Marvel Flipside

Dating Deadpool & Fear Itself

Get it? Because there are hammers involved in Marvel's big summer publishing event? Isn't that ... funny?

MC Hammer was the stage name of Stanley Kirk Burrell, and left his indelible mark on pop culture in the days when old school rap was simply just called rap. Those pants and signature shuffle were most popular with 1990's "U Can't Touch This." That only makes this reference 21 years old!

In case you are a teenager reading comic books, here is the music video the cover artist wants you to remember:

 

Dated, obvious, tired and cliche.

Thus:

Deadjoke-o-meter:

1 out of 5 Deadpools. (If only I can remember what that's supposed to mean.)

 

Dating Deadpool - January

Hey! Deadpool made a joke with a pop culture reference that was fewer than 10 years ago!

from Deadpool Team Up #886 (2010) by Shane McCarthy, Nick Dragotta, and Brad Simpson

Hokage being, of course, a title used by the leader and most powerful member of the Konohagakure, one of the five Great Ninja Villages in the world of Naruto.  This famous anime/manga series exploded in popularity for middle schoolers in the U.S. about 2005, to put a date on it, making this one of Deadpool's most current pop culture references to date.

Of course, the comic also "gagged" with the movie Cliffhanger (1993), so maybe that all balances out. 

Deadjoke-o-meter:

5 out of 5 Deadpools. (But I can never remember what that's supposed to mean.)

 

X-Force

Ah, Deadpool. Always good for a dated reference.

Uncanny X-Force #2 (2010) by Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña

"One of these days Alice, straight to the Moon!" favored expression of Ralph Kramden, lead character of The Honeymooners, that ran from 1955 - 1956.

Deadjoke-o-meter:

2 out of 5 Deadpools. (Dated, but so dated that it's almost standard historical pop culture knowledge, as it's inspired countless homages from The Flintsones to Looney Tunes' The Honey-Mousers.)

What The--?! Cover: November

The mini-story here is that I was scrolling through Marvel.com's catalogue to peruse the covers of this month, and one by one I'm remarking: "cool," "meh," "hm. nice," "no," "sigh," and then, pretty much literally, "What the--?!" when I got to Deadpool Max (2010) #2,  cover by Kyle Baker. This was incredibly out of place to the point where I feel it should be "racked" with other books and left out of the visual field with the rest of them. 

While I often had a hard time Ed McGuinness, as I expressed yesterday, I often don't have a hard time with Kyle Baker. However, Baker always felt like he belonged to a class of his own, and seemed to always work well on his own terms. I'm sure that that is why he was asked to do a cover for something so… uh, "Max!" as this comic is supposed to be so "funny" and "mature readers" at the same time. Marvel, if you want to publish this kind of stuff, that's your right, but do it with some class… keep your brands to themselves.

I mean, really? The pose, the costume, the suggestive pose, the … marks on knees!? Pushing the boundaries might be fine, but at what point does "pushing the boundary" actually "cross the line?" 'Cause I hate to tell ya, but the line is over *there,* dude, behind you.

What The--?! Cover: October

And finally... when October is bringing you vampires, Tombs of Terror, and the prospect of more Shadowland tie-ins, there is this ray of hope, a beacon to delight your sensibilities and tickle your smiling muscles. Whether you love him or hate him (perhaps ESPECIALLY if you hate him,) you are sure to get a kick out of this month's "What The?!" Cover--

Deadpool #28 by David Johnson and Jason Pearson

And yes, the pun was intended.

Worst Marvel Cover: October

What can I say? I've been kind to Deadpool Corps because I haven't called it out on some pretty bad covers. But it's gotten as far as issue 7 this month and I can't let it go by any longer without a mention. And this is in a month that features quite a few "Worst" candidates across the board, with a lot of gross anatomy, wierd composition choices, and a whole host of "vampire alternate covers" for some reason. Is it because it's October? Is it because people still think vampires are still "fresh?" Is it because they have to pander to so many alternate cover choices that they are becoming redundant? Yes, yes, and yes.

But I'm getting off topic-- Deadpool Corps #7 (2010) by Rob Liefeld

There seems to be some attempt at a fun display here, especially with some outer space shennanegans, but it isn't pushed far enough to really be crazy and random. The whole thing is on a tilted axis, but there's no variation within that axis-- everything has the same rotation. Plus, the forms on the figure are all wrong, with little proportion and sense of space. The spaceship looks more like a hunk of rock, and the lens flare and gradient in the background are circa 1992. At least there is some attempt at more sophisticated rendering in the dead-head's cowl and eyes , but it's too little and too late. "Worst" it is.

Although I REALLY wanted to give it to this artwork, from Shadowland #4 by John Cassaday & Laura Martin... yeesh. What kind of expression is this, really:

Dating Deadpool - October

from Uncanny X-Force #1 (2010) by Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña, and Dean White

No Doubt:

Ska band formed 1986
First Grammy nominations: 1996
First Grammy won: 2003
Group hiatus: 2004-2008
Return tour: 2009

Deadjoke-o-meter:

3 out of 5 Deadpools. (It looses points for being called a terrible ska band, when they are pretty cool, actually.)

Dating Deadpool Again

Pepsi Challenge -- commercial campaign began 1975, featured in Psychological Reports in 1983, recurring campaign in 2001

Dateline Difference = 9 - 35 years

Dating Deadpool

I did this already with another Deadpool comic, and thought I might give it another go. I'm certainly no demographic or target marketing genius, but I enjoy trying to see things from that perspective, including reading comics with an eye for "new reader friendly"-ness and "young reader friendly"-ness. Considering a young male age 16 for a ballpark number, but also considering the fact that anything he may have encountered younger than middle school is effectively a wash, what exactly is the appropriate date range for pop culture/current event awareness to make humorous references effective? Or, asked another way, what if you threw a joke and nobody came? 

This time from Deadpool Team-Up #890, by James Asmus, Micah Gunnell, Rob Stull, and John Rauch

Richard Gere urban legend, circa 1985
aged = 25 years

Great Recession, 2007
aged = 3 years

John McClane in Die Hard, 1988
aged = 22 years

The Facts of Life TV sitcom, 1979
aged = 31 years

Hamster Dance internet meme, 1999
aged = 11 years

Best Marvel Cover: August

This was  a difficult month to choose a Best/Worst/What The cover. Check out Marvel's catalogue if you don't believe me. Too many, WAY too many, of the solicitations had no cover image available, and there were more than a few that looked like they were interior art from a previous publication to be the actual cover. I gotta say, I'm disappointed. There used to be quite a number of really design-y looking covers in the previous months, things that pushed the concept of a comic book cover in new directions, and it was exciting. It looks like we're back to more of the same-old generic poses nowadays, more or less.

That's why I'm giving the BEST this month to, of all things, a Deadpool comic. I'm a Deadpool fan, and I hold up Joe Kelly's run on Deadpool's first series as a high water mark, but even I am convinced there is way too much Deadpool stuff out there now. I really hope this trend winds down, or Deadpool will be too supersaturated to really work. 

At least we get an interesting design from Jason Pearson here. The artwork contains that uncomfortable juxtaposition of humor and horror, certainly appropriate for a Deadpool comic, right? Notice the playfulness with the logo, its placement, overall use of texture, and some interesting use of negative space. Thank you, Deadpool, for at least being a bit experimental in your art and design!

Deadpool: Wade Wilson's War #3 by Duane Swierczynski and Jason Pearson, on sale Aug. 4