Deadpool #3

Marvel Comics

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Chris Bachalo

I love the cover art on this issue. It’s clean and simple. Kraven and Deadpool duking it out with a white background in order to highlight the red and black colour scheme of the characters along with the title between them. I’ve enjoyed the cover art in general for this series so far since they do a good job of using the background colours to emphasise the characters in the foreground. Now I’ve said something nice about this comic it’s time to get into the negatives. This was kind of a weak issue so I wanted to at least say something positive at the start.

Picking up where the last issue finished we see Elsa Bloodstone explaining her actions from the end of the last issue. Exposition isn’t bad when necessary and handled well but I feel like a “Previously” section on the first page would’ve wasted less time. It doesn’t help that shortly after we have 3 pages devoted to Wade showing off his trading card collection. These cards all bear images and descriptions of the monsters in Wades supporting cast. We’ve already been introduced to most of them so again this info could’ve been given on the first page. It’s made even more annoying by the fact that they don’t stick around. Wade ditches them shortly after and they’re not seen for the rest of the issue.

Kelly Thompson isn’t a bad writer. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of her Captain Marvel, Hawkeye and Deadpool so far but this issue was just poor. I think it’s a mix of a few things. The story being slow-paced to begin with, the humour being more subtle than Deadpool normally is and the heavy exposition. This along with the issue ending on a cliffhanger just makes the whole thing feel like a pointless slog.

The internal artwork from Bachalo feels better in this issue than in the last two, especially in the second half. This might be down to having fewer characters to draw but the Kraven/Deadpool fight is drawn pretty well. I had some trouble in issues one and two with trying to make out what was happening in his busier panels but I can’t make that complaint here. Hopefully, the artwork will continue to be of this standard in future issues.

So, that’s my compliment sandwich for this issue. In summary, the artwork has improved from previous issues and it’s the high point of this book. The writing of this issue felt lazy and moved at a snail’s pace but I’m hoping that this won’t be a recurring problem. I wouldn’t recommend grabbing this issue of Deadpool if you didn’t already enjoy the last two. It’s not really that interesting on its own but hopefully, future issues will provide a strong enough overall story for the series to make up for it.