Love, Death, And Big Heads: Reviewing ‘Deadpool’ #8

Being Deadpool ain’t easy. Corporate drones, her father’s ex, a big (head) super villain cameo, and more to deal with. Ellie and Princess are probably in need of a good breather vacation at this point.

Oh well, too bad that’s not on the menu, because Deadpool #8 ups the ante and the potentially deadly danger. Taskmaster’s going to need to make even more phone calls as Cody Ziglar, Alexis Quasarano, Rogê Antônio, Guru-eFX, and Joe Sabino continue the family business saga.

Oh, thank goodness am I glad to see Valentine Vuong. I’m also glad that we find out that the end of their relationship with Deadpool was not an acrimonious one, but one where two people just started to drift. One of the things I love about this book is how much stuff it picked up and ran with from the previous run (as well as others), while still doing it’s own thing. It’s a very old school, classic way of doing shared universe comics (very improv “yes, and” in a sense) that is sorely missed in many cases.

There are a lot of fun nuggets here as Ziglar and Quasarano keep the story pretty tight and focused. Their chosen villain appearance makes tons of sense for a secret science shell facility, but also for the humor aspect of Deadpool stories. Character richness permeates the book and we feel that, chiefly through the large section dedicated to Vuong and their flashback story-telling.

Gotta love that even dead, Wade found a way to break those flashback fourth walls.

These stories come with an inherent roughness baked in. They are mercenaries, after all. Antônio nails that every single time, allowing a rougher texture to be felt through every page. It really captures the overall story energy with depth and a very kinetic eye. Characters flow through the pages, which an almost whimsical edge to only slightly blunt that aforementioned roughness.

This keeps it dark, but also fun, as it should be.

That also carries through in the colors. Guru-eFX chooses color tone-levels so deliberately. Choosing a lot of darker heavier colors to really form the world, and tapping into the lighter, vibrant stuff when needed for the whole fantastical side of everything. It creates a world that is welcoming, but also will cut you if you let your hand linger for too long.

As noted, there is a lot of exposition here, as we get some backstory and talk about Wade’s whole dead (but maybe not) situation. Sabino always really allows words to breathe and blend across the page, capturing the voices and personalities so well. Those quips are rapid fire and bounce off the pages with the right force and vocal flow.

Deadpool #8 is now available from Marvel Comics.