“Eggplant, Why did it have to be a Eggplant”– Deadpool
Writer : Joshua Torin
Artist: Tigh Walker
Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letter: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Nick Lowe and Jordan D. White
G’day guys. Jumping in here with a quick review of this Monsters Unleashed tie in so lets get straight into it.
Plot
A group of girls from a boarding school in Toronto recently lost their sorceress headmistress. Looking for a powerful vessel to bring her back in the girls kidnap Deadpool in the hopes of summoning his demon wife Shiklah. Things go wrong however when the Deadpool’s heartmate is summoned and it is not his wife but Spider-man. Spider-man has been transported away from helping the avengers battle giant monsters attacking major cities. At this moment however a monster arrives in Toronto and Deadpool and Spider-man set off to save the day. The monster eats Deadpool and the possession of Spider-man starts to take hold in the midst of saving him. Wackiness ensues till the monster is killed inside Rogers stadium and Spidey takes off to re-join the avengers and stop these monsters.
Story
So I had very little expectation going in to this issue. Joshua Torin and Tigh Walker are two creators I’m not overly familiar with . Torin’s a noted author of prose but only other comic work was a Deadpool digital first I am yet to read and Walker is probably most familiar to fans of this site for his work on Spider-woman 12#
Add to the fact this is a cross over tie in one shot to the Cullen Bunn event “Monsters Unleashed”. So I wasn’t expecting anything ground breaking here.
That said maybe it was a good thing I went in with low expectations because I had an entirely enjoyable experience. Torin’s work here was funny which is important for a humour book. While both Deadpool and Spider-man cracked jokes they both had different and unique voices. He managed to cram a lot of story into one issue. I would not have been surprised if they discussed plumping this into a three-issue mini. So I do feel I got a solid story out of this one book, which is rare.
I liked the McGuffin that brings our two characters together and it ties perfectly well with Paul Sheers’ issue. Continuity wise there was not a lot of reference to things in the wider marvel U, aside from the event itself, so I didn’t get a feel for Torin’s marvel knowledge as a whole. He does drop a chimichunga joke which is usually a warning flag to me of a writer who has more googled Deadpool than read any stories as it mainly is a trait that appears on merchandise rather than in story, but he actually hangs a lantern on it by making a Wikipedia reference joke for it so he won me back around.
As for Spidey, he is really not too big of a part in this as he spends a far bit of page time possessed. Spidey seems to be playing a larger role in the main series as part of the avengers so I can see Torin’s hands being tied here.
Art
Art wise I really dig Walkers Spider-man , though it is the modern PI suit. There is an element of Ditko in the mask I enjoy seeing. There are also subtle angular changes to the mask when possessed by headmistress Soo.
Walker does a great job all all-round from the young girls actually looking like young girls to placement of scenes inside Toronto city.
As mentioned in previous reviews, anytime Dave Johnson does the cover it is a win. The man is a master. Even though nothing here is in the book (which in fairness is a joke cover so I don’t think you would expect it.)
All in All
Sadly considering this title comes with a $4.99 price tag, and that is its biggest detractor, I would struggle to recommend it if you are not reading SM/DP and Monsters Unleashed already. That said for what it is it is a lot of fun. Interested to see where the creators go from here. Wish more tie ins could be like this.
B+
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