It has been over two decades since a new (official) story has occurred where Marvel and DC crossover. This resulted in a lot of hype and high expectations for, "Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman," which was just released and will soon be followed by, "DC/Marvel: Batman/Deadpool," which is confusing with the names, I know, just run with it. The debut of the crossover was released on Wednesday with the headliner story and a bunch of back-up yarns...and the main story is actually pretty weak.
Did I expect too much from Deadpool and Batman teaming up? I mean, Greg Capullo is an amazing artist and does a fantastic job with the strip, and Zeb Wells is generally a solid writer with a good handle on comedic-ish characters (such as Deadpool). The resulting comic is just a bit...meh. One bit where James Gordon dresses down Deadpool's schtick as a masked psycho being nothing new to Gotham is clever, but the actual interplay between Wade Wilson and Bruce Wayne in or out of costume is lacking. Obvious jokes are told about billionaires being scuzzy, Batman being imposing with his gravelly voice, and so forth. Even the way Deadpool ended up in the DC Universe is only vaguely explained as the Joker screwing with some dimension-altering machinery. It is the lowest-hanging of fruit that Wells chooses to pluck for this story, and it is by no means bad, but when you have a comic event this big, I expected more, and a lot of the internet seems to agree. Frankly, the back-up stories are all either better or at least a great deal more interesting.
The Wonder Woman/Captain America team-up story is a great deal more intriguing. Featuring the writing of Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson's artwork, it imagines a Universe where Marvel and DC have been united from the start, with various characters from both publishers on famous teams or taking part in epic events (it seems Wonder Woman sided with Cap in the popular, "Civil War," comic of the early 2000s). It's nothing remarkable, but it at least does something fun.
An adorable story featuring Jeff the Landshark and Krypto is bound to be the highlight of this issue for folks who are into cute animals. Kelly Thompson and Gurihiru do a lovely job on it, and I chuckled. I was also intrigued by the sheer weirdness of Frank Miller's comic, where the Dark Knight Returns-style Batman and the Old Man Logan version of Wolverine fight and hurl insults. It isn't exactly good, but it is fascinatingly abstract and strange. Another brief strip where Rocket Raccoon and Green Lantern trade teams (Guardians of the Galaxy and Green Lantern Corps) as part of a cultural exchange is hilarious and gorgeously illustrated, thanks to writer Al Ewing and artist Dike Ruan.
My favorite story was, honestly, the one written by Kevin Smith and featuring art by Adam Kubert. Smith is a man whose films vary between, "Amazing," and, "Terrible," with his comic work doing much of the same. That said, he did solid work on both Daredevil and Green Arrow at various points in his career, so it is a real hoot to watch the characters meet up, size each other up, and work together. Just a gas of a strip! We do end the book with an interesting throwback to the Amaglam era, where we meet, "Logo," who is a blend of Wolverine and Lobo. The strip is so short I can't be sure if the idea has legs beyond a handful of pages or is best served as a one-and-done joke. As the Amaglam characters are a messy shared copyright, we may never see him again to find out anyway. I at least appreciate the effort writer Ryan North and artist Ryan Stegman put into the little surprise strip at the end of the comic.
I've clearly had a lot more to say and compliment about the back-up stories, which is strange considering we were talking about two huge names being used to, "Sell," this crossover! I do wonder if the DC-headlined end of things will have a stronger take on Batman and Deadpool squaring off. I look forward to finding out and reading more intriguing back-up stories in November. As it stands, however, this comic is overall a good-but-not-great...
3 out of 5 Stars.
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