Deadpool #7 Jingle All The Way

Ok. So there’s a lot of mayhem, here. The plot of this issue was ripped from one of The Simpsons’ hallucinatory Christmas episodes: kids get angry at St Nick for not providing presents so they fund an internet campaign and hire DP to murder a myth. Upon reaching the North Pole (and doing battle with a shockingly savvy thousand-year-old woman and her surprisingly ripped centenarian husband) our favorite flailing mercenary discovers that the fault for the missing holiday is down to one extremely capitalistic elf — whom Wade promptly murders. Thus, Christmas is saved! Kinda.

The writing was good for what it was — a funny, dark as sin Christmas adventure which led to Wade being a less-ambiguous-than-usual ‘hero’ for twenty-odd pages before next month’s inevitable return to meaningless fart-jokes and gore. The writing worked. The story will, no doubt, appeal to one very specific type of reader — though it’s swiftly losing its appeal for me.

The art was ultimately the joy of this book. Every panel was rendered with palpable joy. Nick Klein’s mixture of cartoonish features and hyper-realistic settings (and textures) reminds me, in the best possible way, of Eric Powell. This artist handles flesh textures exceptionally well, and to great effect. He lovingly renders every gristly lump of brutalized meat, the seeping lips of every injury, the cellulite puckers of Mrs Clause’s (heat-packing) thigh.

In its way (undoubtedly depraved as it is) the work on display here is lovely.

And, hey. If you’ve ever wanted to see an elf’s brains splattered absolutely everywhere, this is your chance.