“The Dead of Knight”, “The Gun & The Sword”, “Catch”, “The Red and The Green”. “Rocket Raccoon Has a Green Lantern Ring Now”, “Showdown” and “Enter Logo”
Writer: Zeb Wells, Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson, Kevin Smith, Frank Miller and Ryan North
Artists: Greg Capullo, Terry Dodson, Gurihiru, Adam Kubert, Frank Miller and Ryan Stegman
Color Artist: Alex Sinclair, Frank Martin
Letterer: Clayton Cowles, Joe Caramagna,
Review by James Attias
Marvel & DC: Deadpool / Batman #1 is here, and if you’re anything like me… You’ve been waiting since the 90s for this crossover! Let’s look at all the multibrand magic it brought!
The Dead of Knight
We start off with the titular hero’s story, Bruce Wayne brooding, when the merc with the mouth crashes through his window (beautifully drawn might i add) with an indecent proposal. We’re immediately taken straight into it. Not too many existential questions, no multiversal exposition. Just we’re here, let’s go. There was a trend in previous Marvel DC crossovers where the heroes would have a throwaway line like ” I wonder why we’ve never worked together before” I always looked out for it. But this story offers us no such line, which was a surprise to me as a forth wall breaking legend like Deadpool could have made a laugh out of it. This story is a fun one, it’s quite short, and not what i was expecting, but they did have to fit a lot of stories into this book. Aaaaand part two is coming in November so we may get more then. All in all it was beautifully drawn, easy reading that just makes you smile for being a fan.
The Gun and The Sword
Next up we had an amazing story with Wonder Woman and Captain America. This showed the immortal warrior and the Soldier out of time. Their relationship and how the world was if they’d co-existed in the same universe throughout each other’s many crises, and infinite number secret wars. The art was fantastic in this story, I loved how everyone was drawn, the colours really popped. We even got a little Superman cameo in this story, he and Spider-Man were very noticeable absent from this crossover. I think of all of the stories in this issue this one was probably my favourite. It had the most gravitas to it.
Catch
Cute story about a couple of super-pets, having a game of catch, was fun, was drawn well, a silent story that was banking on the two hottest pets in comics right now. Krypto due to the Superman movie and Jeff due to Marvel rivals. A fun story as a little pallet cleanser before the next gritty team up.
The Red and The Green
Back to the grit. We now have a fun team up from everyone’s favorite Silent, Hat wearing actor director Kevin Smith. In this great story we have Green Arrow – whom Smith wrote one of the most memorable stories in the last twenty years: Quiver. Then throw in the Man without fear, whom Smith also wrote a few years back this team up was for the fans. We see the two heroes fighting a bunch of shadowy villains from both of their universes with no holiday back. This story was fun, playful and kicked butt. Art was stunning too!
Rocket Raccoon Has A Green Lantern Ring Now
This story was also fun. Ridiculous, but fun. It also felt like the only story in this book that was definitely a “what if” out of continuity tale. We see the Green Lantern Corps giving a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy a green lantern ring, they seem to pick the ever violent and often drunk Raccoon. This is definitely a we gave a baby a blowtorch situation. We see the chaos and we can’t help but laugh. A very fun little story that ends with a funny stinger.
Showdown
This story, I have to say, was the weakest story in the book. If it had come 10-15 years ago it would have slapped. But the ever grumpy rage against the machine writer Frank Miller is starting to show his work is aging. We see a very old Dark Knight facing off for no apparent reason against a very old man Logan. They fight, they yell, they say something similar to get off my lawn. We love Frank Miller’s work, we respect that past and we take all of his work into account. This was a little tip of the hat to the legend. So we won’t be too harsh.
Enter Logo
Finally we have a new character. A blend of Lobo and Logan – Logo. When reading the story it makes sense, he’s grizzly, he has a fun way of combining all the elements and catchphrases of the two characters. Although the marketing made me laugh. Makes you think it’s an ad for web design – “Insert your Logo here” haha. A short and sweet story that will encourage the First appearance collectors and scalpers to buy the book. I expect we’ll see more of this character soon, but who knows how or when.
Conclusion
Marvel & DC: Deadpool / Batman #1 is a fun comic that we real comic fans can enjoy, easy read, great art. Great fun.
Review Written to Honor Steve J Ray – May he Rest in Peace.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment