I hate Deadpool. Well, ok…I suppose that’s only partly true. I occasionally found his antics amusing in the beginning, but after an issue or two, I discovered that while his witticisms were funny here and there, I just didn’t care about any of his stories. Deadpool, for me, works much in the same way as The Punisher, Bullseye…and Ludacris. That is to say, when he shows up in someone else’s stuff. He is a GREAT team-up partner and an awesome guest star. Hell, I love him in Uncanny X-Force. He really adds something to that book, but his solo title just never did it for me. And then, that period wherein Deadpool had more comic titles than Jesus? That was just annoying.

Well, here we are at the big milestone issue 50, and I have to say, I didn’t hate this as much as I thought I would. It’s got Deadpool actively seeking out his own demise, it’s got X-Force in all their Uncannitude, and the inappropriately dressed Typhoid Mary.

This was a pretty entertaining read, despite the fact that it wasn’t funny in a LOL, ROTFLMAO, giggle-fest kind of way, but in a “heh, that was funny” kind of way. The comment about Psylocke’s underwear drawer is a perfect example. I acknowledged that the joke was humorous, but didn’t actually laugh. Maybe that just makes me weird. Oh hey! Digression. It was interesting to see DP trying to play several factions against each other and manipulating all the players, but it was also…strange to see it actually working. He’s never seemed to me to be particularly cunning. But that underestimation on everyone else’s part is what he uses to work to his advantage. Another highlight was only a page, but it took me totally by surprise. Has this seemingly romantic relationship with Death been an ongoing gag, or is this something new? At any rate, I LOVE it.

The art by Carlo Barberi is solid stuff as well. It has a LOT in common with Ryan Stegman over in Scarlet Spider, and is pretty much perfect for this book.

The cover is another simple but effective piece by Dave Johnson, however…instead of calling it lazy Photo-Shopping, I’m going to assume that on the cover, Deadpool has been buried directly next to Frank Castle, since the trees in the background are the exact same “skull-tree” trees copy/pasted from this week’s PunisherMax 22. 😉

Also, the colorist seemed to have a hard time deciding whether or not Typhoid Mary was wearing a shirt under her leather jacket or not. It kept switching back and forth.

This is just me being nit-picky though. This is a fun read that even non-DP fans can enjoy!