Deadpool #4 Review

By Christopher Jones / January 25, 2013

rating: 4

SOME SPOILERS BELOW Deadpool kills a lot of presidents in this issue. In fact, Id say this is the goriest issue yet. After the disturbing visual of Deadpool dressed as Marilyn Monroe there is a flood of presidential slaughter (I counted twelve kills this issue). Seriously with Brian Posehn being one of the writers how has there not been a Dead Kennedys joke at some point in the last four issues? Im not the biggest Deadpool fan in the world. I think hes the kind of character that works best in small doses, and Ive never been too interested in his solo books. Add Posehn and my interest peaks immediately. Add a ludicrous plot where Deadpool has to kill the resurrected evil presidents alright fine Im in. This is still a Deadpool comic so its going to be hit or miss in a lot of areas. The humor is going to divide some readers. There were moments where I laughed out loud, some where I chuckled to myself and others where I just made my unimpressed face. You can expect plenty of pop culture references here - such as when Deadpool tells the reader to Crank Five Minutes Alone by Pantera, as he begins dismembering several dead presidents. I was a worried that he was going to suggest Walk. Seriously...is there a more played out tough guy song (excluding everything by Hatebreed)? There are also references to The Smiths and Guns N Roses with both being pretty unoriginal, but worth a ha ha. A lot of times in comics the art doesnt get mentioned enough. There might be a nod to how good it looks, or how much the artist has improved, but in comics there is more. Theres lettering, theres inking, theres coloring and in these areas Deadpool is really something special specifically the lettering of Joe Sabino. The way he contrasts the dialogue of the different characters is a nice touch, but what really makes his work stand are the sound effects. The humor of Deadpool isnt limited to his dialogue, his many pop culture references or his constant breaking of the fourth wall. The sound effects that are drawn also play into that Deadpoolian since of comedy. At one point during the montage of Deadpool killing several presidents (remember Pantera) the panels are filled with STAB SLASH GUT and my personal favorite, GORE. Also Deadpool yells, Hadouken! All in all this issue was another where I enjoyed parts, thought others dragged on a bit too long and some of the humor felt forced. This was a 3.5 for me from start to finish, but I had to bump it up to a 4 because not mentioning Sabinos lettering work would be criminal. Oh, and Deadpool gets his revenge against Abe Lincoln in a cage match.