Take A Deep Breath, Its Over — Reviewing ‘Deadpool/Wolverine’ #10

At last, it’s over — the upside-down, spinning around in place while plunging off a cliff with no parachute journey.

Yes, Deadpool/Wolverine #10 brings the duo’s cinematically-inspired comic book mashup to a close. Everything comes down to this from Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Guru e-FX, and Joe Sabino.

Well that was something. Not sure entirely what it was, but it sure was something. I’ll give it that at least.

Overall, this series has been a really messy affair. The usual strengths of Percy as a writer — especially as a writer of Wolverine — really felt lacking this time around. There were plenty of his usual staples to be found here, including the always-present-but-mostly-a plot-piece that is Maverick. None of it ever really meshed well and just felt so disjointed without any real spark. That is a glaring thing when the book is taking two of the most profitable and popular characters and smashes them together to capitalize on their already far in the rearview mirror cinematic romp.

For a series that dragged on and kept adding more stuff, this ending was rushed and left things not even close to neatly wrapped. Villains were dispatched in non-determinate “didn’t see the body for sure” ways. None of the dangling bits connected to various groups or figures were addressed. It just ends with lots of slashing, shooting, quipping, and explosions leading to heroic poses, dramatic, future-focused captions, and a cringe cheek kiss.

At least Cassara got to end things out after switching out with Robert Gill for a number of issues.

So all the narrative mess has a lot of heft and depth to it. Looking slick and rough at the same time which is a signature of Cassara’s work. Even as the action takes on a chaotic feeling, the dynamic way that it’s framed and focused works. Everything felt bigger and more epic than it probably had any right to be … and that’s a testament to the artistic talent involved.

I’m always a sucker for well incorporated gutter and white space inclusion for framing, eschewing backgrounds in some cases to really highlight the character moments.

Flashy, yet still tangibly stable, coloring aesthetics has been the key for Guru-eFX through this run. Establishing the background and backdrop in a very natural way to establish a tone for the setting and spaces. It feels authentic, or at least as authentic as ancient space pyramids can be, while supporting the depth and details of the artwork. The work is not afraid to get brighter and sillier with all the costumes and fantastical beats.

For once, the book isn’t nearly as massively expository as it has been. Still, there are a shit ton of bubbles as characters go on and on, much of it being Deadpool, but the second half is quieter. Through it all Sabino has done what he can to make it all flow and at least have some resonance. The emotional component is often a bit lax, unaided by the title characters being silently mind-controlled for most of the run. There are some shades, though, giving it at least enough to not leave all of the lettering feeling empty.

The Stryfpocalypse (last time I’ll type that!) stuff suffered the most through it all. The villain, who had seen a lot of massive development in the Krakoa era (which Percy was part of), read like an old school cartoon version of himself. It isn’t a huge bad thing, it just felt out of left field and hollow — chiefly since he spent most of the issues being the exposition vomiting, monologuing villain.

What a ride it’s been. Not a particularly good ride, but not an offensively bad one. This is one of those runs that will be recalled in an “Oh yeah, that one” style way down the line. Neither showing up on the best or worst style lists, but just existing somewhere in the middle.

It’s got some solid company there, so there’s that.

Deadpool/Wolverine #10 is now available from Marvel Comics.