Deadpool MAX #1

November 9, 2010

Title: Heads

Writer: David Lapham
Art: Kyle Baker
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Kyle Baker
Editor: Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics/MAX

Because there weren’t enough Deadpool comics yet, Marvel has added his newest ongoing series, this adults-only entry into their Mature Readers line, MAX. On the surface, it seems like Deadpool would be the perfect character to put into this imprint. Deadpool is an inherently violent character whose stories invite rampant innuendo and exaggerated amounts of gore even in the Marvel Universe titles. Giving him a chance to cut loose should be a great thing, right?

Not so much, as it seems.

In this issue, Deadpool has been hired to take down one of Marvel’s many, many gangland lords, Hammerhead. Rather than going through Deadpool’s truly insane perspective, as most of his comics do,the story is instead told through an undercover officer who witnessed the events, after some rather brutal treatment at the hands of one of Hammerhead’s flunkies. That in and of itself rather hurt the comic book – Deadpool is never as strong a character when viewed through somebody else’s eyes. That was just the beginning of the problems I had with this issue, though. This is a Deadpool comic, so I wasn’t expecting any sort of great literature. With the freedom of the MAX imprint, though, I was hoping for the already exaggerated storylines to be turned up to eleven.  Instead, though, we got a tepid storyline with violence that really wouldn’t be that out of place in any of Deadpool’s usual titles. To justify the MAX label, instead, we’ve got a series of stale gay jokes, a few profanities that wouldn’t fly in a title merely rated “Parental Advisory,” and feces. Yes, feces. I don’t care what rating a comic book has, I never need to see that.

It’s a shame. David Lapham and Kyle Baker are both fantastic comic book creators, capable of much better than we get out of this comic book. And, to be sure, Baker’s artwork is very strong. He handles everything from the linework to the colors himself in a style that’s very suited for Deadpool. But there’s no thought here, no real effort to justify the title except that now we can curse more, and for me at least that’s just not enough. There’s no meat, no soul to this comic.

Rating: 6/10