Monday, June 10, 2024

Oh, I thought they were joking about the cover.


"This is the One with the Super-Rare 3-D Cover!" but I just got the plain vanilla one! Which I thought was going to be for the musical issue, but that was 2012's #49.1; this is 2014's Deadpool #34, written by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, art by Scott Koblish. 

The musical gimmick may be preferable than what they actually went with here, for some of you: this was part of Original Sin, if you remember that one. Without getting into it, suffice to say big dark secrets are being revealed about everybody, and this is Deadpool's turn; but since this is Deadpool it's also an excuse to pull an unused issue from the 1990's out of inventory. Not really! But the bulk of the story is in a faux-90's style, when "inkers used 900% more lines per page" and anatomy was just a suggestion. (Probably a lot of work to draw "bad" like that, on purpose!) 

At the time, Deadpool was an assassin; mind-wiped regularly: Sabretooth wonders, how far gone was he? What could you make him do? Curious, Pool's doctor/handler, Butler, suggests having him kill his parents; as a test, and for funsies.
Pool and Sabretooth drive to Canada, with Creed maybe starting to have second thoughts about this one, while Pool is just "a job's a job." He doesn't even seem to remember being from Canada--wait, is Creed from Canada as well? One thing that's definitely Canadian, though: Alpha Flight! In their mid-90's glory...maybe "glory" isn't the right phrase. Cue five page fight scene--with a splash page intro, and double-page spread. 

After ditching Alpha Flight, Sabretooth and Pool end up at a dive bar's open mike mic night, before Deadpool leaves to complete the job: in a silent sequence, he turns on the gas, turns off the smoke detectors, and burns down what might be his childhood home and his parents. (Or, whatever poor chumps lived there now!) Pool remains tightlipped as Sabretooth picks him up. 

The next day, Pool seems more himself as he heads to work, but is confronted by Power Man and Iron Fist! (In a bit of continuity error, or at least fudging some dates: I don't think Luke would've had the black leather then, since this was supposedly before their last issue, which was from 1986!) They're just helping Carm find deadbeat dad Deadpool, who hadn't realized she had had his kid. Butler has Carm step inside, so he can surreptitiously take a blood sample from baby Ellie; then Deadpool warns Carm to get away from him, and Butler. Pool also remembers Butler's bird, which indicates a tolerance to the mind-wiping treatments, and he storms off, swearing never to return. That just means Butler has to take other methods to get his samples, like having Deadpool brought in from "sleeping in a crime scene," but Butler may be more interested in baby Ellie now...

Back in the present, Agent Adsit recounts his vision--up to Pool and Creed driving back from Canada--to Preston, as Pool plays "pull my finger" with the young Ellie: they know Pool doesn't know, and sure as fun don't want him to. 

If I'm not mistaken, Ellie is still in-continuity, but Pool doesn't remember her; and probably nobody is going to bring her up, so...Anyway, Pool's continuity was already a quagmire, remember T-Ray, and the question of if Pool was really "Wade Wilson" or not? And in Priest's run, I don't think Pool really knew his dad. You can kind of do whatever with him, as long as it's funny. Or has a lot of lines. 

4 comments:

Mr. Morbid said...

I remember this one. I definitely enjoyed those throwback “inventory” issues & clearly I’m not the only one considering how often the writers put em out.

My only true complaint with this issue is how uncharacteristically empathetic Creed is to Wade about him potentially having killed his own parents off so casually. No way in hell would Creed give a rip about that. Hell, he’d be pissing himself laughing while the whole thing happened.

As Wade’s kid, I guess best to leave her in limbo until a really good writer comes along and makes it worthwhile to bring her back.

CalvinPitt said...

Elle looks like she's going to be a recurring character in the current Deadpool book (which is only up to issue 3 this week, so we'll see how long that lasts.) Wade's doing the "it's better for you if I stay away" thing, which is true. Proximity to Deadpool is hazardous for one's health, but he also gave her a cell phone to use just to contact him if she's in trouble.

I agree that I don't buy Sabretooth feeling uneasy about this. I did like that when Deadpool finally thinks he remembers Sabretooth killing his parents and goes for revenge, it was after that "Axis" garbage where Creed is trying to be a good guy and actually does feel bad.

googum said...

Hmm, Creed may just be thinking; if Butler could make Pool do that...what could he make Creed do? It's a problem if it affects him!

Anonymous said...

Even if that explanation were true, it still directly contradicts Creed’s normal general attitude.