Some have been so bold as to say that Deadpool has been over saturating Marvel comics lately. Those same people say he's falling into the same trap as Wolverine, having so many ongoings it's getting to be as ridiculous as the deranged mind behind the fourth-wall-breaking merc with a mouth. But for anyone who has a genuine appreciation for action, violence, and gut busting hilarity there's no such thing as over saturating. Unlike MacDonald's, it can't give you a heart condition. It can only put a smile on your face and the latest Deadpool manifestation, Wade Wilson's War, does just that.
Now the premise of this book is the same as any Deadpool title. That is to say it's a premise so fucked up it can only come from the mind of someone who watched too many Mel Gibson movies while high on smack. Wade Wilson is on trial before Congress, which given current events seems very appropriate. You need something that's pathologically fucked up to judge something else that's just as fucked up. He's being questioned about some war crime in the same style as "A Few Good Men" only Jack Nickelson wasn't nearly this hilarious and didn't have multiple voices streaming in his head (that we know of).
The politician grilling Deadpool is a congressman who looks eerily similar to the late Ted Kennedy (before he bloated up to the size of Jabba the Hut). The crime seems like a typical Tuesday for Deadpool. Hundreds are dead. Governments across the world are pissed off. People demand answers and for whatever reason, this wise-cracking merc knows and Congress assumes it has the power to get the truth from him. It's typical Washington bullshitting. They think they have the power when they're really just a bunch of old white guys in suits. At least they're portrayed accurately. If Congress was portrayed as being really competent then that would be messed up even for a Deadpool comic.
But enough political satire. There is a story to be told here. It involves a secret team that Deadpool was a part of. The team was so secret that it can only be referred to as "X." Considering this is technically an X-men comic about a guy with ties to Weapon X, that's not very subtle. But since it's Deadpool, it would be outrageous to expect anything less. Deadpool goes onto say that this team was part of an operation in Nicaragua during the whole Contra affair back in 83. Since most modern readers aren't up to speed with Reagan era scandals, Deadpool sums it up nicely. Both sides, the right and the left, were funding the other and lying their asses of trying to get away with it. It creates the kind of clusterfuck that just draws Deadpool into it like Pacman Jones to strip clubs. Needless to say the politicians are confused and keep scrambling for answers as they so often do (and look like idiots in the process).
Cut to the action, this whole "X" operation unfolds in the past and includes some familiar faces. Among them are Deadpool, Bullseye, Domino, and Silver Sable. Together they're waiting in the bushes to attack a Nicaraguan compound and they don't wait long. The bulk of the action that this comic offers happens next. There are a few nice montages to the skills of each character, just in case readers aren't too familiar with them (if they aren't then they must shame themselves at the next Comic Con). Then the attack begins. In traditional Deadpool fashion, it's full of blood, death, and explosions. It's everything one would expect in Deadpool comic and it more than satisfies the ridged standards of a comic starting someone as off-beat as Wade Wilson.
Action aside, there is a mission here. There is only a brief mention of having to recover some attache case. But that mission quickly gets lost in all the bloody combat that leaves a pile of dead bodies enough to give John Wayne Gayce a hard on. It only comes back into play when they begin their escape, which follows an old action cliche of somehow needing to cross a rickety wooden bridge. Seriously, why is it that all bridges have to be so frail in this sort of thing? Can't there be just one story where the bridge doesn't looked pieced together by scotch tape and hair pins? Frustration aside, this mysterious X group finds their case in the hands of a CIA operative. It looks like he's about to screw Deadpool and his crew over so they do the most logical thing possible. They shoot down the guy's escape plane and have it crash into the bridged. For Deadpool, that's not just standard. It's required!
This is all news to the politicians (as if they would know any better). Everyone around them keeps saying they're getting no information on this operation, yet there is clearly records as indicated in a few panels of a guy who doesn't happen to be present in the Capitol. How he got the data from the government is anybody's guess. The most likely is he's a lobbyist for the Illuminati and he's just clumsy with his briefcase. Seriously, there are any number of ways to get that kind of information from an incompetent government agency, but that's not the main focus here. What everybody wants to know is how Deadpool knows what he knows and who gave the orders. It seems to crazy even for him, but he is in front of Congress and they are constitutionally required to make a spectacle out of it.
So nobody believes him and Deadpool is offering only teasers at what this whole X operation entails. He claims it's big. He claims it's dangerous. Congress is understandably clueless and all the news cameras for once are in the same boat (it's comics, the impossible can happen). So how does he get his message across? How does he prove to them that he's serious in a way only Deadpool can? The response is understandable and full of potential hilarity that ends the comic on a note that will lure readers back for more issues. He takes off his mask and shows to the world what has been done to him and he makes it all seem like a big joke. It brings Deadpool full circle, ending the first issue with just the right tone to make this series seem awesome enough to keep following.
It's a wildly entertaining comic with all sorts of elements that culminate in a harmony of awesome. It can be a bit hard to follow at times. There's a lot of teasing about this whole X aspect of the story scenes involving Domino aren't really explained that well. But the overall premise and the way it comes together is just brilliant and writer Duane Swierczynski fits Deadpool into this bizarre yet appropriate role perfectly. The inclusion of other Marvel heavyweights like Bullseye and Domino only add to the appeal and the ominous hints are plenty enough to keep the readers following and hoping for more.
With only minimal faults this issue gets a 4.5 out of 5. It's an entertaining piece of comic book awesome that any Deadpool fan or any non-douchebag type person would find funny and entertaining. Taking this title along with Deadpool's ongoing and his emerging Deadpool Corps events and there's no reason for Deadpool fans to be dissatisfied. If so then they're just being difficult. This comic is awesome and adds a nice touch of humor to an otherwise overly serious Marvel universe. It doesn't just make Deadpool a nice change. It makes him damn near necessary.
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