Written by: Cullen Bunn
Pencils by: Dalibor Talajić
Inks by: Goran Sudzuka
Color by: Miroslav Mrva
Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover by: Dave Johnson
Published by: Marvel Comics
Wade Wilson Goes on (Another) Killing Spree
“Remember the time Deadpool went a little TOO crazy and killed the entire Marvel Universe? Well, this isn’t that. This is a DIFFERENT time. Writer Cullen Bunn and artist Dalibor Talajic (A.K.A. the creators behind DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE) have reunited for ANOTHER tale of Deadpool taking out all of your faves in the most horrific ways possible! It’s gonna hurt him more than it hurts you…and you’re gonna love it!”
Back in August 2012, Cullen Bunn (Deadpool: Back in Black, The Damned, Regression) teamed with Dalibor Talajic (Foolkiller, Dexter) to produce a different kind of Deadpool story. The premise was pretty simple. In Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Wade Wilson’s inner monologue was silenced by Psycho-Man in an attempt to make The Merc’ with a Mouth his personal assassin. The plan backfired when the voices in Deadpool’s head were replaced by a new voice that told him to kill, well, everyone, starting with Psycho-Man.
Bunn and Talajic had so much fun (and the first series sold so well) they went back to the well with Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again. DKTMUA isn’t a direct sequel to DKTMU. It actually can’t even exist in the same plane as the first series, since, well, everyone isn’t already dead (including our creative team).
This time around, it’s M.O.D.O.K. poking around in the Regeneratin’ Degenerate’s head, using a hypnotic trigger phrase to warp ‘Pool’s perception. In the first series, DP’s killing spree was based on the misguided notion that he was doing everyone a favor by icing them. Here, our favorite sociopathic anti-hero isn’t seeing events as they actually unfold. He’s viewing the world through hypnotic perception filters.
Hey Everybody! Naked Toga Party!
Bunn’s script is irreverent and cheeky. It pokes at a whole comics genre and disposes of beloved characters as unceremoniously as redshirts on a foreign planet. Sacrilege? Yes! Of course! What did you expect? It’s right in the title. Bunn has a great feel for Wade Winston Wilson’s dark sense of humor. The puns and punch lines flow easily, and there are a few well-placed moments where the Crimson Comedian breaks kayfabe.
Dalibor Talajic has taken a few liberties with character design. Deadpool’s costume resembles the leather getup Ryan Reynolds wore in the film. The more realistic wardrobe lends a clever visual disconnect from the sequences where we are viewing events through Deadpool’s hypno-delusion. One sequence is so cartoony it looks like something off NBC’s 80’s Saturday morning lineup. Another has a retro 70’s 4CP aesthetic, without the alignment issues, thankfully.
Enjoy this series for what it is, a What if…? style story that happens outside Marvel’s mainstream continuity. Looking for a self-aware and self-deprecating comic that breaks all the rules? Here it is.
Overall: 7.5/10
Brendan Allen has probably had more jobs than you would reasonably believe. Dog trainer? He’s done it. Flooring contractor? Yep! EMT? Army NBC specialist? Road dog for a Celtic rock band? Yes, yes, and och aye! Now he reads comics and writes about them.
