Written by David Lapham
Illustrated by Kyle Baker“NO CABLE NO FUTURE”
For years, when Uncle Sam needed to erase untouchable global madmen, it called on the legendary super-agent known as Cable. That is, until two years ago, Cable disappeared for parts unknown…and a certain Merc with a Mouth took up the slack. But now Cable has reemerged from where he claims is the far-flung future to take back his old job. How will that sit with Deadpool? Like Tacos before bedtime. It’s super-agent vs super-agent in a fight to the finish.
Oh DeadpoolMAX…whatever shall we do with you? Four issues in and I can’t make heads nor tails of you (and by that I mean I don’t know why you exist.) While an uber-violent MAX appearance of Deadpool has been anticipated since the launch of the MAX line back in 2001, I’m unsure this is the book anyone expected or wanted. Click below for my take on the latest tale from Lapham and Baker
Much like (the far superior) PunisherMAX from Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon, DeadpoolMAX works within its own universe with a version of Deadpool and his supporting cast heretofore unseen (at least as far as we know.) In this Universe, Deadpool’s psychoses are beyond unimaginable, and is being controlled by an agent of an as yet unidentified organization who has lead him to believe that a fictional terrorist cell is aiming to take over the world and only Deadpool can stop them. The agent’s name (Bob) as well as the dastardly organization’s name (Hydra) should be familiar to long time readers and, I have to admit, the inclusion of Bob (itself a nod to the fantastic Cable & Deadpool series) brings a bit of a smile to my face…not enough to save the book, though.
The last two issues have focused, in a lot of ways like the early Ultimate Universe titles did, on bringing familiar faces into the DeadpoolMAX-verse from the standard Marvel U. So while Outlaw was turned into an insane psychiatrist and Baron Zemo was morphed into an insane leader of the Ku Klux Klan (which, I have to admit, wasn’t the worst idea), this issue brought in a very familiar character to the Deadpool mythos…one with broad shoulders and a metal arm and oh, screw it, he’s on the cover I don’t need to be myserious…this issue brought us Cable. In this universe, Cable appears to be a messiah figure from the future that begins to lead Deadpool down a road of pseudo-enlightenment. Of course, there is a very good (albiet currently unconfirmed) chance that Cable is just as insane as Deadpool as he also appears to have a handler in the form of Bob’s former lover Agent Liu. Other than that, Deadpool blew stuff up and violence got did in a similar way that it gets done every issue (with little thought and reckless abandon.)
While the story itself could be stronger, if the only issues the book had were with the story, it might average out as an okay book (since, the concept of sane people handling insane people like weapons of mass destruction IS kind of a cool concept.) However, the art drags the book down…big time. While I’ve never actively disliked Kyle Baker’s work before, I realize now that is because I’ve only dealt with it in small doses, whereas here he’s on full time and it just does not jive with me. His weird, emaciated design style for his characters loses it’s charm very quickly and the washed out, pseudo-watercoloring just hurts my eyes. Maybe with a different colorist on the book the art would read better, but as it stands I just can’t abide it.
Overall though, its not the sub-par story or the ocular-holocaust that is the art on the book that really earns it negative marks, its the fact that it uses its mature banner to be outright childish. “Adult Content” does not just mean excessive violence, nudity and swearing, it means (or at least SHOULD mean) smartly written content that only an informed, adult mind can comprehend (pretty much every Vertigo book does this right…DeadpoolMAX does not)occasionally featuring violence, sex and swearing where necessary. Characters creating keys out of poop, swimming through poop and orthodox jews shooting up Klan members (okay that last one I like, but I’m biased) does not equal the right kind of adult content…and it drags this book down as a result.
Final Verdict: 3.6 – Pass
