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Wednesday Comic Reviews: Emperor Aquaman And Fear Itself Deadpool

I like this Deadpool. This Deadpool wants to have a laugh, cause chaos, with no apparent end game in mind. Stuck at the beginning superhero-proofing someone's house, the arrival of the Worthified Juggernaut gives him the idea to grant someone else a hammer of their own and just mess with their head. And he chooses the Z-lister Walrus.

Wednesday Comic Reviews: Emperor Aquaman And Fear Itself Deadpool

There's lots of other nonsense going on, a Brazil-like pair of plumbers, some kind of fly-like human assassin and the revelation that the hammer Deadpool grabbed may be more than it seems. But writer Christopher Hastings takes on the central plot points of Fear Itself and exposes their plot trappings for a laugh.

It's a shame then that a lot of the art gets in the way of the storytelling. While the characters are clear and enjoyable to see, the panels as a whole just aren't. There's clutter, poor composition and not much panel to panel ease of read. Artist Bong Dazo, great name aside, needs some tutoring on some basic storytelling skills.

Adrian Syaf on Emperor Aquaman seems to have the exact opposite problem. His panel to panel storytelling and clarity of expression are fine, inspired in some places. But his characters are stuff, laboured, lacking in life and dead in the eyes. He has a touch of Angel Medina, but the faces seem flat and lifeless which makes for a less than enjoyable experience. If only Bong Dazo could work from Adrian Syaf's layouts…

Wednesday Comic Reviews: Emperor Aquaman And Fear Itself Deadpool

The book is confusing for other reasons though. We start eight months ago. Five pages in we are eleven months ago. One opage later we're in the present. Three pages later we are ten months ago. Seven pages later we're in the present. Two pages later we're eight months ago. And four pages later we're back in the present for a single page. It's really confusing and hard to keep in your head, and this is from a man who wrote a Doctor Who comic, a third of which had to be read backwards to make any sense. Writing non linear is fine, but there has to be a point to it, a way to play off the sequence of events, to pull back and reveal. And this does hardly any of that, the final reveal would have made just as much sense and surprise is told in the correct order. This is just bad writing, pure and simple, and it fights against the reader enjoying the comic, without taking scissors to it. Which I am suddenly tempted to do.

There are political machinations, there are plots and crimes to be committed, but right now Deadpool makes more sense than Emperor Aquaman, and that's something I wasn't expecting.

Also, there seems to be a continuity error already, Flashpoint tells us that the crimes of Wonder Woman are killing the male population of Britain. Here, it's putting every "human" in a concentration camp. They could fit together I suppose, but it's a bit odd. We'll see if that makes sense in issues to come.

Wednesday Comic Reviews: Emperor Aquaman And Fear Itself Deadpool

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics in London. Currently hosting the Slovenian Comix gallery Stripburger with events running until the 12th of June. And watch for a signing with Klaus Janson at 5pm on the 16th June. And a Kirby-inspired gallery right now as well!


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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