Credits:
Written by Mark Waid
Pencils by Ian
Churchill, Lee Weeks, and Ken Lashley
Inks by
Colors by Dana
Moreshead and Mike Thomas
In titles like *Kingdom
Come*, *Superman- - Peace on Earth*, and *The Flash*, Mark Waid has given us
tear-jerking, spine-tingling tales of gods and heroes on Earth. It’s
interesting to see that he can also write a title like *Deadpool*, a funny but
ultimately unchallenging title from Marvel.
The titular hero has
to have been invented with darts: he’s a curious pastiche of several Marvel,
Image and DC heroes. He has Wolverine’s Weapon X background and regenerative
powers, Spawn’s two-tone mask that hides a face even a mother might fail to
love, Rorschach's psychotic attachment to that face, Punisher’s mercenary
background and disregard for life, and, oddly, Spider-man’s penchant for snappy
patter. And he carries a katana.
*Deadpool: Sins of
the Past* reprints the first four issue of the regular *Deadpool* series, in
which Black Tom, Banshee’s cousin, sends a small army of mercenaries to bring
back a hunk of Deadpool’s regenerative cells, with which he hopes to cure his
own degenerative disease. Along for the ride are Banshee himself, Banshee’s
daughter Siryn, and the ever-lovable Juggernaut, who grows on me with each
passing year.
*Deadpool* isn’t a *bad*
comic; on the contrary, it’s well paced and cleverly characterized, with the
smart sort of dialogue you expect from an ace like Waid. You have to admire the
talent required to come up with at least three funny lines per page. But
there’s just something odd about Deadpool’s snappy patter; I’ve never been sure
whereof ‘tis born, as it were. I mean, the guy’s a stone-cold killer. The
insinuation is that he’s borderline insane, but we’ve been there before.
Somehow the borderline insane just doesn’t make that compelling a hero unless
you’re prepared to *really* dig in, as Moore did with Rorschach. This isn’t
that kind of story, nor is it even the dark sort of parody that *Spawn* is at
it’s best. Deadpool’s just a homicidal hero who says funny things.
The series, blazingly
1997, owes a lot in style to *Spawn* and *Cable*, of course, the series having
been originally created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. So it’s swell to
look at, with some fine attention to detail in the battle scenes, which are
many. But there’s nothing to give you that lump in the throat Waid is so famous
for, and you know, there could be, I’ll bet. You read it, you laugh a little,
you admire the curvaceous Siryn; you go read something else.