Deadpool vs. Carnage-A Retrospective
By Roger Lee
Deadpool vs. Carnage-A Retrospective Of Their Four-Issue Mini-Series
Deadpool vs. Carnage
Marvel recently published the title “Deadpool vs. Carnage,” a four-issue run that pits the two most insane homicidal maniacs in the Marvel Universe against one another in a cross-country rampage. Does this mini-series work? And is there an underlying theme to this storyline, or is it just a bloody death-match between two characters who really can’t die? NOTE: Spoilers, bloody Spoilers lurk here, waiting for a symbiote to bond with. Watch out!
The basic storyline is this: Carnage (Cletus Kasady) is on the loose, killing scores of people on a seemingly random journey across the country. Deadpool decides to go after him, and realizes that since they are both insane, he might be able to track down Carnage. Deadpool (Wade Wilson), assumes that they are on a similar wavelength, and, using his insanity as a sort of twisted “Spidey-sense,” finds clues in random things like signs and conversation in order to figure out where Carnage will go next. Sound crazy? Of course it is, which is the whole point. These guys are nuts. And they know it!
Needless to say, Deadpool follows the “clues” to intercept Carnage and the fight is on!
The story has them battle across the landscape, and also includes Carnage’s girlfriend (or should that be girlfiend?) Shriek. At first she seems to be just some cleavage-laden eye-candy the writers and artists dropped in, but her presence serves a purpose in actually keeping Carnage grounded in at least some normal human emotion.
Deadpool battles Carnage and Shriek
We could go on about their battles (very bloody, with comedic quips from Deadpool), but the main point to make here is that Carnage worships the idea of Chaos, and is seeking the whole point of it all. Deadpool is actually more an agent of control and, oh my gosh, sanity(?), and eventually shows Carnage that there is no randomness, only an ordered (though wacky) way to the world. He was able to track Carnage using clues, proving that there is no true chaotic randomness, as Carnage believed. In the end, Carnage sees the non-random clues, but is blind to them, until it is too late and he nearly kills the one thing he loves more than death and chaos: his gal Shriek. Numbed by the idea that he is not a true agent of Chaos, Carnage, in a sense, is shocked into getting smart about his obsession, and voluntarily jails himself while he figures it all out.
Since these two undying homicidal maniacs can really only fight to a draw, ironically, the only way for Deadpool to win was to use logic and strategy. This series started out as just a bloody slug-fest, but surprisingly turned out to have a very philosophical underpinning that also showed that Deadpool and Carnage are really quite different.
If you like Deadpool, this is a good mini-series, written by Cullen Bunn and art by Salva Espin. Both characters are written in character, and Espin’s art has the right touch of frayed reality to accurately portray these two red-suited roustabouts. Buy it, and read it.
Want more Deadpool? Who doesn’t? Check out our Bam Smack Pow review of Deadpool #31.