Customer Reviews

Wolverine: Origins Volume 5 - Deadpool (Wolverine (Marvel) (Quality Paper)) (v. 5)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wolverine fights Deadpool who's been hired to take him out. But who's the mysterious figure intruding upon their duel and what does it have to do with Logan's dark past?

Daniel Way does a fine job with the book, writing Deadpool's caustic and flip dialogue very well and keeping the action coming thick and fast. Steve Dillon does a good job as well and has some fun with some of Deadpool's delusions in portraying Wolvie in plenty of silly versions.

The second story following on the heels of the first's ending takes a darker tone and goes into Logan's disturbing past and the Weapon X days.

It's a decent book that isn't essential reading for comics fans but is good fun and enjoyable enough if you're a fan of either characters.

What's good:

1. Deadpool. He's awesome, and has plenty of tricks up his sleeve, which keeps it entertaining.
2. Overall the artwork was pretty good* (see what's not so good)
3. Storyline wasn't very involved, but it's mostly just one long fight scene, so that's good.
4. Great fight scenes.
5. Did I mention Deadpool?

What's not so good:

1. Wolverine is drawn like a pansy. He actually reminds me of Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl from the Watchmen for some reason in this.
2. Okay, not THAT big of a deal but it irked me the whole way through. Wade Wilson has BROWN eyes. Even says so on the Marvel website. Brown. Not blue. I liked the way he was drawn in Cable & Deadpool a lot more (sort of Vin Diesel and Freddy Krueger merged to become a volcano of mantastic mayhem). In this he looks...a little like the Thing, at least bone structure-wise.
3. Wolverine's lame son. Once he comes into it, it kinda goes downhill. In fact, were it not for his lame son, I might have given this 5 stars.

Still, I highly recommend it, and I did really enjoy reading it.

Despite the amazing covers and the intriguing image you are greeted with when opening the cover, the book was a disappointment for me. The writing left much to be desired, the art was almost satisfactory, and the atmosphere felt a little insulting to me as a Deadpool fan. Overall, it may have had potential, but severely fell short.

Deadpool himself is not very well written. It feels more like the writer struggled with trying to capture his character, and was trying to approach it from several angles at once- all that failed, I might add. I perhaps smirked at something Deadpool said perhaps twice in the entire book.

The plot was delivered severely crudely, and the action was nothing but a joke. I was expecting some adrenaline pumping action, at the very least. Instead, it was shoddy panels of gag action after gag action- everything is suddenly in actuality a bomb. If that was supposed to make me go, "Oh no! Awww, shucks, that was close!" then it fell flat on its face.

The panel pacing, especially for the action, felt a little short. It wasn't confusing, but didn't exactly catch my attention or get me wrapped up in it.

As previously stated, the art isn't too bad. The artist does seem to have an issue with the human face, and while the skill in it doesn't show lack of knowledge, it has a certain awkwardness to the quality.

Overall, I found a little enjoyment in only the latter two parts of the series, and relief in the art of the two additional parts of an only somewhat related mini-story. I'm glad I didn't pay full price on this thing.

While this trade (which collects Wolverine: Origins #21-25) is referred to as Wolverine: Origins volume five, it may as well simultaneously be referred to as Deadpool volume ZERO as it opened the door for the new ongoing Deadpool monthly which Daniel Way also writes. Interior pencils by Steve Dillon (Marvel Knights Punisher) and cover provided by Simone Bianchi (Astonishing X-Men).

First of all, let me at once say that you don't have to have read any of the previous volumes of Wolverine: Origins to enjoy this one. The collected story is entitled "The Deep End", a five part versus ROMP that mixes dark humor, violence, cartoony visuals, fourth wall obliteration, Pool-O-Vision(tm), blood, gore, and grand pianos. Yes, grand pianos. The story begins with a shadowy figure hiring Deadpool to kill Wolverine for a rather large sum of money (which actually occurs at the end of issue #20). Needless to say, it doesn't take much convincing to get Deadpool to take on the job. What follows is some of the most over the top violent shenanigans ever perpetrated on the nigh invincible Canuck. It's Weapon X on Weapon X violence; healing factor versus healing factor (literally).

Deadpool's insane machinations against Wolverine are what move the action and story along but what really stick out are the glimpses Way provides into Wade Wilson's splintered psyche. It's these little "alone moments" where Deadpool has upwards of four different conversations with himself (all denoted by differing caption styles and colors) that the aforementioned dark humor and fourth wall shattering take center stage. Also, as previously mentioned, Deadpool is granted a considerable amount of money at the outset and we get to see how he spends his money when he's only limited by his imagination. This is where the piano comes in. Deadpool is nothing if not creative as he goes so far as to hire Chinese restaurant staff, hapless amateur actors and construction workers to unwittingly aid him. In addition, Deadpool manages to keep it all straight in his head while he has his multiple running monologues as he goes from point A to point B, to C (or Gamma, if we're to believe Wade's mental notes) and makes use of safehouses and several weapons caches littered throughout San Francisco. Wolverine functions as the straight man and tireless juggernaut who only gets more and more enraged as the chase continues.

At each confrontation, the Pool-O-Vision(tm) kicks in and we're treated to some Looney Tunes-eque parodies of Wolverine which are hilariously rendered by Steve Dillon. Each episode is shortlived though as it doesn't take long for Wolverine to inflict sobering damage on Deadpool. The end of part three is particularily gruesome as we see both foes locked in what would be a very final embrace if not for both characters' mutant healing factors. I've never seen a more BRUTAL exploitation of mutual mutant healing factors executed in a Marvel comic book. After this, it's basically the endgame as Deadpool teases his masterstroke just before new players emerge on the field (as betrayed by the cover) but there is a surprise waiting for Daken as well.

Like I say, this is a Versus Romp chock-full of one-liners, sight gags and ultra-violence. Deadpool is pure insanity while Wolverine is utterly humorless throughout. I would compare this to Garth Ennis' "Confederacy Of Dunces" Punisher arc wherein he punks Daredevil, Spider-Man, Wolverine AND The Hulk but the key difference is that Wolverine is not characterized as a complete moron and is actually incredibly crafty when it's all said and done. At any rate, any fan of Deadpool (which I'm NOT really, despite this review) will have NO problem enjoying this collection--if you're a fan of Daniel Way's ongoing monthly book starring The Merc With The Mouth, you owe it to yourself to check this out. There's even a rare glimpse into Wade Wilson's childhood. Oh and, it's Wolverine in the oldschool brown costume too!

ok ok ok so its cool that deadpool got to do some cool stuff. but it and the current series and the branch offs will never be as good as the cable deadpool stuff

Dan Way cannot write Deadpool and Steve Dillon cannot draw Wolverine. Buy Deadpool classic vol 1&2 or any Cable and Deadpool instead.