The Good

Co-writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn sure know how to make me laugh. Yes, this story seems like it's going to take a pretty bleak turn soon enough, but for right now, it's all about the wacky Dazzler and Deadpool team-up! Seeing as the mutant was taken from the groovy past, the two writers of course take full advantage of any and all disco jokes. Yes, they even find a way to make a disco ball awesome. Seriously, they do. However, the humor isn't limited to jokes about that time period. There's an amusing jab at the X-Men's history, Nick Fury Jr. makes a funny "cameo," and they drop a nod to a viral video from Saturday Night Live. The comedy spills into the action scenes, as well. As expected, a scene of Wade and Dazzler versus vampires, within the pages of DEADPOOL, is anything but ordinary. There's some seriously smile-inducing moments here and it's simply a good amount of fun as Dazzler unleashes and Wade slices and dices. Last but most definitely not least, Mark Brooks' cover is such an excellent compliment to this pairing.

As entertaining as Deadpool and Dazzler fighting zombies may be, I find myself so much more interested in the other plot: Adsit and Preston's new knowledge about Deadpool's life. Adist's haunting reveal is being cast aside for later, but we're getting much stronger hints about Preston's search for the truth. And right when we think we're going to get an answer, we're totally teased yet again. These two writers sure know how to keep us hooked.

The Bad

When you have artists like Declan Shalvey, Tony Moore, Scott Koblish, and Mike Hawthorne on the series, a new artist with inconsistent artwork really stands out. I dug some of the pages in the last issue (most notably in the opening scene), but the pencils in this one feel a little rushed at times and the character work seems like it's all over the place. I'm sure this unique and somewhat out there style will appeal to some of you, but for me, I couldn't help but keep gazing at oddly shaped heads and characters with textures that seem way too wrinkly or look like they're melting. But hey, at least Val Staples' coloring is consistently solid.

The war with the vampires is fun, but you can't help but feel like it's kind of filler and the real meat of the story (e.g. Deadpool's daughter/family history) is being treated as a subplot.

The Verdict

Duggan and Posehn's volume of DEADPOOL continues to be a ridiculously enjoyable ride. The pencils sometimes takes away from the overall quality, but the team-up is still a blast and there's plenty of laughs to experience. It's a little bit of a bummer the more compelling parts of the story haven't made any significant progress, but it looks like that's all about to change and we're apparently going to get a ginormous reveal in the next chapter.

I can't wait until Hawethorne is back.

Tony Moore should have done this arc. Or Reilly from the gauntlet. But it kind of reads like dead presidents so I think Moore would have killed it. Don't even remember this artist's name cause I know he won't be back on the book (right marvel?).

Down with whatshisname!

He is ruining my favorite comic book series!

Yeah, the art really is getting to me. I guess after being spoiled by all the artists mentioned, an artist like Lucas just feels really out of place and jarring to the reading experience. Being that this tie in is at least 5 issues long, it seems as if they're tying up The Gauntlet's loose ends, and probably saving the daughter plot for later on, if I had to take a guess.

From the looks of it, this is probably going to wind up a more decompressed story arc like Dead Presidents. Not saying that it's bad, but compared to how tightly written a story like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was, as fun as the Dazzler team up is, the story really does seem to be twiddling it's thumbs to get to the really good stuff. That said, I still like the Dazzler stuff, and I really cant wait for more of the daughter plot to finally unfold.

Has there ever been a greater gap in quality between cover and interior art than in this issue?

I dig this series quite a bit, but at times I find myself thinking it could be better. Good and consistent art would help a lot.

Like everyone else has said, what could have been another great and fun issue is completely tainted by the horrendous art. I'm not sure who at Marvel decided to hire Lucas to draw this arc, but they should apologize to Duggan, Posehn, and us fans that have been buying this since issue 1. If I wanted to look at characters drawn like deformed caricatures I'd go to a carnival. And that's my rant for the month, or at least until the next issue is released.

He's staying on until #33.

Slapstick art.

That's the simplest way I can put it. In 25 years of reading comics, I don't think I've ever been bothered enough by terrible art enough to stop reading a book but this artist may do it for me for Deadpool. Seriously, how does one write to comics these days?

Sorry, new artist guy, but you've gotta go.