Deadpool Killustrated #1

Moby Dick
written by Cullen Bunn
pencils by Matteo Lolli
inks by Sean Parsons
colors by Veronica Gandini

Deadpool Killustrated's central concept is itself a mixed bag, simultaneously a brilliant stroke of literary metaphysics and a weak logical argument for the destruction of the worlds' superheroes by head-scratchingly oblique means.  And Bunn makes sure we get a full exposition sequence to explain, well, EVERYTHING.  It's full of gems, like "We are trapped in...the continuity.." and "metacidal," as well as clunkers, like "every idea spawning like salmon."  However, it's precisely what Bunn doesn't explain that delivers the issue's best narrative surprise, when in the final few pages, one of Mad Thinker's robots makes its way into the hands of Sherlock Holmes, who then stands poised to act as the series' hero and Deadpool's foil.

The issue might be logically porous but it's got several good jokes, which help buoy the story, most of them made by and at the expense of Deadpool himself.  The introduction of the New York Public Library as "the one place I fear" is a fine use of the page break, better if it required a page turn instead of just crossing the center gutter.  And for a man so adverse to reading, Deadpool can certainly bandy about some allusive barbs.  He quips as easily and knowingly over the dead bodies of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza—"Consider the windmill tilted."—as he alludes to Jaws—"We're going to need a bigger boat."  Or upon being extended Ahab's hospitality aboard the Pequod, he introduces himself, "Call me...Ishmael," despite, of course, there already being one on board.  Though, to be fair, he might have covered that one in his ad hoc litany of famous first lines at the library. 

As its premise would suggest, Deadpool Killustrated is simultaneously an homage to previous generations of literary classics remediated into comics and a haphazardly deconstructed send-up of the clash between those two (usually disparate) literary media.  Nowhere does this first issue distill this meta-humor more succinctly than in Michael Del Mundo's spoofing cover illustration.  Much of the comedy in the story derives from Deadpool's unexpected and homicidal interruption of famous literary scenes, and riding Moby Dick like an unruly rodeo bull while trying to chuck a bomb labeled with a fish-and-cross-bones down his blowhole does just that.

Unfortunately, the interior of the issue is significantly more uneven.  When its jokes work, Deadpool Killustrated is quite funny, and consequently the ceiling for its comedic potential is high, but most of its jokes seem rushed, forced, and superficial.  Its engagement with the literary classics, which Deadpool wants to disrupt, equally so.  Despite the explanation provided—that these literary figures serve as inspiration for the authors/"progenitors" of Marvel's superheroes and that the former's destruction would preempt the latter's formation—none of the literary characters featured in #1 bear any notable resemblance to Marvel superheroes.  Ironically—and it's an irony that's unrecognized by Deadpool himself, as when he remarks to Don Quixote as he shoots him, "When it comes to impractical pursuits, I got ya covered."—Deadpool has far more in common with his literary companions (Ahab, Quixote, and Pinocchio) than they do.  He insists that "the metaphor isn't lost on [him]," though I suspect that it is.

The artistic team of Lolli (pencils), Parsons (inks), and Gandini (colors) contribute some really quality work in the issue.  As is necessary for a character whose costume conceals facial expressions, Deadpool emotes really well with his body language, usually a potent combination of sardonic resignation and familiar weariness.  Like Del Mundo's cover, they also deliver on the punchlines.  In particular, the pile of dead Spider-mans...[Spider-men?]...as Deadpool muses, "I kill and I kill and I kill but it's never enough.  There's always another Spider-man...", is particularly well executed among the Marvel hero carnage.  But for sheer beauty of the artwork, Moby Dick must take the prize in this issue.  His enormity, unsettling color, and watery home are all impressive and provide a visually memorable opening sequence for the series.

[March 2013, digital]