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Wednesday 21 September 2016

Deadpool, Volume 2: Dark Reign Review (Daniel Way, Paco Medina)


There’s a scene in this where Deadpool’s got an arrow in his head and he’s staggering towards the reader saying “DUUUUHHHRRR” that made me laugh so much, if the rest of the book had sucked, it’d still have been worth reading. But actually there’s a lot here to enjoy so it’s one highlight among many!

This is Dark Reign-era Marvel meaning SHIELD is no more and HAMMER are the guys in charge. Norman Osborn is the head of HAMMER, the Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers, and he wants Deadpool dead for knowing certain things about his business. He sends Tiger Shark and then Bullseye, who’s temporarily pretending to be Hawkeye. Let the games begin! 

The Tiger Shark two-parter wasn’t that great - he’s just not that good a character - but it was nice to see Hydra Bob at least. Daniel Way does a great job with the Deadpool vs Bullseye story though which has some brilliant moments like the arrow in the head scene, the meat armor scene, and the fight on the highway. 

As well as writing a pitch-perfect Deadpool, Daniel Way writes an awesome Bullseye - his earlier Punisher vs Bullseye book is definitely worth checking out if you enjoyed this one AND Steve Dillon draws it! Normally superheroes (or supervillains in this case) fighting each other bores me but Way knows how to make these two characters have an imaginative, entertaining and funny fight. 

There’s obviously a chunk missing between the Tiger Shark and Bullseye stories which I think is covered in a separate book, but you can still follow what’s going on in this one without seeing Deadpool fight the Thunderbolts. It probably plays out like this one anyway: fun to see but, inevitably, like 99% of superhero stories, consequence-free. 

Daniel Way’s Deadpool continues to delight with its silly and definitely adult humour and interesting, gleefully manic storylines. If you want to read great Deadpool comics, look for the ones with Way’s name on the cover!

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