Review by Frank Plowright

Foolkiller is one of Marvel’s more out there ideas, a nutty vigilante who murders those he considers fools. It’s all there in the name. He’s remained relatively obscure, but in 2016 was given a boost by associating with Deadpool in Deadpool & The Mercs for the Money. Max Bemis uses that association to bring one time therapist Greg Salinger to a form of existential crisis. They may have been built on shaky foundations, but where did his principles go?

As Psycho Therapy opens, Salinger appears to have landed on his feet. He’s no longer the Foolkiller, but a psychiatrist paid by S.H.I.E.L.D. to help other sad cases they send his way, such as Young Red Skull, a neo-Nazi who walks around with dried blood painted on his face. For Salinger it’s a form of peace that’s enabled him to rebuild a life. However, therapy sessions are unlikely to make for successful superhero comics, so it’s not long before Salinger’s life begins falling apart. There’s his girlfriend’s secret, the urges within him, and the arrival of another even screwier second Foolkiller that he inspired.

Bemis takes the association with Deadpool to produce the type of screwball story associated with the Merc With the Mouth, except with a different form of insanity as the driving force. While hardly mentally healthy, Salinger seems that way because he’s justifying himself in the narrative captions, and almost everyone he’s in contact with is some form of extreme headcase, not least Deadpool himself, who drops by for a self-aware therapy session.

A major bonus is a fantastic artist being assigned to Psycho Therapy. Dalibor Talajić is the complete package. The therapy sessions are supplied with a variety of inventive viewpoints, the civilian scenes are polished elegance and the action swarms off the page. How good is he? He injects dynamism into sequences of the costumed Foolkiller sitting around the house.

There are serious points to be made in a sharp script heavy on the convincing psychoanalysis, but combined with a great sense of humour and an unpredictable streak. The competition isn’t great, but this is by some distance the best Foolkiller you’ll find.