Weapon X #23
Robert Struble
Recap
Deadpool, under the employ of Mentallo, fights Weapon X-Force, besting them all, providing his traditional 4th wall breaking snappy patter. Until, of course, Money punches him through the wall. With his neck broken, that seems to be enough for Deadpool as he has no desire to keep fighting his occasional teammates.
But the fight isn’t over as Mentallo sends several of the parishioners…whom Sabretooth proceeds to clobber. Fists only, though, since he’s trying to be “good”. But then they find the real mastermind behind the plot… William Stryker (again?) in a giant robot/cyborg (if you’re confused, Deadpool helps to clear up the differences) body. But Stryker proves too much for the group, leaving them all at his mercies.
Review
I normally can’t stand Deadpool. He’s a joke character who, for the most part, feels out of place in most of the comics. Sure, his movies were great, but when trying to read a serious comic book, his 4th wall breaking really gets old fast.
But what’s funny is that the rest of Weapon X-Force isn’t aware of the 4th wall…so as Deadpool breaks it here, they are actually confused. The same can be said for when Deadpool takes on William Stryker (ugh).
Stryker, though… Stryker, Stryker, Stryker… I’m as tired of him as Domino is. But at least here I don’t think we’re expected to take him seriously. The problem is that when Stryker first debuted, he was just a normal human. Granted, an incredible bigot, but he was meant to represent the part of humanity that despised those different, the part who hated people of color, people of varying sexual orientation, etc. Now? Now, he’s just another forgettable supervillain with an ax to grind. And as a giant robot (or cyborg, or whatever) he’s just…not an interesting villain.
And that leads me to what was most enjoyable about this issue. It wasn’t the story itself. It was the character interaction. The moments between Sabretooth and M, between Deadpool and Weapon X-Force. Domino making fun of Sabretooth’s attraction to M. The character interactions were really what made this book for me and why I keep coming back month after month.
Final Thoughts
It’s a mostly forgettable story with fantastic characters. Sabretooth and crew save this issue from being just another boring slugfest. If you like the characters, you won’t regret checking this one out.
Weapon X #23: One Too Many Strykers
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 5/105/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
