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Friday 16 September 2016

Deadpool, Volume 1: Secret Invasion Review (Daniel Way, Paco Medina)


Daniel Way is THE BEST Deadpool writer, as far as I’m concerned anyway! Hell, he’s a great writer full stop, I’m kinda shocked he barely works these days - his last gig was 2013’s Thunderbolts! I’ve yet to read a Daniel Way Deadpool comic that’s not any good and his first book at the start of his 2008 run, Secret Invasion, is one of the best Deadpool books I’ve ever read.

Though it’s set during Secret Invasion, you don’t need to read that event book to enjoy this. Shape-changing Green Goblin-lookalike aliens called Skrulls have invaded Earth and Deadpool’s gonna fight ‘em. That’s it! 

I like that Way’s Deadpool is more brutal than the current day Deadpool. He’s unpredictable, shooting people randomly, thinking nothing of collateral damage and cheerfully staggering along the line between good and evil, sometimes falling into one side before falling into the other and not really shiving a git one way or t’other!

Way also shows Deadpool as more than a clownish buffoon - although there’s plenty of that here as well - by highlighting his clever, scheming side which we almost never see. Deadpool can do a lot of damage with his guns and explosives but he does more using his wits against the Skrulls. He’s still cray though and Way’s Deadpool has the Rogue Trooper-esque dual voices narration boxes to highlight his madness. 

Deadpool taking on the Skrulls is a fantastic story from start to finish. It’s inventive, imaginative and funny too - his knock knock jokes genuinely made me laugh! 

The book closes out with a two-parter where Deadpool has to save the wife of an arms dealer from a plastic surgeon who creates zombie vampires! It’s the perfect kind of over-the-top wacky campy-horror story for Deadpool and is almost as brilliant as the Skrulls one. As it is, it’s still a blast. 

Rude, crude, silly, clever (but obviously not TOO smarty-pants) and super entertaining, this is what a Deadpool book should be like. Daniel Way’s take on the character is as damn close to definitive as you can get - do yourself a favour and check out the best version of Deadpool if you haven’t already, it’s Way awesome!

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