{"id":201,"date":"2015-06-07T16:32:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T23:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=201"},"modified":"2015-06-07T21:20:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T04:20:14","slug":"deadpools-secret-secret-wars-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahhh, the ubiquity of Deadpool.\u00a0 I often wonder if there the hypothetical reader actually exists that just demands more Deadpool, all the Deadpool, Deadpool guest-appearances in every<\/em> Marvel comic please!\u00a0 One shudders to think!\u00a0 But, like\u2026 have you ever wondered why?<\/em> \u00a0What exactly is<\/em> it about Deadpool?\u00a0 Is it the way his ceaseless, tired, “Scary Movie”-esque pop culture references and frequent use of hilarious words like \u201cchimichanga\u201d speak to today\u2019s youth culture?\u00a0 Is it the fact that he \u201cbreaks the fourth wall,\u201d behaving like a comic character who is aware<\/em> that\u00a0he’s a comic character, constantly winking at the reader while nudging them in the ribs to the point of bruising? \u00a0 Or is it just that he\u2019s the wacky<\/em> guy, a remnant of the nineties \u201canti-heroes,\u201d who shrugs off traditional superhero morality while gleefully bouncing through the whole of the Marvel universe, shooting his guns and lighting his farts in increasingly hollow and cartoonish exploits?<\/p>\n

And so, because we have<\/em> to, we are presented with\u00a0Deadpool\u2019s Secret Secret Wars, in which we explore what it would have been like if Deadpool had participated in the events of the original Secret Wars miniseries from \u201984-\u201985. \u00a0Can you guys even handle<\/em> the potential for wackiness?? \u00a0Deadpool has done pastiche-style comics before, most recently a few issues of the most recent Posehn\/Duggan run \u2013 my particular favorite was an issue set in the ’90s which heavily referenced Rob Liefeld\u2019s excessive cross-hatching and distorted understanding of human anatomy. \u00a0Unfortunately, this miniseries is\u00a0written by… sigh… Cullen Bunn. \u00a0As per usual, I\u2019ve nothing against Cullen Bunn\u2019s writing \u2013 would that I could get worked up over it one way or the other \u2013 but the fact of the matter is he\u2019s just\u2026 not\u2026 funny<\/em>.\u00a0 Here are several examples:<\/p>\n

Exhibit A<\/a>: My god, do I hate it when comic characters reference basic elements of the comic itself, like flashbacks, panel layouts, or speech bubbles. \u00a0But yeah, so, I guess that’s also a halfhearted attempt at a “joke” by way of Deadpool pointing out that\u00a0the Wasp has breasts?<\/p>\n

Exhibit B<\/a>: A bathroom reference followed immediately by a Poltergeist reference. \u00a0The laffs just keep on coming!<\/p>\n

Exhibit C<\/a>: These panels basically capture what feels like the entirety of the issue: Deadpool making lazy, unfunny side-comments to other characters who stand around disinterestedly and don’t respond<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It’s examples like these and others — Deadpool doing a coughing-gag<\/a>, or catching Kang off-guard by kicking him in the ‘nads<\/a>\u00a0— that make me wonder if a requirement for a Deadpool comic is that it is meant to be funny<\/em>. \u00a0Is a reference to his “biscuits<\/a>” funny? \u00a0Is Deadpool propositioning She-Hulk and the Enchantress<\/a> for a threesome funny? \u00a0How about mentioning the word “speedos<\/a>?” \u00a0Is any of this\u00a0meant to engender amusement on part of\u00a0the reader? \u00a0Or is just it the difference between comedy and pure base\u00a0immaturity? \u00a0<\/em>And then I started really thinking about how, upon closer analysis, this is seriously just a straight-up re-telling of the first issue or two of Secret Wars with Deadpool on the sidelines, not influencing or directing the plot while every other “serious” character goes through the same motions. \u00a0Deadpool yammers while dragging up Kang’s unconscious body<\/a>? \u00a0Nobody acknowledges him. \u00a0Deadpool lazily refers to Storm as “that biker girl?<\/a>” \u00a0Nobody responds. \u00a0Deadpool is literally whispering nonsense in Wolverine’s ear<\/a>? \u00a0No reaction<\/em>. \u00a0The only bits I halfway liked were the Absorbing Man unintentionally absorbing Deadpool’s hideous appearance along with his powers, and Deadpool telling the Lizard, “Watch it, scaly! \u00a0This is the only\u00a0set of clothes I brought! \u00a0It’s not like there are machines around here that just magically create new costumes!”<\/p>\n

So I started to wonder… is it me? \u00a0Am I some kind of alien whose definition of humor is different than that of human society? \u00a0Am I just absolutely not the target audience for this kind of thing, but which then leads to the question, who is? \u00a0<\/em>Is Deadpool’s only job in this comic\u00a0to provide pointless, unfunny, and\/or sarcastic commentary while all but telling the reader, “Hey, guys,\u00a0I’ve<\/em> read the same comics you<\/em> have! \u00a0Isn’t that great?<\/em>” \u00a0And then I thought, wait… pointless quibbling, metafictional awareness, lame not-jokes… is Deadpool supposed to be… a Marvel comics fan? \u00a0Is he supposed to be a stand-in for the reader?<\/em> \u00a0Is Deadpool\u00a0supposed to be me?<\/em> \u00a0Am I Deadpool???! \u00a0…<\/em>Which made me realize I was going\u00a0way<\/em> too far down the rabbit-hole, and I’m pretty sure I was\u00a0devoting more thought to this comic than did any of its creators.<\/p>\n

Anyway, what could have been a fun experiment ends up as\u00a0nothing but a collection of tired, lazy gags that not even the characters themselves get worked up about. \u00a0For an example of how to do this kind of thing\u00a0right, please see one of my\u00a0all-time favorite comics, Deadpool 11 from Joe Kelly\u2019s run on the series, which I will continue to argue is the best Deadpool run that was unappreciated in its time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think anyone is nearly as capable of balancing action, pathos, and humor as Joe Kelly \u2013 his\u00a0Deadpool\u00a0was a psychopathic mercenary who was always\u00a0trying<\/em> to do right thing, even though at times he probably couldn\u2019t have told you why he was bothering. \u00a0In this issue, Deadpool is thrown back in time\u00a0to the otherwise forgettable Amazing Spider-Man 47, with Pete Woods and inkers Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott doing an incredible<\/em> job of mimicking the style of John Romita’s original penciling. \u00a0Trapped in the past with a busted teleporter, Deadpool’s only shot to make it back to the present is to use his holographic image inducer to pose as “bony college boy” Peter Parker, disguise Blind Al as Peter’s fainting-prone aunt May, track down the younger version of his science-genius sidekick Weasel, and not do too much damage to the timestream, while simultaneously fighting off Kraven the Hunter\u00a0and<\/em> trying not to make fun of Norman Osborn’s ridiculous hair. \u00a0It is 100% amazing and you should all read that issue instead of devoting any more thought to Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahhh, the ubiquity of Deadpool.\u00a0 I often wonder if there the hypothetical reader actually exists that just demands more Deadpool, all the Deadpool, Deadpool guest-appearances in every Marvel comic please!\u00a0 One shudders to think!\u00a0 But, like\u2026 have you ever wondered why? \u00a0What exactly is it about Deadpool?\u00a0 Is it the way his ceaseless, tired, “Scary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comic_round-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}