Review by Frank Plowright

In Burning Down the House, Norman Osborn moved on to a higher calling leading the Dark Avengers, to which he transferred several previous Thunderbolts. Writer Andy Diggle considered the remainder surplus to requirement, so populated the team with his own choices. Elsewhere Osborn has been targeting Deadpool to ensure he doesn’t reveal the truth of Secret Invasion while Deadpool believes he’s owed a substantial fee and is determined to collect from Osborn.

At four chapters this is a slim read anyway, hastened further by the fast-pace and largely plot-free first Deadpool chapter. Daniel Way captures Deadpool’s madness and his spur of the moment effectiveness, but there’s hardly any great depth to the dialogue that carries his initial participation here.

Paco Medina’s clean pencils on the Deadpool chapters work very well, but Bong Dazo on the remainder is puzzling. The longshots highlight messy layouts, poor figure work, and ludicrously over-muscled characters, while his close-ups are well-considered.

It’s characteristic of Osborn to ensure he has back-ups in place, so when Deadpool relatively easily overcomes a set of obstacles he’s faced with the Thunderbolts. And this batch of Thunderbolts are led by the supremely attractive Yelena Belova, for whom Deadpool plummets, but not before he’s stolen some technology that happens to be lying about the place.

From that point both Diggle and Way come up with methods of throwing in the unexpected and the tale romps to a conclusion. The extent to which anyone will like this is definitely associated with the divisive Deadpool. Those who can’t read enough of his manic free association will appreciate the book far more than those who prefer their superhero comics without Groucho Marks.

Deadpool’s continuity continues in Deadpool: Dark Reign, and the Thunderbolts follow up in Widowmaker.