Review: Spider-Man/Deadpool #45

This is one of those titles that I have been getting since the first issue, but for the life of me I can’t really recall any particularly great arcs. I mean it’s always solid as far as craft goes, it just never knocks me out, but at the same time I haven’t removed it from my pull list. I guess that’s the extremely pedantic way of saying, meh. And that’s where the title remains after this issue wraps up the current arc, spinning its wheels in a giant puddle of meh.

By the numbers this book should be killing it every issue, I mean you have arguably the two biggest characters at Marvel, Spider-Man and Deadpool and the talent has usually been top-tier beginning with Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness the creative team has at one time or another included; Deadpool alumni Gerry Duggan, A-list artists like Todd Nauck, Chris Bachalo and an impressive list of fill in artists paving the way for current creators Robbie Thompson and Jim Towe, actually Thompson is in the midst of a somewhat prolific run on the title.

It’s not the talent on the book that I find problematic its the lack of any real story. In my opinion this should have been a 12 issue maxi-series at the absolute most. So the problem becomes the book outlives the gimmicks by 30 plus issues. While there have been a few glimmers of ingenuity, there has been nothing to justify this book being an ongoing series, especially not when Spectacular Spider-Man is being cancelled after a far shorter and in my opinion much more interesting run. However, I digress, after all this is not an op-ed piece on why Deadpool should not have more than one on-going title, nor can I see any reason in the world for the limitless barrage of mini-series featuring Deadpool, so let me get back to the task at hand.

Spider-Man/Deadpool #45 wraps up the current arc which features Blaastar and the Negative Zone Force or NZ Force as they are so dubbed. Blaastar is a classic Kirby/Lee created villain making his first appearence way back in Fantastic Four #62. He was designed as a big baddie to foil Reed Richards and company, however Blaastar would come into his own as a foe of the Inhumans. In this arc he is used as little more than a puppet master to mind control fellow villain Ransak. As if that isn’t convoluted enough, add another thug from the Mighty Marvel Meh file, Karkas and things really get cooking, well maybe simmering at a low heat anyway. Thompson’s dialogue is as broken as the fourth wall in this narrative to nowhere as Spider-Man thwips and Deadpool quips and not much of anything gets done. Thompson has done some really fine work at Marvel, particularly his runs on Silk and Venom: Space Knight. These titles gave him more room to work as a writer as well as allowing him to be less encumbered by gimmicks which seems to be the driving force behind Spider-Man/Deadpool these days. As a matter of fact this issue ends with a promo for what is supposed to be a self-deprecating joke on Marvel’s epic events, can you smell a gimmick? It’s that cheesy aroma that wafts from the final page of this book.

The artwork is not going to win any fans over either I’m afraid. Jim Towe’s character designs are solid, but his backgrounds are on par with Rob Liefeld’s, that is to say there are no backgrounds, in fact if not for the many explosions or motion lines the characters would appear to be floating in mid-air. I’m not sure if the blame for how muddy the line work is on this book should go to Towe or inker Sean Parsons, but the entire book looks somewhat out of focus. Brian Reber’s colors are the one saving grace as he does a fine job of coloring this issue.

Overall, this is a weak entry in a series that has remained on Marvel’s roster long past its expiration date. I would love to see Robbie Thompson on a book worthy of his talent and let’s face it one less Deadpool book is not such a bad thing at this point in time. I would much rather see Robbie writing a young Cable series or even a Spider book sans Deadpool. 2.5/5!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer- Robbie Thompson
Artist- Jim Towe
Inker- Sean Parsons
Colors- Brian Reber