Review: The Despicable Deadpool #299
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW**
We have one more issue of Gerry Duggan on Deadpool, and it is bittersweet for me. I love what he has done with the character, even at times making him a full on hero with the other book he wrote for awhile, The Uncanny Avengers. He has been a part of The Unity Squad, worked for Hydra-Cap or as Wade refers to him, Stevil Rogers during Secret Empire, and even had another classic battle with his friend and foe, Cable. Duggan has brilliantly kept Wade a hilarious character, but wasn’t afraid to show the darkness in him too.
Deadpool is similar to Spider-Man in that he jokes, even when he may feel uncomfortable. The difference is, Wade is a far darker and more tragic character. Peter Parker is hiding his identity, so he wears a mask. Wade is hiding his horribly scarred face, so that’s why he wears one. He was a lab experiment, and has massive amounts of PTSD, but he just jokes about everything, because life has become a joke to him. However, in this run, he finally had some people that he cared about. He had people he trusted. Now don’t get me wrong, Deadpool didn’t all of a sudden become a saint. He still ran the Mercs For Money, and ripped all of his fellow conmen off, leading them to want to join in on the fun of killing him that many other villains, and now SHIELD agents share.
In The Despicable Deadpool #299, we continue to see Wade double down on his ridiculous plan. He has put out a hit on himself, and many villains, and his former mercs, and some others who he wronged, are out to collect the reward. Again, this is a great joke, but it is also very tragic. Wade wants to die. There’s a part of him who has become a joke because his life has fallen apart. Again, and again, and this time he really seemed to try hard to be as good as he could, and for awhile he was an actual hero. Now he has returned to the why bother anti-hero mentality, but with a bigger disregard for his life than he’s had in recent years. I am not saying Deadpool is Shakespeare, but there is an element to it that reflects those kind of tragedies. There’s just more vulgar jokes mixed in.
The artwork consists of Mike Hawthorne on pencils, Terry Pallot on inks, and Jordie Bellaire on colors, and they give a style you can expect from a Deadpool book. It’s cartoonish, which fits the ridiculous nature of the comic, but also has a hint of a realistic look to it. Sure, all comic books may apply to these styles in some way shape or form, but Deadpool is the perfect comic to walk that line between the over the top style of cartoon violence in something like Looney Tunes and an R-rated action film like John Wick. It’s always been the way the Deadpool books have been drawn, and this title stays to that consistency, and that is a good thing.
I recommend this title for anyone who wants not only a light, fun read that is adult in nature, but also anyone who wants to see how this great run by Duggan and company will come to a close. The next issue is super sized, and this one mostly dealt with a lot of set up. There’s a bunch of pieces in play from throughout Duggan’s plots that are all going to come to what I imagine will be a ridiculous, and awesome head in Deadpool #300. This is going to be a blast, especially with Deadpool 2 hitting theaters soon.
Story: Gerry Duggan Pencils: Mike Hawthorne
Inks: Terry Pallot Colors: Jordie Bellaire Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover: Mike Hawthorne & Nathan Fairbairn
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Reading Deadpool can feel like a darker, more adult version of Looney Tunes. If you took Wile Coyote, Bugs Bunny, and made them swear more, you’d basically have the Merc with the Mouth. The Despicable Deadpool #298 continues those over the top cartoon moments in a big way, and this title is going to miss Gerry Dugan writing it. The next run of the book is bringing on Skottie Young, who while he may be more known for his art, is no stranger to wacky over the top tales with his own I Hate Fairyland. That being said, I am still sad that Duggan is done in a few issues.
