Review – Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 (Marvel Comics)

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artists: Ed McGuinness/Mark Morales
Release Date: January 6th, 2016

Let start off with some good old fashion honesty; I really wanted to dislike this book. The only Marvel character that doesn’t need another book more than Spider-Man or Deadpool is Wolverine, so you’ll forgive me for cynically writing this series off as another cash cow. Even the inclusion of the old-school Deadpool superteam of Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness wasn’t going to be enough to save it for me! Nope, no siree.

Two Pages.

Two damn pages. That’s all it took for me to be sucked straight back to 10(ish) years ago when I started reading comic books for the first time. The first books I read were, funnily enough a Spidey, and a Wolverine/Deadpool reprint that had the Kelly/McGuinness run in it. This book made it feel like that wide-eyed youngster all over again.

Kelly’s writing manages to be both witty and exciting as he nimbly sidesteps the usual pitfalls that writers tend to fall into with these two characters; namely, making them little more than goofballs with one line zingers and pop culture references aplenty. Fain enough, some of it is a bit much (the stinks joke being a tad too forced down our throats), but on the whole it was amusing in all the right places while still managing to carry a story.

The fact that Kelly has managed to perfectly encapsulate what makes these characters fan favourites and make them shine off the page in their own way was truly refreshing. The nods to both characters’ current situations with businesses, while it may not have been necessary, was a nice touch. If ever there was a fan service book, this is it, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Enough can’t be said about Ed McGuinness and Mark Morales on art duties. This is an absolutely stunning issue, with a “proper” comicbook feel to it, something that McGuinness has become famous for over his career. Characters are super expressive under their masks, Spidey is as agile as ever without looking like he has malformed limbs (something I can’t help get annoyed by with some other artists’ depictions of the web-slinger) and his Deadpool is nothing short of perfect. His Deadpool is always going to be my Deadpool, and it’s easy to see why on these pages. A round of applause is deserved for Jason Keith as well, whose work on the colours provides the icing on the proverbial cake, lending a palette to the work that is bright and colourful, while not detracting from the work underneath.

An absolute pleasure to read from start to finish, with what may have been an obvious curveball thrown at the end, it was still fun as hell nonetheless. I’ll eat every bad word I previously said about it. I dare you to give it two pages as well. Trust me, it’ll have you hook line and sinker.

Rating: 5/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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Chris_Avatar The writer of this piece was: Chris Bennett
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