(Marvel Comics, 2014)
Written by Cullen Bunn
Artwork by Ramon Rosanas
Once upon a time there was a scar-faced, big-mouthed mutant that lived in a world of black and white comic book pages. He did not care that he lived in a comic book because there were tacos and they came in unlimited quantities. While there were tacos in this world, there were also zombies!
Most of us are familiar with the term “zombies”, but in the world of our boisterous hero, they are quite different than you might expect.
Ladies and Gentleman – this is Night of the Living Deadpool! I absolutely love this comic book mini-series. It is an atrocity that there is only four books that are in this series starring my favorite Merc with the Mouth. Deadpool is brilliant! He isn’t brilliant for the sake of brightness, but for the characteristics that he has acquired based on the writing skills of Cullen Bunn. I have thoroughly enjoyed both issues of this series and refuse to drink milk when reading issue 3 hits the shelves.
Issue 2 follows Deadpool as he continues to live life amongst a world of no superheroes and one where zombies rule. Over the course of a few pages, eight weeks take place in this fable. There is not dragging out of dialogue over an entire book. Substance and frenzy are present from the very beginning. Not to spoil anything major, but Deadpool gets the opportunity to whack up some zombie kids and that is pretty funny! The issue takes him a good distance in regards to where he actually started in this tale and leaves him on the doorstep of a pseudo-paradise that exist in a world of walking corpses. The only problem is that an odd group of elderly women somehow stand in the way of his entering this promise land.
I can remember when liking zombies was not cool. I have spent countless number of hours watching the terrible B-rated zombie flicks on Netflix and super cheesy “of the Dead” and “Night of the Living Dead” series. What has happened over the past five years in terms of making zombies mainstream is quite sickening to someone who has always found a sense of art within the zombie genre. Don’t get me wrong! I love The Walking Dead and I appreciate what Robert Kirkman has done to fuel my zombie needs over the last decade, but at some point enough is enough.
That “enough is enough” factor is exactly what Night of the Living Deadpool is all about. If you have ever watched a zombie movie involving a cabin, farmhouse, graveyard, or prison, then look no further than this wonderful comic series. It has the slashing and the blood that goes along with the zombie category, but it also contains a clever comedic style. Zombies are meant to be funny! There I said it. The very idea of a person dying and coming back to life to eat the flesh of other humans is hilarious! Somewhere over the past decade this concept has been lost and Deadpool does everything he can to bring back that much needed laugh factor.
If you are looking for hysterical, stupidity that takes zombies back to where they belong then you should simply buy this comic book. Also, did I mention that it has Deadpool? A guy with samurai swords and high-powered artillery taking out zombies! There is nothing more to look for in a comic. You will either love it or hate it, but I strongly believe that fun mini-series like this should be the approach more often by the big three comic publishers. This would make me happier and it would definitely make it easier for me to find something to write about in a review.
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Galen is a Graphic Designer in Wake Forest, NC. He is the husband of a wonderful Oklahoma girl and dad of a future Marvel Comics fan. He enjoys comic-related anything, the Boston Red Sox and sharpening his axe for the zombie apocalypse.