Wolverine #21
Wolverine and Deadpool get into battles and hijinx in Wolverine #21, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Adam Kubert, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Cory Petit. This is yet another entertaining issue of the book, building a pretty interesting story.
Wolverine and Deadpool escape with the briefcase. Deadpool drops some exposition and jokes on Wolverine; they’re attacked by Wolverine robots and take them down. Danger comes in to help out, but Deadpool teleports them out of there and into a worse situation: into the hands of enemies.
It’s plain to see how much fun Percy had writing this issue. Deadpool is a character that not every writer really gets, but Percy definitely does, and this issue really underlines that. His Deadpool is so entertaining, a fanboy who can’t help but be annoying. The way Wolverine and Deadpool play off each is so great, another example of just how good at writing these two characters Percy is. Wolverine is grumpy and to the point with Deadpool because he doesn’t want the tangents, and Deadpool is perfectly fine acting as exposition.
Even with a good bit of exposition in the issue, this comic is extremely fast-paced. It’s so very entertaining from start to finish, combining great odd couple dialogue with a snappy plot and a lot of action. There are some great callbacks to Deadpool history, and the ending brings a lot of things into question with the story’s plot. It’s a simple comic and all the better for it.
Kubert’s pencils are kind of weak in places in this book. This happens something with his art, but some panels are rather sketchy. There is a wonderfully laid out double-page action spread and a lot of nicely penciled panels throughout, making up for the few places where the pencils aren’t the best. Martin continues to be a great colorist for Kubert’s pencils, doing some amazing lighting and making the art pop when it needs to.
Wolverine #21 is a fast-paced thrill ride that finds an amusing way to drop exposition on readers that never messes with the book’s pacing. Percy writes an amazing Deadpool and knows how to blend him with Wolverine expertly. Kubert’s pencils aren’t perfect all the way through, but when he’s hitting, it’s a thing of his usual beauty. Martin’s colors make the whole thing look like a million bucks and are the cherry on top of a beautiful read.
