead prostitutes/children strewn around than “all things wrong with matrimony” would suggest. Maybe Deadpool hired a maid service right before the issue started to impress us.
- Still, how fun is it that Spidey and DP are all cool, chillin’, playing video games in DP’s secret man-cave? Kelly continues to mold the titular characters’ burgeoning friendship/partnership with the sort of skilled nuance we’ve come to expect from him at this point. In one sequence, Kelly gives us a back-and-forth barrage of repartee from the two as they rash on Patient Zero’s appearance that’s reminiscent of the sly goofiness found in the finest Wayne’s World banter.
As excellent as the dialogue is between Spidey and DP — there’s even better exchanges to be had. From a different character. But I’ll get to that later.
- So what game are our boys playing? Spidey’s “crushing Overwatch”. Funny, I always figured Peter as more of the Starcraft II/DOTA-type. Good job pwning “Swagman3600” though, Pete. (I wonder what Deadpool’s Battle.net name is…)
- Hellhouse action figures on Deadpool’s dresser? Nice Easter egg. And where can I snag me some of them? (Although I bet Patch and C.F. are rarer than a Kenner Star Wars Yak Face.)
- Wait, Spider-Man’s starting to decipher and even… appreciate Deadpool’s nihilistic school of thought? That ain’t good.
- Oh hey, it’s Patient Zero. Spider-Man, uh… teleported him to Deadpool’s bachelor pad. Seems a little plot convenient but then again — it saves us an entire issue of Spidey and DP tracking him down like they already did in Spider-Man/Deadpool #8.
- “Alternate universe transgender Spideypool with an ear for screamo music who shops at Hot Topic?” Deadpool sums up Itsy Bitsy pretty damn well — from what little we’ve seen of her, anyways. Don’t let anybody tell you Joe Kelly never poked fun at his own creations. Still, we don’t know much more about Itsy Bitsy than DP’s summation — and hopefully this issue changes that.
- And Patient Zero’s secret identity is… ::drumroll::
- Well, that’s certainly some kind of reveal. But not the one we were looking for. And now we probably won’t. We’ll have to see in upcoming issues if this fact bothers Spidey and DP as much as it bothers us.
Is It Good?
How much do you like Itsy Bitsy? That’s the burning question of Spider-Man/Deadpool #10, as the issue’s entirety basically boils down to a long fight sequence between Itsy and our two protagonists.
Perhaps a better question then becomes, “What do we know about Itsy Bitsy?”
- She’s stealthy, evinced in her ability to track Spider-Man, Deadpool and Patient Zero down to DP’s bachelor pad and surprise all three of them without drawing a shred of attention to herself beforehand.
- She can throw down; proportional spider-strength, organic webs, and six arms (and a gun or katana for each hand) ensure she’s more than a match for both characters attacking her at once.
- She’s the most humanoid in appearance of all Patient Zero’s “manstrosities” — blue skin, six arms, compound spider-eyes and enormous fangs notwithstanding.
- Remember how I said Spidey and Deadpool had excellent banter earlier? The exchanges between Itsy Bitsy and Deadpool are even better. 90% of her dialogue is how a lecherous, barely legal female millennial version of Deadpool would talk — which is just as unnerving and somehow beguiling as it sounds.
Not very often do we get to see any character, much less a female one, trade barbs with Deadpool and actually manage to vex/intimidate him right off the bat; Typhoid Mary from Kelly’s original Deadpool run springs to mind and that same sort of dangerous, forbidden and capricious vibe carries through with Itsy Bitsy — only the taboo factor is exacerbated tenfold when she drops lines such as, “I don’t want to hurt you… Unless you like that sort of thing, Daddy” considering she’s like an aberrant, mutant daughter to both of them.
So most of us can agree (despite our aversion to clones in any Spider-Man work) that Itsy Bitsy is an intriguing character in premise with a purposefully grating yet commensurately entrancing personality — and thanks to artist Ed McGuinness’ always extraordinary art, she looks bad-ass as well. The problem then, isn’t the excellent framework that Kelly has established but in the formulaic outcome of Spider-Man/Deadpool #10 (Spidey and DP fight the villain of the month to no avail and then said villain makes a getaway due to an explosion at issue’s end — which just happened a few issues ago with Patient Zero’s first real appearance, come to think of it) coupled with the fact that we learn next to nothing new about Itsy Bitsy that we didn’t already learn in our brief encounter with her last issue.
Spider-Man/Deadpool #10 manages a shocking, unforeseen development with the Patient Zero character, but the emotional resonance of the Itsy Bitsy battle banks entirely on the fact that she’s a DNA-fusion of Spider-Man and Deadpool and not much more — how much more satisfying and resonant the battle could have been had we been more emotionally tethered to her; Kelly was able to evince more sentiment in a few pages for even a nameless “manstrosity” in issue #8, when said grotesquerie looks to our protagonists with pleading eyes and begs for a mercy killing.
Perhaps if we had seen some of the creative process that went into her assuredly traumatic genesis in Patient Zero’s lab? All with due time with Joe Kelly at the helm, I’m sure, but the constraints of the monthly comic book format leave this one feeling like little more than filler.
Is It Good?
Spider-Man/Deadpool #10 brings top-notch dialogue, excellent character synergy and impressive artwork to the table — but stumbles a bit due to the formulaic outcome and lack of characterization for the villains. Definitely worth a read, but temper your expectations when it comes to sating your curiosity with the “Manstrosity/Patient Zero” storyline.
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