Kill Your Heroes: Deadpool Killustrated #1 Review

So Deadpool goes around killing every major hero in the history of literature. Fuck it, why not?

Deadpool Killustrated #1 is the first issue of what is supposed to be the sequel to Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe, but if you haven’t read it it’s not like it really matters. The theory behind the whole thing is that, in a non-616 version of the Marvel Universe, Deadpool has become aware that he is a fictional character, and he has killed all the other Marvel heroes to set them free from the tyranny of fandom, and yet he is still looking for a way to escape the world of fiction, and blah, blah, blah. Does you really give a shit?

The point is that this book is an excuse to have Deadpool use some truly impressive firepower to kill heroic characters from classic literature. So to say that Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is the origin of Deadpool Killustrated is arbitrary. You might as well say that the origin of Deadpool Killustrated was writer Cullen Bunn, a six pack of Sam Adams and a pinner joint.

And I really don’t care. Because no matter why it is here, while it is not quite as well-thought as its predecessor (which is like saying that cotton candy isn’t quite as nutritious as Peanut M&Ms), it is big, stupid, goofy fun.

What’s that? You do care about how Deadpool came to be moving through the world of fiction, In Yr Novels, Killing Yr Doods? Trust me: you’re overthinking this, but fine.

Deadpool has continued his mission from Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe, moving throughout the Marvel Multiverse (somehow missing the 616, which is a shame, because if he had, I might not ever have had to deal with the crippling disappointment I feel over Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers books) and killing everyone in an effort to drive away the readers who keep demanding apocalypses (apocalyi? Fine, disasters) from the fictional characters, himself included, so they can finally rest. And yet Deadpool has killed hundreds of different versions of every superhero, and they just keep coming… until the pantheon of supervillains he is keeping as pets in the basement of The Baxter Building have an idea: superheroes are generally based on heroes of literature. So if Deadpool can kill them in their literary cribs, so to speak, maybe the superheroes will go away. The villains, however, realize that if the superheroes never existed, they won’t have existed either, so they send some devices into the Ideaverse to stop Deadpool.

See? Does knowing the plot machinations that sent Deadpool into literature with a machine gun make you more excited to dive in? Of course not; after all, your experience would not be enhanced if you knew the long tale of parental neglect, low self esteem and substance abuse that led the nice young woman to agree to be simultaneously mounted by those three lads in your favorite online risque video clip, and the plot doesn’t help what you’re here for either… which is to see Deadpool kill him some literary heroes.

Which is a ridiculous concept… and that’s where the book gets its sense of fun: the utter absurdity of the whole thing. Seeing Deadpool face his greatest fear in order to prepare for his mission was genuinely funny (although the comedian in me says that it could have been a couple of panels shorter), and that actual attacks on Don Quixote (most notable for how Deadpool regrets it, because, “[him], I like,” ) and on the crew of the Pequod – hell, on Moby Dick itself – with a snarl of “Call me Ishmael,” well… if you don’t get a kick out of that, you might just be dead inside, or perhaps have more reverence for books without pictures than I do.

If anything, the story gets in the way here; as far as I’m concerned, this could just be a series of completely disconnected vignettes of Deadpool shanking literary giants with a big “That’s all, folks!” at the end of each one. Let’s face it, no one should be buying something like this for the story… but I choose to look at it as a comics version of the movie The Final Countdown: yes, there is a story and a plot that put those F-15s over the Pacific Ocean on December 5th, 1941, but nobody remembers that movie fondly because of the scene where the Nimitz went through the time hole. You just want to see a few Japanese Zeroes get taken out by Sidewinder missiles.

And that’s what Deadpool Killustrated #1 is: a bunch of Sidewinder missiles through literature. The only real downside I can see is that this is occurring in parallel with the events of the core Deadpool title, where writers Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan have Deadpool battling all the dead Presidents of The United States. But still and all, this issue is just big, goofy, violent fun, with pretty simple yet clear art by Matteo Lolli, and the promise that yes: as you’d expect, we will probably be seeing Deadpool take on Sherlock Holmes – what, did you think the big antagonist would be the chick from Eat, Pray, Love?

Editor’s Note: Dear Mr. Bunn: we will give you real American money if you have Deadpool kill the chick from Eat, Pray, Love. If necessary, we will provide the pinner.