Hey now Evil Geeks!  Just because it’s Sunday, that doesn’t mean that we’re not hard at work here in the Evil Lair and by “hard at work” I really mean we’re just sitting around reading comics.  Today’s Evil Geek Book Report comes to us courtesy of MarvelNow’s Deadpool #5 with words by Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan, featuring art by Tony Moore.  I’ve made no secret of my love of this title, it is undoubtedly my favorite book of the brand relaunch, so how does issue #5 hold up?  Read on to find out!

Be careful what you wish for kid.

I really dug this issue as I have with the series overall, but in my opinion this was the weakest issue of the run so far.  The thing that really bugged me about this issue is the time jump we’re thrown into at the beginning of the book.  Issue #4 ended with Deadpool about to take on Abraham Lincoln in an MMA ring in Las Vegas during a pay-per-view event.  However, Issue #5 starts up with Deadpool leaving the arena after the fight, which I’m assuming he won.  WTF guys?!?!  Honest Abe has been the #2 President behind Washington in this rampage of the dead Presidents and just when the book’s protagonist is about to take him out…POOF! We cut to a shot of the hero basically saying “Wow, what a great fight that was!”  What is this, “No Country For Old Men”?!?! SHOW ME the important scene, don’t give me a suggestion of it through the dialogue.  I can understand how that dynamic would work in a book, where there are no pictures, but this is a visual medium, I want to see what happens!  Having said that, now I can admit that I did enjoy the scene in which they side-stepped the fight.  It’s a nod to the old Mean Joe Green coke commercial that ends up horribly and hilariously for the kid who gets Deadwood’s “game jersey”.

Space Monkeys!!!

The unique humor and tone of the series definitely holds up in this book as Deadpool travels to an orbiting Cold War era Russian space station to take on Zombie Ronald Regan who plans on using the satellite’s nuclear warheads to rain destruction upon the U.S.  When first getting tot he station, Wade must first do battle with a troupe of hyper-intelligent monkeys, which to say the very least, is an absolutely brilliant idea.  Tiny dismembered monkey parts fly and Planet of the Apes references get dropped!  Another bit of the book’s signature humor comes out, when Deadpool slices open Zombie Regan and to his surprise, a cloud of jellybeans comes flying out of him like the worlds grossest pinata.

Something tells me Bertie Botts doesn’t have a flavor for this.

Even though the book is known primarily as a humor book, shit gets all to real at the end and we see a serious Deadpool come out after the death of one of the story’s significant characters at the hands of Zombie George Washington.  The act comes right as Deadpool has finally found someone who actually appreciates him and the things he’s done to stop the dead Presidents, so he’s feeling a rare moment of acceptance.  You normally think of Deadpool as being too crazy to know or care about the fact that he’s not exactly well liked amongst the people of the Marvel U, but when things get serious you see that he is totally aware of that and in fact Wade highly values the few people who have taken the time to get to know him.  Deadpool’s reaction to the death made me see that beneath the crazy, there’s actually an extremely lonely person inside that blood drenched mask.

Issue #6 is going to wrap up the zombie Presidents storyline and I can tell you that after the end of #5, things aren’t going to go so hot for George Washington and the remaining zombie Presidents.  Once that issue hits, you know you’ll be able to tune it back here to check out another brand spanking new Evil Geek Book Report!  Read on, Evil Geeks!

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