The 90’s, for better or worse, have a reputation among comic readers, including certain styles and artists whose works are synonymous with the times. Perhaps chief among them is Rob Liefeld, a writer and artist who gave us some of the biggest guns, most bulging muscles, and also notably, inaccurate feet. But the 90’s comics and Liefeld also gave us one very important character whose popularity has continued to this day: Deadpool.
Now, Liefeld returns to the character with “Bad Blood” and its follow-up, “Badder Blood,” so let’s take a look at the first issue of “Deadpool: Badder Blood” and see how it fares.
Written by Rob Liefeld and Chad Bowers
Illustrated by Rob Liefeld
Colored by Jay David Ramos
Lettered by VC’s Joe SabinoDEADPOOL, WOLVERINE, CABLE – IT DOESN’T GET BADDER THAN THIS! WADE WILSON is back, and he’s brought some frenemies! As the villainous THUMPER returns to take out the man who created him, WOLVERINE and CABLE step in for a daring rescue mission. But as DEADPOOL becomes embroiled in nefarious criminal machinations in MADRIPOOR, will the trio be able to join forces…or will Thumper’s agenda put an end to their efforts? Don’t miss the highly anticipated follow-up to DEADPOOL: BAD BLOOD, as Rob Liefeld returns to the Merc with a Mouth and introduces NEW characters into his wild world who are sure to become the next fan-faves, including the first appearance of SHATTERSTORM!
It’s important to remember Deadpool’s 90’s roots when reading “Badder Blood” because everything about the comic screams “90’s throwback.” Thematically and visually, it has many of the common elements from that era, which makes it a fun flashback for readers from that time, but perhaps jarring for those who didn’t grow up in the most “extreme” time in comics.
“Badder Blood” continues the story of “Deadpool: Bad Blood,” as Deadpool pursues a childhood friend-turned-killing-machine, now accompanied by Wolverine and Cable. Naturally, violence ensues, with no shortage of large guns and even larger muscles.
Rob Liefeld’s art still carries that gritty style, complete with an almost excessive amount of hatch marks on the character designs to add detail and shading, creating a very rough and rugged appearance. Bodily proportions aren’t always aligned, but in Liefeld’s favor, the disproportions aren’t distractingly common, and nowhere does it reach the point of “characters with biceps larger than their faces.”
In fact, while a lot of the 90’s era elements are there (especially evident when Cable and Wolverine first enter the scene, with poses straight out of a cover page) Liefeld’s artwork does show a nice grasp of depth and detailing that doesn’t overly rely on hatch marks. The lighting and shadow effects work nicely on the characters, helped in larger part by Jay David Ramos’ color work.
Speaking of the color work, Ramos does a fine job using warm tones across the comic, brought out more by the colder background colors. The uses of shading and lighting help draw our focus, maintaining a color scheme once more reminiscent of the 90’s but with modern shading, depth, and sensibilities to them.
Naturally, there’s no shortage of action in this comic, usually involving swords, guns, and/or claws. There’s so much action, in fact, that the comic needs a two-page vertical spread (requiring readers to turn the comic to the side) not once, but twice. (That part is a bit of an overkill, especially when one of the spreads consists almost entirely of Cable’s body as he shouts out a command. That easily could have been half a page at most.
But the action does tend to flow nicely more often than not. Each strike and punch moves into the next, allowing the readers to follow the fight and feel the impact. So overall, the visual elements can be hit-or-miss, but there’s still parts worth praising and parts worth critiquing.
How about the story? A comic has to be more than an extended fight scene, so does the plot work?
Actually, yes, it works pretty well. Deadpool is trying to stop Thumper, who used to be his friend before Department H turned him into a killing machine. Now Thumper is not only after the former mad doctor who created him, he also has his own machinations afoot, while Deadpool wants to find him, but also wouldn’t mind getting revenge on the not-so-good doctor. Wolverine and Cable, meanwhile, are trying to stop things from getting worse. So there are pieces moving across the board and plans to go around; it’s nothing particularly complex, but it carries the story nicely.
Continued belowThere are some parts where the dialogue gets a little excessive; Wolverine practically monologues mid-swing more than once (reminding one of the phrase “talking is a free action), but it’s in service of the story and narration, so it’s acceptable. Otherwise, all the characters maintain solid personalities and voices in everything they do – especially Deadpool.
The most important thing in a good “Deadpool” comic is the character himself. There’s a fine balance between hyperviolence, fourth wall-breaking comedy, and tragedy that writers need to strike; go too much in any one direction and the comic becomes gratuitous or impossible to take seriously. Fortunately, Liefeld and script writer Chad Bowers manage to strike that balance, giving us moments where Deadpool lands a well-timed reference as well as moments where Deadpool reminds us of what exactly Department H and the Weapon X project did to him. After all, this is a personal matter to Deadpool, but he can still land some good one-liners and innuendos when the moment calls for it. “Badder Blood” is undoubtedly more on the “grim and violent” end of the spectrum, but it does still balance it out.
Overall, “Deadpool: Badder Blood” may not be the greatest “Deadpool” comic of the past few years, but it’s still very solid for what it is. The 90’s elements are very strong, both visually and narratively, but not nearly enough to reach “dark age of comics” levels, and still manages to showcase the creative team’s strengths. It leans more to the serious side of a Deadpool story, but there are many who prefer that to some of the more extreme goofiness of other “Deadpool” storylines. (As I said, there’s a balance to strike.)
Final Verdict: 7.4 – A “Deadpool” comic with very strong 90’s era elements, but still updated more to modern styles, and building a solid, personal side story for the Merc with the mouth. Not the most humorous of “Deadpool” stories, but a decent one nonetheless.
