Sanshiro Kasama

At the end of the first volume, Deadpool and his new teammates found themselves up against a regenerated version of Thanos. That battle continues in this volume. Then it's time to travel to Mount Fuji in order to find out what Loki's cooking up there and stop him. The specifics of Loki's motive are finally revealed, and it's all just as stupid as you'd expect.

Okay, the first volume was better. Except for Deadpool, just about every Marvel superhero who showed up either behaved out-of-character or like a parody of themselves. Captain America, in particular, made me wince, although Loki was fairly disappointing too. Design-wise the most difficult to handle was Hulk, who was weirdly pretty.

The plot barely held together and none of the battle scenes had any real weight to them. Either there were fewer jokes, or there were fewer good jokes - not sure which. But I did appreciate Loki's reaction to the way Deadpool vs. Deadpool turned out, and Sakura Spider getting hit by a truck just before the big battle got a surprised laugh out of me (although I still think the writer missed an excellent opportunity to work in a good isekai joke). Also, the All Might cameo was great.

This fell mostly flat, and the fourth wall pulverizing ending didn't help. I think this was the last volume, but if it wasn't, I don't know that I'm interested in continuing on with it.

Extras:

A bonus manga in which Deadpool takes his sweet time getting to a big battle, plus several more bare-bones character profiles. Also, an afterword from both the writer and illustrator. Looks like Uesugi wasn't just imitating Kohei Hirokoshi's artwork - Hirokoshi actually drew those All Might cameos. Neat!

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (més)

The Avengers are apparently having too much trouble keeping up with all the villain activity worldwide, so they decide to start an Avengers team based in Japan, called Samurai Squad. Deadpool is recruited to be part of it. The actual first member of the team, however, is Sakura Spider, a girl who was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained abilities similar to those of Spiderman. In this volume, they attempt to recruit a third member, Neiro Aratabi, an idol who has bonded with a symbiote. So, Japanese Venom to go along with Sakura Spider's Japanese Spiderman.

Loki joins the story to complicate things and add a more formidable villain than "generic obsessed human #X". Initially, I thought his primary goal was to convince Deadpool to join him, but some brief mentions later on made it sound like he was possibly after Thor, who for some reason was maybe in Japan? I don't know.

I picked this up entirely because of Deadpool. Back when I read more superhero comics, he was one of my favorite characters. If have no idea how, or even if, this fits into any larger Marvel storylines. Apparently there was a Deadpool manga one-shot prior to the start of this series (it's briefly mentioned in this volume), but I haven't read it.

Storywise, this was so-so. On the plus side, Deadpool did feel like Deadpool. There was much fourth wall breaking, and Deadpool making fun of literally everything. I most enjoyed the jokes that could only exist in a Deadpool comic running in Shonen Jump - Deadpool's efforts to see what level of swearing and violence he could get away with, poking fun at the "sameface" artwork for the female characters, American superhero comics' complexity and need for footnotes, etc.

I'm sure there would have been rights issues involved, but it feels like a missed opportunity that the idol Deadpool and Sakura Spider were trying to recruit wasn't Hatsune Miku. Oh well.

I don't know if the jokes will be able to carry this series for more than a volume, but I suppose I'll find out.

Extras:

Bare-bones character profiles and a short bonus comic in which Deadpool stops by to say goodbye to Spiderman.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (més)

Well, it's not as bad as the Spider-Man manga Marvel brought over from Japan in the late '90s, but this Japanese-created iteration of Deadpool has very little going for it. The short take: Deadpool is anchoring an Avengers sub-group called Samurai Squad and tasked by Captain America with protecting Japan. First recruits include young Japanese women horning in on the branding for Spider-Man and Venom. The fourth wall is broken constantly, and the script gives many, many shout-outs to classic manga titles.

I doubt this project could be saved even if Ryan Reynolds read it aloud, purring it directly into my ear. Imma stick with the movies.… (més)