Deadpool Pulp, post-war pulp Marvel tribute.
Wade Wilson, a Canadian volunteer, is captured by the Japanese during World War II. After one year of torture, in which he seems to lose his last grip to sanity, he manages to escape along with a second, unnamed prisoner.
In the 1950s, during the Cold War, Wilson is working for the FBI, commanded by the man he helped flee from the Japanese PoW camp, who turns out to be no one less than Cable. He is recalled from South East Asia to recuperate a nuclear briefcase stolen by a rogue CIA agent. Wilson is here revealed to have developed a double personality, and the second “voice in his head” calls himself Deadpool.
One of ten 4-issue mini-series in which Marvel Comics tribute post-war pulp literature, Deadpool Pulp is a spy story that brings back memories of The Shadow and at the same time serves as an unofficial “origins” story for everybody’s favourite mercenary. Yes, I mean Deadpool.
Compared to your average Deadpool story, action and irony are very much toned down to make room for a gloomier style of storytelling. And that will be a serious issue for Deadpool fans, who will miss what makes their favourite character so unique and entertaining. But the 1950s-styled story is very interesting, although it can be a little slow compared to what we have learned to expect from comics nowadays, the references to every facet of pop culture are still present and that voice Wade hears in his head… yes, that is already Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth.
Maybe not a masterpiece, then, but definitely an entertaining, solid read. The character of Deadpool as we know him doesn’t fit the style chosen for this story, so the authors chose to tell us how he was before Deadpool was born. I’ll let you be the judge of their success.
