Spoiler alert: Deadpool dies in this issue. Headlining eighty-plus pages of awesome, exiting writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn kill off the “Merc with a Mouth”. Not a hoax. Not a dream. Not a… gimmick? Well…
For anyone unfamiliar (if there is such a person), Deadpool is one of Marvel’s keystone characters, if not the most unlikely. Unleashed in an age when Howard, Rocket and “funny animal” characters were out of favor, Deadpool embraces the fourth wall and comics’ cartooinier aspects like none other in the spandex set. A notoriously inappropriate assassin of dubious moral standing, he does indeed easily lend himself to mixing it up with just about any and everybody. Essentially, it’s as if Wolverine and Spider-Man had a kid. And that kid was developmentally arrested as “College Humor Bugs Bunny”. But with swords. And an uzi. And a teleporter. You get the idea…
That being said, this comic is both a glowing homage to and a scathing roast of “Death Of…” event comics, if not some kind of commentary on character death in general. And who better to deliver such a message? There have been instances of his head removed from his body and it still not shutting “Wade Wilson” up! What is death really going to do to him in the long run? If anything, it just opens Deadpool up to get really super-method in his Spawn parodies, maybe. If copyrights don’t matter after you die.
Once the main feature gets done with the dirty business of “the deed” (sidebar: can Duggan and Posehn claim sole ownership of this death?), it’s good times galore. Chock full of back-up stories, the current support cast all take small turns in the spotlight. The six vignettes offer amusing insights into the bit players, at times lending compelling connectivity back to the lead. Mostly they’re just fun five page stories of their own independent merit and favor. From Ben Grimm’s team up with the ghost of Ben Franklin to Mrs. Deadpool’s binge-watching of Star Wars, there’s genuine laugh out loud moments on nearly everly page.
There is also a bonus bonus feature: returning for a supposed “lost tale” circa 1991’s Infinity Gauntlet event, Duggan and Posehn endcap the affair with a fantastically satirical high-five to Marvel fandom far and wide. Bookended with worn-in and retro-styled art from artist Scott Koblish and color artist Val Staples, the twenty page story takes Deadpool through a Gauntlet-induced fantasy roast attended by near almost everyone in the entire freakin’ M.U.! What’s funnier than Hulk in a tux? Uh… Man-Thing in a tux, maybe? It needs to be seen to believed! (Plus, what must’ve that fitting been like??)
Literally pound for pound, Deadpool #250 is one hefty mothertrucker of a book. The price of admission may be comparatively steep but it’s a worthwhile investment if you like a grand celebration to humor in your comics. Hell, buy it for a meaningful character death. That actually happens too!
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