Deadpool & the Merc$ for Money #1

By Cullen Bunn, Iban Coello, Guru-eFX, Joe Sabino, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire.

More Deadpool is always a good thing, right? Well, that seems to be the response Marvel has been taking as of late with such titles being released as Deadpool, Spider-Man/Deadpool, Deadpool vs. Gambit, Gwenpool, and Deadpool & the Merc$ for Money. This week we received a new #1 for Deadpool & the Merc$ For Money and it followed the adventures of Deadpool and his ragtag group of mercenaries. That’s right, the gang is back together: Solo, Slapstick, Foolkiller, Massacre, Terror, and Stingray all together with Deadpool trying to get him some money and the rest of the mercenaries trying to get Deadpool to pay them. Their newest hi-jinks finds the gang in Albuquerque, New Mexico where they are looking for someone they were hired to bring in for “protection purposes”.

This book is swimming with classic Deadpool art features with overly muscled characters, sharp lines, deep saturated colors, and tons of action in every page. Coello is on art with Guru-eFX on colors, and Sabino on letters and the finishing product is a stunning delight to classic Deadpool enthusiasts. One thing that stands out throughout the book is the constant fluidity of action from page to page that keeps the action going and takes the reader on a ride as the Merc$ attempt to bring in a fan fave mutant for their “protection”. The beauty too of the pacing of each layout because every Merc gets their own time on the page in action, appeasing every reader with their fave Merc getting love. The colors in this issue are jumping off the page with deep colors, and with the great use of grey purple tones versus normal shading to show someone’s power usage panel to panel. The overall character design in this #1 brings back warm and fuzzy feelings of classic Deadpool, in his black and red uniform with the overly muscled body.

Deadpool & the Merc$ For Money #1 takes this group into new ground as this ragtag group of misfit mercenaries and Deadpool try to work together while simultaneously trying to work against each other. Cullen Bunn is the perfect writer to undertake this story, he can subtly add in comedy to a story that has a lot of action while, also make you care a lot about each character. This is a tricky story to write, with all the competing personalities it can be challenging, but Bunn handled the situation nicely. Bunn masterfully uses each personality to play off of Deadpool, giving him the appropriate timing and situations to be pure outlandish Deadpool. Bunn also uses a classic Mutant character, Domino, as a Deadpool confidant, to allow Deadpool to show his state after he reveals his true concern over losing the team after some payment delays. This series has a lot of room to grow and also get readers more familiar with some of the mercenaries, while also providing some great Deadpool fodder. The overall story also provides some complexity to the team as they are set up to decide between doing what is right and what will make them money.

This book does give in to some of the familiar Deadpool pratfalls with the usual inappropriate language and comments sprinkled with plenty of action on every page, but it does separate itself from past Deadpool books because it is showing Deadpool’s growth as a leader and as a hero. Deadpool & the Merc$ For Money #1 has all the possibility to be another great success for the Deadpool brand and can also launch some new solo titles from the cast of the mercenaries. This book has enough complexity to keep the story fresh and the character’s interesting, but the art will also keep you hooked to the story as each page passes. The collective creative team have really started off this run right leaving us with a new Deadpool title to look forward to each month.