Time for some bedtime stories and wholesome children’s activities . . . as only Wade Wilson could tell them.
Cover by Joe CooperWritten by Joe Kelly
Illustrated by Joe Cooper, Sue Crespi, EM/Comicraft, Johnny Greene, Mark Powers, Dave Sharpe, Brian Smith, Tommy Velazquez, Waldy Wong, Petey Woods,Three stories starring Deadpool! The Merc with a Mouth goes to the aquarium with Blind Al, learns to be a Good Samaritan with Captain America, and crashes a birthday party (literally) with Blarney the dinosaur!
One of my favorite interview questions to pitch creators, when I find out they’ve done work on Deadpool, is to have them pitch me a Deadpool children’s book. It does catch folks off guard initially, since it’s not something one would expect to go together. Some of the answers I get are standard Wade Wilson fare, such as Deadpool going destructive on his toys. Others are parodies of classic children’s stories, such as “Wade Wilson and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” (Which I would totally read, by the way.)
The inspiration for that question came from discovering that a Deadpool children’s book of sorts – – this one – – existed. Thus, it was high time to take a look at what led me to think of that question, this anthology parody of kids’ books and activities. Long before Go the F*ck to Sleep, Deadpool made a kids’ book that adults, themselves certainly fatigued from repeated readings of The Little Engine that Could or the family Disney treasury, could pick up for a laugh and an escape from the ridiculously wholesome.
This is a short anthology, a bit larger than the standard floppy page count of 24 pages. But Joe Kelly and company manage to pack in three full stories, along with some smaller vignettes and activities. Think “Highlights” meets “MAD Magazine” and you have an idea of what to expect (and to make sure to hide the kids).
Our first story, “Make Way for Deadpool,” parodies Leigh McCloskey’s classic New England tale Make Way for Ducklings. Deadpool and Al have a day trip to an aquarium that seems to go terribly, horribly wrong – – at the hands of The Pool, of course. So it’s time to head to Boston (where the original Make Way for Ducklings is set), where of course, things go terribly, horribly wrong yet again. (Deadpool’s brand of chaos and violence just can’t seem to take a day off.) But his beloved Al always comes first, so Wade ensures his elderly friend stays out of harm’s way. There’s plenty of wink and nod that Deadpool remains known for today, though not much breaking of that fourth wall that elevated Deadpool to stardom in film. Contrasting the wisecracks is gentle sepia-style drawings, the style made famous in its source material. Surprisingly, the art style works rather well in action moments, amplifying the cartoonish aspects of Deadpool and Al’s shenanigans.
Taking a more modern approach, “Friends Share Because Friends Care” goes right for a children’s character at the height of his popularity when this book dropped: Barney the Dinosaur. “Blarney” and Deadpool are en route to a birthday party when a plane crash leaves them stranded and Deadpool very, very hungry. This one is for every parent or older sibling that probably had way too much Barney in their lives, so to see distant cousin Blarney get his just desserts (perhaps literally) will lead to a macabre chuckle or two. The art team here opts for simple, extremely cartoonish and flat art that will remind readers of classic MAD Magazine or, for a more modern comparison, Skottie Young. It’s a little text-heavy in spots, but colored text for different speakers (green for Blarney, black for Deadpool) helps keep the pace.
The final longform story is the most adult-themed in the book, in the sense that it doesn’t take directly from a children’s work. “The Alphadead” imagines the ABCs of Deadpool’s world in the black and white cross-hatch style of Edward Gorey’s The Gashleycrumb Tinies. Surprisingly, there’s only one death (RIP Killbrew), which elevates this to the most absurd. What is a Gashleycrumb Tinies homage without 26 different ways to die? But if you ever wondered about Deadpool’s favorite movie (The Elephant Man, natch) or where you can find the Merc vocation for you (the Hellhouse), this is the place.
Continued belowWhen you need a break from Blarney or a trip to Boston, there’s paper dolls and color by number, and a morality lesson with Deadpool and Captain America. No need to stretch your imagination too far to find out who played the Marvel equivalents of upstanding citizen Gallant and ne’er do well Goofus.
There’s a fantastic lineup of artists throughout this book, each showing off how they can adapt an existing art style to the irreverence of Deadpool without losing the identity of either. It helps that there’s one writer – – Joe Kelly – – tying this entire book together. Kelly was deep in his tenure writing Deadpool at the time, and his experience shows. He’s able to keep Wade Wilson fun and just on the borderline of R-rated, not safe for work humor, without dipping too much into gross-out comedy. It’s not what fans who may only be coming to the character from the films know, but it’s also Deadpool well done.
Sometimes (perhaps more now than ever) you want to just be a kid again. But you also want want to still be an adult and do all those adult things that you couldn’t do as a kid. This book gives you the best of both worlds.
