Deadpool: Wade Wilson’s War #1 – Review

Sure, the world probably doesn’t need another Deadpool series, I get that, but the idea is if you don’t like one title of his maybe you’ll like another. It’s only over-saturation if you’re forcing yourself to buy them all. I am not buying any of them, except for this series. I am picking this one purely because of the writer, Duane Swierczynski. I am very interested to see how he handles this character and so to find out if it’s a bullseye or a dead miss then hit the jump.

Deadpool: Wade Wilson’s War #1
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Jason Pearson
Colour by Paul Mounts

This title has the Marvel Knights logo on it, something I haven’t seen or bought in some time, to my knowledge. It’s interesting that Swierczynski is going to craft a bloody tale but they obviously want to market it to teens instead of the more hardcore MAX imprint. Probably a smart move, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing Deadpool in a MAX mini.

The issue opens in REDACTED where some of Deadpool’s team are being held. Over outside Capitol Hill, however, we see a Senate Committee Hearing about to take place in regards to a massive death toll the previous month in Mexico. The first witness, Mr Wade Wilson. Our eponymous man is wearing a military suit and his trademark mask. He talks directly with the main senator who looks suspiciously like a caricatured Ronald Reagan. In fact, the style on the senator reminds me of Sienkiewicz’s work on Elektra: Assassin. Make of that what you will. I think it's trying to set the era, especially as I assume the title is aping that of the 80's set movie, Charlie Wilson's War.

Deadpool regales the room with a tale of one of his first ops with the ‘X’ team in Nicaragua in ’83. He’s ably assisted in the take down of a stereotypical bad guy cartel by Bullseye, Silver Sable and Domino; all of which are introduced in their nice little compartmentalised pages. It’s a great way to show us these killers in bloody style.

The op goes as you would expect, carnage on a carnival scope and scale. Bullseye puts out a spot fire with a gush of blood from one man’s throat, hands are lopped off, Deadpool and Domino do a good one-two Mr and Mrs Smith style bout of shooting to kill, and a plane is crashed into a rope bridge for the win. It’s bombastic and part of me wonders how much of a reliable narrator Mr Wilson might be. It’s a fun sequence and delivers exactly what I bought this comic for, a lot of blood with nasty jokes and 80’s action moments thrown in.

By the end of the issue we can see that outside of the hearing what Deadpool is saying is causing some serious research and fallout for a variety of grouped people. One man, who we don’t really know about, decides he needs to head out on the run as soon as all this news is spreading. He takes his case files on the team and the Nicaragua mission and gets in a cab. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more about this man very soon. The Senate requires answers but all Deadpool can offer is more stories, but as an act of good will he does decide to take his mask off. We don’t see the reveal but the assembled journalists who gasp and snap away obviously find what they see intriguing.

It’s a pretty good first issue that sets up all of the main players and their stage on which to play. It’s a heavy handed story telling approach that Swierczynski brings to the table but that’s what is needed when Deadpool is your narrator. I enjoyed many parts of this issue and I am intrigued to see where it goes, I will admit. This title is like a guilty pleasure and one I can commit to because I know it’s only a four month stand. It’ll all be over soon.

It’s strange, I think Swierczynski does a bang up job with this tale because it’s Deadpool and he’s doing what needs to be done for Deadpool. But I just know that Deadpool isn’t for me. It’s like imagining if Scorsese made a Lady GaGa biopic. He’d probably do an awesome job, because he’s awesome at any genre he chooses, but it wouldn’t be for me. That’s what this is, Swierczynski knows how to make with the zany killing but I can’t guarantee that it’s a title completely for me. Hopefully the ‘Poolians out there will pick this up because I think it would be right up there alley.

Jason Pearson does a good job on interiors as he animates Deadpool’s movements to always be interesting or funny, and does a great job with the expression on his mask. The Senate hearing moments never feel static, which is a fantastic feat, and his action scenes feel like they came out of the lens of a Joel Silver flick. Bullseye is a rabid-eyed monster who seems to have woken up to a bowl of crack and the two femmes are both uberbusty, and that’s kind of how I assume Deadpool would see them.

Verdict – Check It. I don’t profess to say that this comic is perfect, by no means does it reach that feat, but I don’t think a Deadpool comic would ever be perfect in my eyes. It’s a hangover comic, the equivalent of watching bad action movies when you’re too lazy or too young to appreciate something better. Swierczynski and Pearson ensure that Deadpool, and friends, hit all the right buttons to give you an old school explodapalooza blockbuster just like you want. Have a look, see if I’m wrong.

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