Deadpool #50:
Summary: After watching his deformed clone die last issue, Deadpool is on a mission... A mission to DIE!!! Um, seriously though, since Evil Deadpool had been killed by a dart that negates Deadpool's healing factor, Deadpool wants to get his hands on that dart, since it would finally give him what he'd always wanted. Death. To that end, Deadpool ends up setting several powerful characters out to track down the anti-healing factor serum, for him... Pool tells Daken, Hydra Bob(who Pool sends to tell Kingpin), and Uncanny X-Force about the serum and waits for the results of their investigations. Daken is interested in getting a hold of the serum since he wanted to make sure it couldn't negate HIS healing factor, while Kingpin sees it as an opportunity to keep the mutants in line and expand his territory. Wolverine, believing Kingpin already had the serum(thanks to some crafty lying by Deadpool), wants to find the sniper who shot Evil Deadpool before heading after Kingpin himself. Wolvie manages to figure out that the sniper who shot Evil Deadpool was one of two men, and Deadpool teleports away with that information, hoping to get to the right sniper before anybody else. Meanwhile, Kingpin has sent Typhoid Mary and the Hand after one of the snipers, which ultimately brings Mary and the Hand into direct conflict with X-Force. Daken had managed to get to the other sniper and speaks with the man apparently responsible for the hit on Deadpool... Tombstone(!!). Upon hearing from Daken that Pool was still alive(he thought Pool was the dead Evil Deadpool), Tombstone orders some more serum.
Thoughts: Yup, I definitely should have made this comic my Pick of the Litter... Well, let's all pretend that I did! This was a hell of a good comic. The story was solid, we had a large cast of characters, and all of them were used well, with nobody really getting lost in the shuffle. First, let's look at the story... We have Tombstone out to kill Deadpool. Tombstone has managed to get a scientist to create a serum that negates Pool's healing factor thanks to a private investigator getting a hold of some of Deadpool's hair back from when Pool was a kid. Next we get a mess of characters who have interacted with Pool over the years(even Typhoid Mary!), which makes this issue even sweeter to a longtime Deadpool fan such as myself. The dialogue was good, the art was good, really, my only gripe, and it's a SMALL one, is who the apparent mastermind here is... Tombstone was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I'm kind of surprised to find that he's the guy who managed to figure out a way to finally kill Deadpool... I'd have preferred T-Ray or somebody similar, but what can ya do? Besides that very minor quibble, this was a splendid start to what should be a fantastic storyline.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Dan Way + Daken + Deadpool = near perfection.
I haven't read this yet, but it's only the first issue of a 5 issue arc. I imagine Tombstone is not working alone.
ReplyDeleteSo what do you think? Tombstone is certainly the mercenary type. Think he was hired by someone?
O_O Daniel Way actually did something good for a change?
ReplyDeleteI know Tombstone does have some bad blood with Pool, Dr. Deadpool, but you are probably right, he MUST be working for somebody else... Somebody a bit brighter than Tombstone himself. Or at least I hope he is.
ReplyDeleteI take it you're not a fan of Dan Way, Astrovik? I've been pretty happy overall with his recent DP work. Sure, there have been occasional bumps in the road, but overall I've been happy with what he's done.
You're right, Tombstone is not very bright. I'm pretty sure Daniel Way knows this- he did shoot the wrong Deadpool. Granted, they were genetically the same, but still. One had two right hands. Not exactly a puzzle.
ReplyDeleteOf course, he did have help. It's completely possible that "kill Deadpool" was his plan. It's not very complicated. Either way, this will be a story about events Deadpool set in motion coming down on his head- and he wouldn't have it any other way.
I personally think Daniel Way stepped up his game in response to Uncanny X-Force becoming competition. Capitalism at work, people.
Something tells me Way isn't keeping up with Daken now that he's off it, healing factor's been gone for months.
ReplyDeleteIf that's so, then I wouldn't be to sure. Daken did turn Deadpool down, and Deadpool certainly doesn't know about it. In which case Daken wouldn't tip him off.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this yet but all I know is that this means Daken doesn't die in his now horrible series and there is now a chance that he will return to his former glory sooner rather than in a few years like he would if he actually died.
ReplyDeleteThe Daken thing is interesting in that it probably means one of three things... a)He didn't have his healing factor, and obviously wasn't going to point that fact out to Deadpool. b)Way is simply ignoring what's been going on in the Daken series and writing the character how he wants, which wouldn't surprise me with how badly Daken's series has been going. c)Daken DOES get his healing factor repaired and this issue of Deadpool takes place after the end of the Daken series, which is what I hope the answer is.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that didn't quite add up in this comic: How does Hydra Bob get a meeting with the Kingpin? Does Kingpin allow all men dressed in bright green into his main office?
ReplyDeleteAlso i loved the chessy references for each group of interest, its like a mindgame only deadpool could make sense of.
Isn't he representing Deadpool?
ReplyDeleteBut Kingpin didn't know that Hydra Bob was representing Deadpool, did he? I may be wrong, but I took it more as Bob was fed up with Deadpool's antics/repeated shootings, and wanted revenge, or at least that's how it was told to Kingpin. But even with that said, it seems odd that Kingpin would meet with Bob personally! Is it that easy to score a meeting with Kingpin?
ReplyDeleteI think it's possible, if Kingpin thinks he has information worth his time- in which case you'd meet with him wheither you like it or not.
ReplyDeleteI personally think Tombstone is perfect for the reveal because not only does he a have a past with Deadpool thanks to Suicide Kings, he's a pretty great business man. I think when you have a character like him and a hatred for Deadpool like he's got, it's not too hard for him to hire someone to figure out a way for him to kill Deadpool, since he obviously knows of his healing factor considering he's had his head sniped off.
ReplyDeleteIf he does have an ally, I won't be surprised but I think him being a mobster and having money is a more than justified answer of him being able to hire someone to figure out how to negate Pool's healing factor.
But I definitely loved this issue, everyone was written great, including Psylocke not being able to read Deadpool's mind due to his crazy thoughts, the great chess-like references (The Wheelbarrow eh?) and seeing Daken, Typhoid Mary, The X-Force, Kingpin AND Tombstone (Who I became a huge fan of in Suicide Kings) was great.
Really, having Tombstone as his nemisis is kind of poetic. Besides their death-based nicknames, if Deadpool had taken a few different turns in his life he would have ended up a very similar character.
ReplyDeleteI think the most impressive thing about this issue is how Way had all those characters on the board and didn't screw it up.
Totally agreed with the way Way(way Way?) used all of the characters in this one. Everybody was there for a reason, nobody was lost in the shuffle and pretty much everybody had a connection to Deadpool. It all made such perfect sense!
ReplyDeleteBut I still have to say I can't see Tombstone as the mastermind here... And here's my reason. In the Official Marvel Handbook(I LOVE those things!), on a scale of one to seven, Tombstone is a ONE in intelligence! And a 1 in intelligence means the character is “slow/impaired”. That just doesn't sound like the type of person who'd have masterminded this whole plot against Pool... There just has to be somebody pulling Tombstone's strings I'd think...
I don't put much stock in those things. They give Deadpool a 2 now, but in the past he got a 4.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the author.
Deadpool was a 4 in intelligence?! That's insane! I mean he's savvy and all, but I don't think I'd say he was gifted, or a step below genius... I'd say a 2 is perfect for Deadpool. The only reason I mention Tombstone is because that was one of the FEW times they actually gave a character a 1 in intelligence. That's probably why that stuck in my head all this time.
ReplyDeleteI give him a 3, at least. I mean, he did rig an X-Ray machine so that it could work on Vamps.
ReplyDeleteKnow who else has a 2? Storm. Thought she was smarter than that.
Deadpool is an odd one... He seems normal for the most part, but, as with the x-ray machine, he DOES have flashes of genius... I'd still stick with a 2, but I can see why you'd go with a 3.
ReplyDeleteStorm is such an interesting case... The moment you mentioned her, my gut reaction was, "Hey, she SHOULD be at LEAST a 3!" But the more I think about it, maybe she IS a 2... I mean she's a great leader and all, but is she "book smart"? Take Cyclops, who she's probably most comparable to. He's a 3, and I'd say they are probably similar with regards to leadership and battle tactics. The only difference is that we know Scott graduated from High School and took several college level courses(and possibly graduated) at Xaviers. Ororo was a street urchin after her parents died, and then was worshiped as a goddess. I don't know if she was formally educated anywhere... So yeah, my gut says that Ororo is at least a 3, but I can see why she was ranked at a 2.
Does the score reflect education or actual cognitive abilities?
ReplyDeleteThat's the vagueness of the whole thing, I guess. I mean stuff like strength, speed, energy projection, even durability and fighting ability(although that's another one that's pretty vague) is basically spelled out for you. If you can lift over 100 tons, you're a 7 in strength. Between 75 & 100? That's a 6. Simple. But intelligence has that massive gray area... Like you said, what exactly DOES it measure? Is it purely book smarts/education level? Or is it more the ability to think on your feet? Maybe a combination of both? Something else all together? Some people are way easy(there's no argument that Doom and Reed Richards are 6's), but people like Storm really make you wonder. I'm a huge numbers nerd and love this kind of thing though. I'd say most of the ratings are pretty spot on, but intelligence and fighting ability can definitely lead to some disagreements/confusion.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the whole system is a little lacking. I won't go into too much detail, but one thing I would change is to account for fluctuations. Using Deadpool as an example, I'd say his score was:
ReplyDeleteInt. 1-5/7
Str. 3-4/7
Spd. 3-7/7 (my scoring would take enhanced reflexes into account)
Dur. 3-4/7
EP. NA/7
FS. 4-6/7
Deadpool's a good example, because due to how he got his powers his body and mind is in constant flux.
Just got done reading this Issue and I gotta say Way really impressed me, it was nice seeing Wade manipulating the others to get what he wanted although, something's didn't add up quite well like why Tombstone would want Deadpool dead? Really Way Tombstone?!?! There's more people out there who would be better like Ajax, T-ray, Garrison Kane etc. Unless of course Tombstone's working for one of them then that would make a little more sense.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought is Way completely ignoring the fact that Thanos cursed Deadpool with immortality? I mean that's a pretty big deal, not giving any attention to something like that could create lot's of problems.
Yeah, I would definitely agree with you that the entire system could use some fine-tuning, Dr. Deadpool, but it does make for some fun conversation, so that's a good thing. Let's see, my Deadpool ratings would probably look like this...
ReplyDeleteInt: 2
Stren: 3
Speed: 2(7 with the teleporting)
Durability: 4
Energy: 1
Fighting: 6
I'm still hoping that Tombstone is working for somebody else, Astrovik. I mean there HAS to be somebody pulling Pool's strings similar to how Pool was pulling everybody else's strings. Oh, and for my money? I'm hoping it's T-Ray. As for the Thanos/Death/Deadpool thing, maybe Death did away with Thanos's decree since Thanos isn't dead any longer? I don't remember if that was explained away, but if it wasn't, it would definitely be nice if Way touches on that.