Graphic Novel Review: Spider-Man/Deadpool: Serious Business

What happens to the merc and the webslinger when you take away the funny stuff?

(Panini Books)

Wilson and Parker’s epic battle against the horrific Itsy Bitsy was undoubtedly this team-up title’s finest hour, and anything which followed was bound to disappoint.

It’s not as if this collection of stories is terrible, they just don’t deliver the same impact as the previous instalment, and to be honest, haven’t we seen it all before?

The “No More Jokes” concept at the heart of the Serious Business two-parter lacks any real motivation – Spidey and ‘Pool decide to stop quipping and take a more adult approach to their activities – and when the status quo is restored so quickly the reader is left wondering what the point of it all was.

The second tale is another spin around Murderworld courtesy of its host Arcade, who is still imprisoning victims in his amusement park themed killing zones, a trick which really hasn’t proved all that successful over the years.

Again, there’s little new here to lift it above a dozen other Murderworld stories, with the one possible innovation proving a slight-of-hand which is swiftly exposed. After he was responsible for the deaths of numerous teen superheroes in the Avengers Arena epic, it seemed as though Arcade’s evil star was in the ascendant, but judging from this appearance he’s actually fallen back on the same game he’s been playing for decades…

The Deadpool and Spider-Man combo is obviously a winner in terms of sales, but it needs to offer more than just a chaotic run-around to keep the readers coming back for more. Hopefully this volume is just a temporary dip in the series’ standards and we’ll soon see the Brovengers back for more multi-layered escapades in future books.