Gerry Duggan’s long Deadpool run has tended to work best when the humor takes a back seat to pathos and tragedy. Duggan knows how to put Wade Wilson through the wringer. It’s fitting that his run comes to a close in an oversized issue that emphasizes both comedy and tragedy in equal measure. It’s a suitably downbeat end to an influential series.
Duggan and his artists work the humor out of their systems in the first half of this issue, which basically involves the Avengers struggling and failing to take down the fugitive Deadpool after Wade has gained the ability to make anyone around him vomit uncontrollably. This is a real “your mileage may vary” sequence. If gross-out gags are your jam – especially gags that go on long enough that they stop being amusing and then circle right around to being funny again – then these pages won’t disappoint. Everyone else may find it a tough slog. It is pretty entertaining to see just how many different ways there are for superheroes to shower innocent bystanders in puke.