The current run of Deadpool feels like something of a renaissance for the character – at least for me, a guy who once loved him and got sick of him being dull and boring and omnipresent – and one of the best staples of the Gerry Duggan/Brian Posehn era has been the amazing “inventory” issues featuring the amazing artistic mimicry skills of Scott Koblish. Previously, we’ve seen Koblish manage a pitch-perfect send-up of 1980s comics with Deapdool #7 (featuring drunk Tony Stark), and of 1970s comics with Deadpool #14, featuring the Heroes For Hire and “The White Man.”
Now, with Deadpool #20, we’ve got a flashback to the Swingin’ Sixties, featuring Koblish channeling Jack “King” Kirby’s Fantastic Four days.
The issue opens with a flash of Kirby Dots and pinstripe-suited Cable and Deadpool arriving in 1968 after zapping out of 1950s LA (a story maybe we’ll see down the line?), and then Cable quickly abandons him in Wakanda. He decides to take a vacation there, complete with a crazy new Kirbyesque outfit (seen above), when an amazing amount of wild maniacs attack him. Then, the original Fat Baby version of the Watcher shows up, leads him to this fantastical monstrosity called The Ruler Of The Earth, who then sends him on a mission to collect cosmic puzzle pieces, leading him to cross paths with Mangog, Fin Fang Foom, The Thing, a cosmic baby, living Easter Island monsters, and my biggest laugh of the issue:
Koblish is goddamned amazing, there’s no other way to say it. His ability to channel all these varying styles over these “inventory” issues and nail each one so distinctly is nothing short of stunning. Deadpool #20 is a feast for (and occasionally an assault upon) the eyes, as great pains are taken to even recapture the printing style of the era. Posehn and Duggan are great at keeping the weirdness coming, but these issues are just fantastic showcases for Koblish as well as colorist Val Staples. Plus, they’re all supremely entertaining and a fine example of how much fun Deadpool can be.
Sure, these are gimmick issues, but Deadpool comics should always be a place where gimmicks can feel right at home. Is there more to come? Will we get a Golden Age issue where Deadpool punches Hitler? We can only hope these folks have more madcap hijinks up their sleeves.
