The Good
Cullen Bunn and Ramon Rosanas' NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL was a brilliant way to bring the merc with a mouth into something like Night of the Living Dead or THE WALKING DEAD. From the black and white pages (aside from Deadpool, of course) to the mix of humor, character and horror, it was without question one of Wade's best limited series. Now, Bunn is fleshing out the limited series' twist ending and thankfully, the first chapter's off to a great start. It may not having me laughing out loud all that much and it does feel like a fairly basic introduction to this world, but it still does more than enough to keep you entertained and leave you wanting so much more.
Seeing as not everyone has read NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL, Bunn finds an organic way to recap that limited series' events. Instead of feeling like he's just playing catch up with new readers, the recap makes sense and is presented in a fairly clever way. He also wastes no time giving us a ton of action and horror. I mean, we're talking about Deadpool wielding a baseball bat that has a saw attached to it and using said melee weapon against swarms of the undead. We've all seen characters slice and dice zombies a gazillion times before, but it's still a good time and that's primarily thanks to Nicole Virella's artwork. There's a couple pretty good jokes in here as well and the new approach to this world definitely has my curiosity.
Rosana's pages were phenomenal, so it's unfortunate he's not back for more. However, Virella is more than fitting for Bunn's story and the style has already won me over. From the gritty handling of the undead and the violent way they're eliminated to the various expressions Wade makes with his eyes, this is a book that nails the classic zombie vibe while also filling it with Deadpool's personality. Bascailly, the artwork is great and I'm looking forward to more.
The Bad
This issue's fun yet feels like a pretty basic start. Bunn's able to recap the first volume, loosely introduce us to a new character, and teases what makes this sequel oh-so-very different. It's all handled pretty well and certainly has me hooked, but it does feel like a relatively standard beginning to the story. I'm glad so many of the basics are already addressed, so hopefully the next one will give Bunn more room to give us more compelling material with Wade and the new character. The final page, however, was a nice and totally unexpected touch.
Minor criticism: not all of the comedy delivers. Obviously no one is going to land every single joke, but sometime it feels like Wade's rambling a little too much, and yes, I say that as someone who often defends the guy from misconceptions like he's a walking punchline or obnoxious. I have no problem admitting "
The Verdict
If you loved NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL -- and that should be many of you -- then this should be an obvious purchase. It may be a different artist this time around, but Virella's style is an excellent fit for this dark and funny world. We haven't seen quite the same blend of horror, drama and comedy just yet, but it's still a thoroughly entertaining intro which gets all of the necessary information out there while also offering a few laughs and some zombie killing fun. I recommend reading NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL first, but if you don't have the extra cash or time to do so, it's worth noting this technically is new reader friendly and absolutely worthy of your attention if you like Wade Wilson or the zombie genre. It looks like Bunn is about to give us another great Deadpool limited series. Remember when Deadpool had a lot of titles and only a few of them were just okay? It's looking like those days are thankfully behind us.
