Spider-man / Deadpool 6 Review

“Not my best Quip” – Peter Parker as Spider-man 2016

Number One on the Maul sheet! one shot

Hey True Blue , our regular creative team takes a break and host of Comedy Bang Bang Scott Aukerman steps in along with classic Deadpool artist Reilly Brown. Considering the stellar run Joe Kelly and Ed Mc G have been having can this new pair handle our faithful pair? (a pun worthy of this issue).

Writer: Scott Aukerman
Artist: Reilly Brown
Inkers: Rick Maygar, Beau Underwood and Scott Hana
Colorist: Jason Keith
Cover Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Editors: Nick Lowe and Jordan White

Cover
Spider-man webbing up Deadpool’s mouth. Basic, yet to the point. I’m going to reveal my cards early on in this review. The cover is the best thing going on in this issue. Mike Del Mundo captures’ both characters and their personality gorgeously in a lovely painterly tone. It has nothing to do with the story but I won’t hold it against Mike as it is likely this was a stock cover he did months ago.

Plot
Deadpool learns a movie is being made about his life from new character Salmon Stunt Man. He hires Spider-man as a producer on the movie. The duo go off to Hollywood where it turns out Salmon Stunt Man is actually Donald Dryan’s (the actor playing Deadpool) plot to kill Deadpool to stop his fourth wall breaking antics ruining the films box office. Spider-man and Deadpool crush him in a robotic T-Rex mouth and we finish off on a bad Batman v Superman parody…

Story
Let us be fair here. Comedy is a subjective art form. What pleases some may not please others. It is extremely hard to do in-depth reviews of comedy because its hard to take what i presented seriously. This review is shorter than others i have done but there is a reason.  The book Scott Aukerman has delivered here is a straight up comedy comic. I have watched/listened to some Comedy Bang Bang in the past and have liked some of what I consumed. That said it was not something I went hunting for more of either. Now as I said this book is straight up a comedy comic but for me the jokes fall flat and hence the whole book falls flat

This book does take place in continuity. They clearly ground it as a prequel to the story we just finished but after Amazing Spider-man 1# (2015). I think a lot of my issues with this issue would have been removed if the editors just made this out of continuity. As it is in continuity I do have to review it as such but in my personal canon I would not think of this as a real part of Peter or Wades life. Here we have Spider-man complaining about why Deadpool didn’t just text him in one scene. Part of a huge character moment in the first story that takes place after this issue is Spider-man giving Deadpool his number. This error really should have been caught by an editor if they wish to keep in in continuity.

I have read every issue of a Deadpool book marvel has published and if I had to state something new writers often get wrong with Deadpool books is that they don’t just try to make Deadpool funny, they try to make the whole comic funny. Deadpool works best as a comedic character in a real world. When you start having Spider-man and characters on the street breaking the fourth wall and every line being a zinger you lose what makes Deadpool unique

But I’m writing for a Spider-man website so usually my goal is to talk about the Spider-man aspects of the book. That’s going to be really hard as Spider-man is ham fisted into this story for no reason other than his name is in the title. I really don’t like the writing of Peter here. He is portrayed as dumb. Motivation makes no sense (drops out of Parker Industries for a time to be a producer on Deadpool the movie AS Spider-man , not Peter Parker ) The biggest aspect to this book being related to Spider-man is that the issue Homages Amazing Spider-man 14# (vol 1) in the manner Deadpool is recruited to go to Hollywood by a man on a flying platform. This would have been a nice subtle touch. Except for the fact they blatantly brag about it at the end of the book as if to point out Scott’s own spidey cred. As mentioned above we also have Spidey breaking the fourth wall. We have Peter saying Comedy Bang Bang is CANONICLY his favourite show. I don’t mind an author getting a brag/ cameo in their book but did it have to be Spider-man breaking forth wall to do it ?

This issue really is an excuse to make bad puns and comic book movie jokes (a nerdy nitpick for me as in this world they would be biopics and not comic book films ). Some might find it humorous but for anyone who has hung around a comic store for more than 10 minutes you know what most of these Hollywood superhero jokes will be (“yawn of justice” anyone ?).

I truly don’t want to be negative here. I have nothing against Scott and I’m sure he is a nice guy. I just don’t think his style translated well in this issue. Credit to him though as his first full issue comic it was not over written or too wordy which is a common troupe of new Hollywood writers to comics

Art
Reilly Brown is pleasant here. I admit I am biased seeing Reilly draw Wade again. That said I don’t know if anything here is super amazing stylistic artwork you’d make a poster of. Reilly is a great workhorse comic artist. His art will not let you down; it is sharp and is on time. Not everyone can be Jim Lee or Mike Mignola. Where Reilly truly shines for me however is in the panel layouts. He has been working in comics for years and you can tell the guy is on point with his comic pacing. You will not have any trouble with the flow of the book

Final Word
If you don’t think marvel has enough MAD magazine level parody humour than this book is for you. While there is solid Reilly Brown artwork here everyone else might want to skip this issue. The recap page talks about Joe and Ed taking a break from this run and having a fill in period by this creative team. On first reading I thought, “oh that’s nice of marvel to welcome the new guys to the book” but turns out what was probably meant was really “Don’t worry guys regular book will be coming back after this issue”. We do still have one more fill in story before Joe and Ed’s return but it is with a long time current Deadpool creative so we should be safe in hoping for a more enjoyable read next month.

Rating D-