I'm speaking of Deadpool # 35, and I'm actually not that concerned about the gag headlining this piece. It's a Sheen gag, which is pretty gross at this point, but it's a subtle Sheen gag, and it's mixed with a Ridley Scott reference. I think that redeems it. Any mention of tiger blood or warlocks would have pushed it into the "spare me" category, but it's well within historical bounds for Deadpool to dabble in current events. So there.
What really intrigued me was the gag at the end of the book:
On the one hand, I'm always going to defend this bit because it takes a certain amount of balls. Not everybody is happy with these double ships, myself included. Deadpool is probably the worst offender. If you don't care about the fact that sometimes Marvel asks you to spend twice as much on the title to keep up, then the whole thing is much ado about nothing.
But what if you do care? What if you're a reader on a tight budget or a retailer trying to keep those budgeted, unhappy customers calm? In that case, the thing that's cornholing you just made a joke about how it's cornholing you. It's rubbing your face in it. Since this month Deadpool is double shipping, it's really grinding your nose in the excrement.
As I said, I'm in favor of the bit. Deadpool knows he's a comic book character, and these types of gags have been a staple of the book, particularly during Nicieza's run. Fabian used to take blatant shots at Marvel and its policies that made me wonder how they let the books ship. So in keeping with the tradition of being blunt about company foibles, I support what Danny Way did.
I didn't think it was funny, though, because the joke felt mostly on me. I guess that makes it extra brilliant in some ways. I imagine somewhere Andy Kaufmann is very proud.
What does the peanut gallery think - is it gross, is it ballsy funny, or is it a non-issue?
- Ryan
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