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Book Title: Son of Deadpool

Book Genre: Fanfiction

Date of Review: March 19, 2016

Chapter(s) Reviewed: 1 & 2

Approximate Chapter Length: 2000 & 1500

Content Flags: Everything. All the things. It's Deadpool. I mean come on.

Summary (copied from book description)

I was born years after a villain named Purge used his power to connect two iconic comic book universes into one - Marvel and DC, making me live my days and nights fighting annoying superheroes and teaming up with corny villains.

After my rebellious nature, the government forced me to go study at one of the most prestigious schools in the world - I was to learn "How To Be A Superhero."

My father was known as a "Sociopath." My mother was known as "Worse Than Her Husband." I am known as "Worst Case Scenario."

I am seen as a joke and a loose cannon because I am the son of Wade Wilson and Harley Quinn. But that does not matter, because in the end I am the one who is going to save everybody.

Review

Son of Deadpool delivers the dark humor it promises. It seems to stem from the early comic versions of Deadpool as a supervillain; the story mentions that the narrator's father (the original Deadpool) killed the original Batman and is locked up in the Asylum, and this incarnation of Deadpool seems to be following in those villainous footsteps. If you're looking for a Deadpool of the more current antihero or even Ryan Reynolds variety, you're in the wrong place.

That means this narrator is even darker than I was anticipating. That can be interesting in its own right. It appeals to the morbid curiosity that most people carry around, the same curiosity that makes bystanders gawk at a car accident.

There were some flaws with the writing that made it hard for me to enjoy it fully, however. Despite fun paragraphs like this one:

I looked around for Batman, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen, only dark smoke hovered around the room. "Batman has a little butt, little butt, little butt. Batman has a little butt, and I'm going to spank it," I sang, pulling my remaining Katana from its strap. I walked through the smoke, searching for him, though it was hard--cause you know--he wore full black. (Ch2, 'Episode To')

Although there was a missed opportunity for a dirty joke toward the end, but hey, Deadpool can't constantly have sex on the brain, right?

Anyway. Despite fun things like that, I struggled some with the realism of this. I understand it's based on a comic book universe, but that doesn't change the need for realism in characterization. Some things I struggled with:

* The hostages at the bank are shocked and appalled when Deadpool accuses one of them of marrying her father. But they're shocked and appalled at her, as if the woman's hypothetical incest is the top of their priorities when they're being held hostage by the guy who killed all the bank tellers and talks to himself.

* Deadpool's partner in robbing the bank, afraid of the cops showing up, says "Dude, I don't want to go to jail again. My asshole hurts from having sex with the men there." This doesn't seem like something a criminal would say aloud during a bank robbery. Or... at all. Unless I misinterpreted and this is something Deadpool said, in which case it needs to be clarified.

* When the cops burst in, Deadpool kills one of them with a katana through the eye, then eats the eyeball. In response, the other cops posture and threaten, but don't light him the hell up the way they should in that situation. When Batman steps in, they just turn Deadpool over to him and seem pleased to do so even after he took down one of their own.

* Batman opens with the same rhetoric as his dad. He doesn't kill his villains. However, it doesn't take long for him to skewer Deadpool with his own katana, then pull it out and run one of the katanas through Deadpool's heart and the other through his eye. He tells Deadpool he's lucky he heals, because if Batman had the heart, he would have killed him. Wonder Woman has to talk Batman out of his murderous intentions.

Overall, the story feels gratuitous for the wrong reasons. Comics are often a fun read, but they still carry the important messages and themes that make stories such a powerful medium for revealing truths about human nature. Son of Deadpool feels like it's falling short of that mark, at least for the first two chapters.