It’s amazing how longevity Deadpool has as a character. He was invented by an insane megalomaniac but somehow he’s had some incredible writers and artists to keep him afloat. Daniel Way and his team of artists did a great job with him for the 4 years he had the book. Yes, the run tapered off long ago but only because I think Way just started to run out of ideas. Now we have two new writers to take the helm and one hell of an artist to draw him on a monthly (or is it bi-weekly?) basis.

If you didn’t like the way Deadpool has been lately then this first issue might indicate a bit of a change. There are no narration boxes to speak of and unless that changes soon it looks like Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn has some major changes in store in terms of writing the character. They clearly want to go back to the early 2000s way the character used to be. Have a lot of one-liners and just see if they stick. Now that does lead to some dead air at times and not all the jokes land. But most of the jokes are funny and really the big hook here is the premise. For me, a man who has just read a biography on all forty-four Presidents, the idea of all of them (the dead ones anyways) coming back to life to bring havok is a great idea. You get a great fight with FDR in this issue and hopefully that is an indication on how wacky this is gonna be. My only problem was that I don’t get a sense that Duggan/Posehn are going to write these President’s in their own voices. Truman should sound like a rambling Dixie but he just comes off as a generic villain. I hope that changes in the next issue cause this could be even funnier if these guys sound how they’re remembered.

It’s funny how a man who has no artistic talent created Deadpool and yet the character has always had great artists to draw him. Terry Moore (and Val Staples on colors) is going to be a HUGE draw for this book. He brings a nice, cartoony look to this new run but yet can draw one hell of a detailed panel. That one page alone of Godzilla attacking New York can be appreciated for a long time. That and go look at that double page spread towards the end because you get to see some really bizarre stuff in there. I also like Moore’s take on how horribly disfigured Deadpool really is. It looks like we’re gonna go the ‘leper’ route with his body which could provide some nice humor along the way. (The way his arm breaks off in one panel is really gory.)

Despite some little things that bugged me on this issue, this was a great first issue for a new Deadpool run. Gerry Duggan snd Brian Posehn seem to be the right men for the job by bring a great premise and some good humor to the character. Hell, just having Terry Moore on art is more than enough reason to buy this series. If we get more gorgeous work by that guy in each issue then this could be the best looking run the character ever had. Hell, if Geof Darrow keeps being the cover artist I’d just buy the book just to hang those things on my wall.