Release Date: April 2nd, 2014
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Written By: Cullen Bunn
Art By: Salvador Espin
Price: 3.99
Review:
I have to admit I was looking forward to this insanity more than any book this month. Carnage, the insane psychopathic serial killer in a murderous alien symbiote versus Deadpool, the mercenary who is so insane the world literally bends itself to his will. This book wasted absolutely no time uniting these two whack jobs in a bloody few pages.
There isn’t much story but there doesn’t need to be. Psychopath versus psychopath. They don’t sit around pondering their existence or waxing philosophically. Deadpool gets some not so subtle hints from the universe, aka his TV, telling him that he should track Carnage down since he is at least as insane as Cletus Kasady is. While Carnage massacres an entire diner full of good ol’ honest taxpaying citizens, Wade contemplates how his “amazeballs screwiness” would eventually come in handy some day. I guess he hasn’t read any of his own books because his insanity is what always saves his carcass from a fiery death. And somehow, after following a crappy butcher who quits his job and watching a kid play Street Fighter, Deadpool miraculously finds a lead on Carnage. Huh?! Whatever. The two meet in a small town full of suburban houses that were abandoned and Carnage gets an RPG to the face as he stands triumphantly in his tighty whities on his front porch. An obligatory fight ensues complete with runny symbiote sprayed all over the place and Deadpool’s missing hand being inside Cletus. Eww. There is also a surprise cameo at the end. I have no clue who that person is but Deadpool gets his face blown off by them.
The art is as insane as the two characters. Its nonstop adrenaline-fueled action and explosions. The fight between the two nutters is beyond hectic, with symbiote blades, pistols, grenades, and tentacles flying all over. The craziness in the eyes of Kasady is scary enough but then you get the facial expressions of Deadpool impossibly showing even thru his mask. Deadpool’s body language and the reactions of random people on the street to the Merc with the Mouth are priceless. Espin also throws in a plethora of fanboy references, Easter eggs, and Marvel goodies in the backgrounds and foregrounds of almost every panel leading up to the fight.
Cullen Bunn is currently my favorite writer. Everything that guy touches turns to gold. While I wasn’t sure he could tackle the level of insanity that is Deadpool versus Carnage, he surprised the amazeballs right off me. The rest of this story should be beyond good with him at the helm. Also, there’s a Parental Advisory label on the front of the book so that’s guaranteed awesome!
I’ll just spoil the cameo surprise because I doubt more than two people know who she is and if they do, I’m sure she isn’t a world shattering reveal-type cameo. So, who is Shriek? Anybody?
Shriek is Carnage’s lover/ally. Think of her as Harley Quinn to his Joker. She debuted in Maximum Carnage in the 90’s and hasn’t made much of an appearance since then besides a small roll in the Carnage miniseries that came out a few years ago that detailed Carnage’s return after Sentry “killed” him. Her powers consist of being able to emit sonic blasts (which is ironic since one of Carnage’s weakness is sonics) but her more interesting power is the ability to emit vibes that cause people around her to act on their basest, most violent emotions. And when she’s feeding off of Carnage’s vibes and emitting them outward well…you can imagine how bad things can get.
Awesome. Thanks for coverin my tail man. She could make this series even crazier should Deadpool say, turn her against Carnage.
I read it and it was okay. I was expecting it to be better. I guess my main problem was I felt it was kind of stupid how Deadpool found Carnage. I was thrown off by Carnage having a helper, ‘Shiek’. I had not heard of Carnage for years and was not up to date. It will be a whole new fight. I found it odd that the grenade didn’t kill Carnage because in the Infinity comics Deadpool fought a centurian with a symbiote and Deadpool cut the legs off the centurian easily and beat him. I wonder how this one will end.
Wasn’t a steamroller involved in that as well?
I think the way he tracked Carnage down was intentionally stupid because of the way Deadpool always breaks the fourth wall. I’ve never seen a symbiote of Carnage or Venom’s level get killed by anything though. They’re like that green slime you got when you were a kid that you could never separate no matter what you did.
Yeah, Venom’s symbiote was touched by Styx (he kills whatever he touches) and lived to tell the tale, so killing them is no mean feat.
I thought that the kid playing street fighter was just some comic relief, while the butcher was Cletus. Maybe I’m overthinking,but the butcher looked like Kassidy and when you get a close up of his apron the blood stain in the center looks like Carnage’s face. I figured Deadpool tracked the butcher (Carnage) home and the kid was just a joke in the background. However, Carnage having a day job would be weird, so I may be over analyzing.
Holy crap I didn’t notice his face in his apron. Good catch Declan. I just took the whole search for Carnage as one big joke. Comic book gods (writers) sending Deadpool overt and unsubtle messages since he’s the only character that knows he’s in a comic book. The magazine rack next to the Street Fighter machine is what gave Wade his lead. For no apparent reason really. I took it as reinforcing the level of insanity we’re about to be exposed to.