by Daniel Way (writer), Bong Dazo (pencils), Jose Pimentel (inks), Andres Mossa (colors) and VC’s Joe Sabino (letters)
The Story: In a story more suited to Halloween than Christmas, Deadpool encounters a nest of vampires–and is hired by them to take out a rogue group (guest starring from over in X-Men) who have the ability to walk in the sunlight, and a desire to wipe out humanity.
What’s Good: I don’t believe I’ve said recently just how much I appreciate Daniel Way and what he’s doing for one of my favorite Marvel characters. While his stories and characterization are never Earth-shattering or genre bending, he delivers a consistently good and consistently funny product month in and month out. That’s something for any comic writer to be proud of, and that goes double when we’re talking about Deadpool. Way’s got a real talent for capturing the character’s voice, and for taking stupid, silly gags–‘Pool’s insistence on referring to all vampires as “draculas” being the prime example in this issue–and turning them into reoccurring jokes that are genuinely amusing rather than tiresome. That takes talent and forethought, and I wholly recognize and appreciate his effort.
I’m still not completely sold on the idea of Deadpool and vampires being a good match, but way pulled it off well enough here that the thought of another couple of issues with then is not at all off-putting. The innate absurdity of the “altruistic” vampires (who establish a charity hospital and donate money to worthy causes) meshes well with ‘Pool’s skewed worldview, and his myopic refusal to see the difference between the two vampire factions only highlights the absurdity further. I have a feeling that this arc is not going to end with vampires on either side being particularly enamored with our lovable, unkillable merc.
What’s Not So Good: There’s not much to complain about here, honestly. Sure, the motivation for the vampires hiring Deadpool is more than a little tenuous, yeah the action scenes get a little clunky and the panels could have been better laid out to facilitate visual fluidity, but I had such a good time watching Deadpool take both sets of vampires down a peg that these points all fade into the background in the face of undeniable fun.
Conclusion: Fun is the point of most Deadpool books, and fun is what is to be found here. None of the book’s comparatively minor shortcomings get in the way, and no Deadpool fan will walk away from this without a grin.
Grade: B
-SoldierHawk
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Conclusion