In a battle for the leadership of Hell, Deadpool ends up teaming up with Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and of course… The Superior Spider-Man (The larger part of this review will focus on #10, the team-up issue with SpOck)

I also heard a rumor if you say Deadpool three times in a row, he’ll show up. Deadpool, Deadpool, Deadpool… Nothing? (What do you call Spider-Man without the webs? Peter Parkour! I’ll be here all review folks)

Deadpool: Soul Hunter

Writers: Brian Posehn & Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Colorist: Val Staples
Inkers: Mike Hawthorne & Jason Gorder & John Lucas
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover: Tradd Moore & Marte Garcia
Editor: Jordan White
Editor-In-Chief: Axel Alonso

Playing Catch-Up: Magician Michael got his powers from a demon (Vetis, who also made a deal with me to kill Iron-Man, DP Issue Seven true believers), then raised some dead presidents. S.H.I.E.L.D brought Deadpool (Aka Wade Wilson, aka The Merc With The Mouth aka The Red Text) in, since it would look bad if Captain America was murdering presidents. Deadpool’s S.H.I.E.L.D liaison, Agent Preston, died in the process (But Michael threw her soul in my head.) Turns out Michael wasn’t the only one who made a deal with the devil and as such, Deadpool has been going around killing other people who sold their soul for powers (like a really lame version of Aquaman.) These deaths have been making Vetis into this super-badass demon, whose about to make a play for Hell (but more importantly he wanted to kill me.) Which Wade isn’t having any of, so he killed Michael to send him to Hell to make a deal with Mephisto. (Still with me? Cool…) Oh yeah and Deadpool has a friend in the ghost of Benjamen Franklin (though nobody but Michael believes he exists and… I killed Michael.)

Deadpool War Journal (The Part You Lot Really Care About): After Michael, his first hit was a future-teller called Daniel Gump. Turns out SpOck is after him too (something about working with bad guys and people dying.) This leads to a team-up between the two, who face Baltroc (ze Leapah), Paste Pot Pete (really?), Chance (no idea who that is), The Trapster (he was in Ultimate Alliance Two, the 2009 game starring me, the Spectacular D’Pool), Lady Stilt-Man (doesn’t that name contradict itself?) and Taskmaster (my pal really doesn’t belong with these chumps.) Deadpool goes easy on his pal Taskmaster, but the ensuing fight has someone eating another person’s tongue, itchy “task-bags”, and a sticky end. Deadpool immobilizes SpOck and takes his web-shooters, tracking down Gump and murdering him (I also copped a feel on the Lady S-Man, that’s why they call me a Lady’S-Man.) SpOck freaks out him and webs him to a light post, but Deadpool escapes.

Deadpool War Journal (The Rest of the Arc): Rushing to the conclusion, the next hit is a shape-shifter, who hits on Jessica Jones disguised as Luke Cage (to be fair to the creep, she’s looking fine for a baby momma.) Deadpool intervenes before things get nasty and in the ensuing chase, he ends up attacking Daredevil, thinking it’s the shape shifter. He ends up shooting some innocents to distract DD and then snaps the shape-shifters neck.

After that, Vetis is powerful enough to make his play and Deadpool is the only thing stopping him (well technically, I double-crossed Vetis first and Vetis got mad about that.) Deadpool fights Vetis, who is shape-shifting his way through different heroes that kick Deadpool’s ass  (and a couple of wrestlers too.) However, Michael shows up with Mephisto and the three of them defeat Vetis. Mephisto also offers to remove Preston from Deadpool’s head, but Deadpool declines (didn’t that Spider-Guy make a deal with the devil?) and ends up learning that a large portion of his memories are missing… That was a lot of summarizing. Also, Deadpool makes a friend at S.H.I.E.L.D, has dinner with Preston’s family, and Michael slims down after 3 years (damn Timey Wimey stuff) in Hell.

My Team-Up Senses Are Tingling: Man, was the last actual full on Spider-Man team-up the one Joe Kelly did back in the BND era? (Umm, I had a two-parter in that Avenging Spider-Man book that got cancelled because I didn’t come back) I’m blanking on any other ones, but this one is easily a hundred times better. Ben and Jerry…. I mean Brian and Gerry are comedians and that really shows on Deadpool, the comic is hilarious, though occasionally at the expense of the plot (see the slow moving pace of the zombie arc… Ba Dum Ching) Deadpool is immediately clued into the fact that Spidey has changed, but that doesn’t change his demeanor as he continues to drop awful lines and banter, that are written so well at being so awful. Little Gems like Deadpool tearing apart Spider-Man’s Rogues, “The Vulture looks like Larry David bitten by a radioactive parakeet” or him inquiring about joining the Young Avengers, “How about The Little Avenger Urban Achievers, proud we are of all of them, right?”, or even him making a joke about midgets while fighting Lady S-Man, “So this is how Puck sees the world” are all chuckle worthy jokes, especially in the context of the issue. And Otto playing the straight man to his ridiculous banter, rather than Peter trying to out joke him, is what makes this work better than Kelly’s issue, less desperate, more funny (though that Kevin Shinick guy’s issues were hilarious and apparently he has a Carnage book out now? Go buy it!) The only part I took issue with is SpOck taking issue with Deadpool murdering Gump, especially in light of his more recent history over in Superior (What a hypocrite, he’s just mad because I “killed” it with the jokes this time around.)

The real surprise this arc was Mike Hawthorne. Since the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Deadpool’s greatest assets has been the amazing artists on the title (Man, I wish had gotten Moore out of Tony before he left) and Mike Hawthorne is no exception. I’m a huge fan of the very cartoony looking blood in comics that people like Frank Quietly have been doing for years and Mike Hawthorne brings a similarly violent cartoon feel to these issues. At one point, Deadpool punches a guy’s tongue off and kicks down the throat of Baltroc, silly violent stuff like that is wonderfully illustrated in this book. The sideline trips into Hell with Michael are even more violent, but again the cartoony vibe makes it more fun than disturbing. Hawthorne also does a cute little trick that whenever you see Spider-Man or Deadpool in a reflection, they are replaced by Otto and Agent Preston respectively .

The Part Where I Try To Sell You On This Book: Another thing I love about their version of Deadpool’s adventures is how grounded it is in the Marvel Universe at large. We get appearances from Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, HERBIE, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and of course SpOck (you’re really focusing on that guy, this is a review about MY book) and that’s only in these three issues. In the battle with Vetis, he shape-shifts through a large portion of the X-Men (of course he’d make my X-pals fight me) which was a nice take on the X-Men opposing Deadpool at every turn. And while the SpOck team-up was great, I think I preferred his encounter with Daredevil a bit more, since DD accidentally reveals he’s Matt Murdock (all I did was ask for a side-bar) and then Deadpool goes around telling everyone he can that Daredevil is Matt Murdock (It’s a poorly kept secret anyways, he’s no Spider-Guy.) This book is hilarious, issue in and out. And it has a surprising amount of heart at times, which we saw at the end of the arc, when even after being trapped in Deadpool’s crazed mind, Agent Preston offered to help him find his lost memories and Deadpool refused to let Mephisto take her out of his head for some sinister reason. But as shown through this arc, Deadpool is not a hero (far from it) but can have heroic moments like when he saves a kid from Vetis (shush, don’t ruin my image with this heroic moments garbage.)

Verdict: Look, Deadpool can get annoying, I wouldn’t be surprising if some of you don’t make it through the review because of my semi-take on him, but Posehn and Duggan have a great take on the character, putting him through his paces in what feels like a real living Marvel Universe, full of random encounters. And the future only looks brighter, with a great mystery, another blast to the past (which we’ll totally review if people want, it’s got Good Ol’ Petey in it) and some great guest stars coming up (Hint: Snikt Bub Snikt Snikt Bub Snikt Bub Bub.) So I can’t help but recommend this series, the first trade is out, the individual issues are $2.99 and are densely packed with jokes, and this trade will be out in the first week of September. Give it a shot folks.

Pros:

• A Great Cast of Supporting Characters From All Over the Marvel Universe
• Hilarious
• Interesting Mystery
• Great Fights/Wonderful Art

Cons:

• Plotting can occasionally be slow

A- Best