Deadpool Pulp #1

Deadpool and his whole mythos are put into the mix of 50s-era cold war, with Wade Wilson becoming a loose cannon for the CIA who was driven mad by his imprisonment and torture by the Japanese in World War II. 
 

The Good   

I've read a lot of these types of stories and I have to say that the way Glass and Benson put Wade into the 50s is actually pretty inspired - - not simply clever. In fact, tying DP's origins to imperial Japan draws attention to how many elements of his history and design we take for granted. If you think about it, he's basically been a ninja running around with katanas this whole time. Campbell's art perfectly suits the mean terseness of the story, given an imposing credbility to situations that could've easily come off ridiculous. And I'm glad to see that DP's dueling captions made it into this setting!

The Bad   

If you're already suffering from Deadpool fatigue, this DP title's probably going to knock you over the cliff. There was also a storytelling jump in Outlaw's elevator run-in with the g-men that confused me enough that I had to go back over it a few times to get what exactly happened.

The Verdict  

I don't know if this supposed to be part of a new "Pulp" line or a continuation of the Noir line, or both, but it's a solid entry in recasting tradition of What If? and Elseworlds. It pleasantly reminded me a lot of that recent unofficial Mortal Kombat Rebirth pitch video that transposed the MK mythos to a gritty real crime setting. As a child of the 90s, it's just plain fun to see concepts and characters (Stryfe and Cable!) from that era placed in a mileau that seemed totally separate. I'm curious to see what happens.