Jim Lemoine
Feb 19, 2002, 03:07 am
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/dpool-061.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/dpool-061t.jpg" align=left alt="Deadpool: Funeral For A Freak #1"></a>Reviewer: Jim Lemoine, darkkelf@earthlink.net
Quick Rating: Good
Story Title: Funeral for a Freak (Part 1 of 4)
Deadpool’s dead (no, really), and they’re having a funeral for the freak.
Written by: Frank Tieri
Cover Art by: Georges Jeanty
Pencilled by: Jim Calafiore
Inked by: Jon Holdredge
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe
Colored by: Tom Chu’s Color Dojo
Assistant Editor: Mike Raicht
Editor: Mike Marts
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
The in-continuity but out-of-number-sequence Deadpool: Funeral for a Freak #1 is my first issue of Deadpool in a long, long time. Although I was a fan way back in the early days of the series, I’ve never read any of Tieri’s ‘Pool stuff before, nor the Weapon X mini. Keep that in mind if it seems to you like I’m missing something obvious.
That said, it sure was refreshing to see good ol’ Wade again. Cruel sense of humor, innate hatred of pop culture, twisted psychiatry… yup, that’s the Deadpool we all love. But unfortunately, he’s dead.
Well, it’s a comic book. That death thing can’t last long, can it?
The book took place during ‘Nuff Said month at Marvel, which would normally mean a meaningless assemblage of images somewhat resembling a story. Here, however, the silence makes a bit of sense. After all, in case I haven’t mentioned it yet… Deadpool’s dead.
Jim Calafiore certainly proves himself to be (mostly) up to the task of drawing a wordless Deadpool, and still making it funny. The first two pages are a perfect example, as we see Deadpool wake up, grab his three favorite body parts, and rejoice at his consciousness. Unfortunately, Bruce Willis appears in a familiar outfit to inform us all that Deadpool is, in fact, dead. Haley Joel Osmont appears to confirm Bruce’s prognosis, but ‘Pool immediately ejects him from the scene with a quick kick in the pants.
Wow… I didn’t realize until those two pages how much I missed good ol’ Deadpool.
The book proceeds through the funeral as we see a wide array of gags involving Deadpool’s friends and confidantes. Some work out very well (the appearance of Bullseye is a treat), while some just aren’t that funny (such as ‘Pool getting squashed between Big Bertha and Sasquatch). Tieri pulls out the stops in trying to set up as many visual gags as possible, but the quality of them goes from boring to hilarious too quickly.
It was nice to see some old faces from the series, like Weasel and Blind Alfred. Blind Alfred is the subject of what is without a doubt the funniest gag I’ve seen in a comic book in a long while, and the only one in the book to have me laughing out loud. Admittedly, I felt a bit twisted and indecent about laughing at the whole thing afterwards, but I can live with that. That image of Al’s upside-down and slippered foot poking up just gets me rolling every time.
A touching scene with Siryn and an aggressive scene with Wade’s old Weapon X cronies is followed by Poolboy’s attempt to desecrate Deadpool’s grave. This he does by using a magic marker to scribble all over the mourners’ picture of Deadpool. At least, I can only assume he does this, since the art does absolutely nothing to convey that. According to the plot of the story (conveniently placed in the back of the book), that’s what Poolboy was up to. In the actual comic, though, Poolboy’s hand simply hovers near the picture, and the ghost of Wade gets angry. Bad storytelling, guys.
Deadpool gets his revenge in another great gag (did I mention the quality kinda goes back and forth here?), and the defeat of Poolboy is followed by a great comic book tradition, the mindless free-for-all slugfest.
In a shadowy realm of the dead (which disappointed me a bit, because if there’s one fight I’d love to see, it’s Deadpool vs. Mephisto), Wade hangs with some expertly rendered deceased celebrities. Then, it’s off to a mysterious mansion for a romantic rendezvous with the extremely-sexy-as-long-as-you-don’t-ever-ever-look-at-her-face Death. However, just as Wade and Death are about to consummate their relationship (and honestly, do you know of any more perfect couple?), a mysterious figure somehow resurrects Deadpool, leaving Death stood up and pretty peeved. Calafiore does a great job of conveying this through Death’s stance and the expression on her skull.
So ‘Pool bursts up through the grave (Kraven, anyone?), and gets grossed out at his own body odor. Deadpool’s not dead anymore.
Some classic gags in this storyline, but we all know that it was a bit predictable. Of course, how could it not be? If you end an issue with the title character without-a-doubt-dying, that either means the end of the series or a mysterious resurrection. In Wade’s case it was happily the latter. However, the reader could wish for something a bit more creative (or a bit more twisted) than the standard dark, mysterious stranger performing the resurrection. Something that simple isn’t really what I’ve come to expect from Deadpool’s earlier incarnations.
The issue as a whole is very enjoyable, and gives us a realistic view of what the funeral of Marvel’s most twisted mercenary would be like. While Tieri’s gags aren’t always top-notch, when he’s good, he’s great! With the one notable exception of the scene with Poolboy, Calafiore does an outstanding job of using his art alone to move the story forward. His use of facial expressions is very well done, in both the most ludicrous and tragic of panels.
All in all, a good issue, and you find yourself wishing the funeral would have gone on a bit longer. Still, there’s three issues of Funeral for a Freak left, so maybe Deadpool will die again. One can hope. Regardless, it’s nice to see that he’s as funny dead as he is alive!
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!
Quick Rating: Good
Story Title: Funeral for a Freak (Part 1 of 4)
Deadpool’s dead (no, really), and they’re having a funeral for the freak.
Written by: Frank Tieri
Cover Art by: Georges Jeanty
Pencilled by: Jim Calafiore
Inked by: Jon Holdredge
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe
Colored by: Tom Chu’s Color Dojo
Assistant Editor: Mike Raicht
Editor: Mike Marts
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
The in-continuity but out-of-number-sequence Deadpool: Funeral for a Freak #1 is my first issue of Deadpool in a long, long time. Although I was a fan way back in the early days of the series, I’ve never read any of Tieri’s ‘Pool stuff before, nor the Weapon X mini. Keep that in mind if it seems to you like I’m missing something obvious.
That said, it sure was refreshing to see good ol’ Wade again. Cruel sense of humor, innate hatred of pop culture, twisted psychiatry… yup, that’s the Deadpool we all love. But unfortunately, he’s dead.
Well, it’s a comic book. That death thing can’t last long, can it?
The book took place during ‘Nuff Said month at Marvel, which would normally mean a meaningless assemblage of images somewhat resembling a story. Here, however, the silence makes a bit of sense. After all, in case I haven’t mentioned it yet… Deadpool’s dead.
Jim Calafiore certainly proves himself to be (mostly) up to the task of drawing a wordless Deadpool, and still making it funny. The first two pages are a perfect example, as we see Deadpool wake up, grab his three favorite body parts, and rejoice at his consciousness. Unfortunately, Bruce Willis appears in a familiar outfit to inform us all that Deadpool is, in fact, dead. Haley Joel Osmont appears to confirm Bruce’s prognosis, but ‘Pool immediately ejects him from the scene with a quick kick in the pants.
Wow… I didn’t realize until those two pages how much I missed good ol’ Deadpool.
The book proceeds through the funeral as we see a wide array of gags involving Deadpool’s friends and confidantes. Some work out very well (the appearance of Bullseye is a treat), while some just aren’t that funny (such as ‘Pool getting squashed between Big Bertha and Sasquatch). Tieri pulls out the stops in trying to set up as many visual gags as possible, but the quality of them goes from boring to hilarious too quickly.
It was nice to see some old faces from the series, like Weasel and Blind Alfred. Blind Alfred is the subject of what is without a doubt the funniest gag I’ve seen in a comic book in a long while, and the only one in the book to have me laughing out loud. Admittedly, I felt a bit twisted and indecent about laughing at the whole thing afterwards, but I can live with that. That image of Al’s upside-down and slippered foot poking up just gets me rolling every time.
A touching scene with Siryn and an aggressive scene with Wade’s old Weapon X cronies is followed by Poolboy’s attempt to desecrate Deadpool’s grave. This he does by using a magic marker to scribble all over the mourners’ picture of Deadpool. At least, I can only assume he does this, since the art does absolutely nothing to convey that. According to the plot of the story (conveniently placed in the back of the book), that’s what Poolboy was up to. In the actual comic, though, Poolboy’s hand simply hovers near the picture, and the ghost of Wade gets angry. Bad storytelling, guys.
Deadpool gets his revenge in another great gag (did I mention the quality kinda goes back and forth here?), and the defeat of Poolboy is followed by a great comic book tradition, the mindless free-for-all slugfest.
In a shadowy realm of the dead (which disappointed me a bit, because if there’s one fight I’d love to see, it’s Deadpool vs. Mephisto), Wade hangs with some expertly rendered deceased celebrities. Then, it’s off to a mysterious mansion for a romantic rendezvous with the extremely-sexy-as-long-as-you-don’t-ever-ever-look-at-her-face Death. However, just as Wade and Death are about to consummate their relationship (and honestly, do you know of any more perfect couple?), a mysterious figure somehow resurrects Deadpool, leaving Death stood up and pretty peeved. Calafiore does a great job of conveying this through Death’s stance and the expression on her skull.
So ‘Pool bursts up through the grave (Kraven, anyone?), and gets grossed out at his own body odor. Deadpool’s not dead anymore.
Some classic gags in this storyline, but we all know that it was a bit predictable. Of course, how could it not be? If you end an issue with the title character without-a-doubt-dying, that either means the end of the series or a mysterious resurrection. In Wade’s case it was happily the latter. However, the reader could wish for something a bit more creative (or a bit more twisted) than the standard dark, mysterious stranger performing the resurrection. Something that simple isn’t really what I’ve come to expect from Deadpool’s earlier incarnations.
The issue as a whole is very enjoyable, and gives us a realistic view of what the funeral of Marvel’s most twisted mercenary would be like. While Tieri’s gags aren’t always top-notch, when he’s good, he’s great! With the one notable exception of the scene with Poolboy, Calafiore does an outstanding job of using his art alone to move the story forward. His use of facial expressions is very well done, in both the most ludicrous and tragic of panels.
All in all, a good issue, and you find yourself wishing the funeral would have gone on a bit longer. Still, there’s three issues of Funeral for a Freak left, so maybe Deadpool will die again. One can hope. Regardless, it’s nice to see that he’s as funny dead as he is alive!
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!