Writer: Frank Tieri
Artist: Marcelo Ferreira
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino

Release date September 11 2019
Review by D. Brown (WolfCypher)

Dark Carnage’s accidental encounter with Wade Wilson last issue brought to Cletus’s attention the little fact that Deadpool is carrying the codex of four different symbiotes. Four. Just…Four. Only. And so Cletus “Carnagifies” three Ravencroft inmates — Will-O-Wisp, Freak, and Conundrum, and sends them after Deadpool.

Now that we’re in “Wave 2” of the Absolute Carnage books, you should be used to these tie-ins feeling more like their “parent book”, opposed to feeling like Cate’s main event story. That is to say, the Absolute Carnage Symbiote of Vengeance book caters more to the tone of a Ghost Rider book, the Miles tie-in, despite being apart of this macabre event, definitely went for its own native flavor, and of course this Deadpool tie-in reads just like a Deadpool book. AC vs. DP chooses to be a comedy, going against the grim tone of the event it branches from. Deadpool makes a mockery of his three foes in his typical fashion. I have to confess, I’m not a Deadpool expert. Still I am aware that Deadpool has his signature quirks and that any book he stars in, whatever the situation may be, he’s going to treat the scenario like a joke. Sure, he’ll fight back, try to get the job done, but not before cracking as many jokes as he can. But, and again I’m not a regular reader of Deadpool’s usual ongoing stories, I didn’t expect his foes, especially the ones sent after him here, to come off so silly. For instance, near the beginning of the issue, Dark Carnage presents the trio of villains a picture of Deadpool, and Freak just eats the picture. That…doesn’t seem like something Freak would do…the expressions on Conundrum and Wisp felt very “Three Stooges” during that panel.

I’m taking this installment as more a Deadpool book than a Carnage-event book, which wasn’t a problem for me with the 1st issue, but unfortunately where I thought the previous issue had some genuinely funny bits, this one did nothing for me. None of the jokes worked this time around. The actual fighting and action segments were fine I supposed, but Deadpool handled these guys way too easily. I get that they’re D-list baddies, but they are wearing symbiotic costumes. Two of the three villains were felled by Deadpool ultimately stabbing them. We’ve seen Venom and Carnage, since the early 90s, take all sorts of impaling, stabbing, gunfire, etc., and their symbiotes either protect them from these attacks, or rapidly heal them instead. But here, a sword through the chest or into their ribs, and these guys went down.

Overall, I didn’t get the same joy from issue 1. While I still liked Marcelo Ferreira’s art, where in issue 1 we got to see him draw various different characters, for this installment most of the action had Deadpool facing three visually similar looking enemies. I don’t want to fault Ferreira here, I just wish Freak, Conundrum, and Wisp were allowed to go after Deadpool as they were, with no arbitrary “Carnage forms” attached to them (which also would have helped make more sense of how Deadpool could mortally wound them so easily). The humor wasn’t up my alley this time, so all-in-all there wasn’t anything here to distract me from the fact that this one was just a passable extra chapter in the grand scheme of the main story.

Final Thoughts

Its a shame how much fun I got out of the first chapter to Deadpool’s Absolute Carnage tie-in, because here, it didn’t really capture me at all. The humor wasn’t as strong as in its preceding issue, and the villains don’t offer any oomph. Deadpool is definitely at his most Deadpool here, so if you’re coming in here just for his brand, you might enjoy this more than I did.

6/10