Deadpool V Gambit 3 review

I only picked up 3 comics this week, and only 1 Marvel. I don’t remember the last time I picked up more DC comics than Marvel. Also, the shipment was late to all the local comic shops this week – it arrived at my nearest shop an hour after they opened, because the shipping company that Diamond uses sucks. This is at least the 5^th time so far this year they’ve messed something up. Anyway, because I only picked up 3 comics, I’m skipping the usual first impressions post.

I didn’t pick up the first two issues of this mini-series when they first released, even though I like both characters. When I heard the first two issues were pretty fun, I thought I’d pick it up in trade, but then I found the first two issues on sale during a road trip to Toronto one day. I picked them up, and enjoyed them. I wouldn’t call this series great, but it’s fun so far, and sometimes that’s all you need.

Deadpool V Gambit 3, written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, is in some ways a bit harder to follow than the first two issues. There’s one sub-plot about Scrambler scrambling both Deadpool and Gambit’s powers at some point but I can’t figure out exactly when that happened. In any case, it leads to Deadpool taking longer to heal from usual, while Gambit loses control of his energy powers, sometimes unable to charge things when he wants, and unintentionally charging organic material (a girl’s hand that he just … you know). The plot involving Fat Cobra feels like it’s going in several directions at once, which doesn’t help reduce the confusion factor.

Apart from that, this issue is a lot of fun. Deadpool and Gambit make good foils for each other, both being morally ambiguous characters who are willing to pull off cons, but are also dumb enough to be conned. Some of Deadpool’s internal narrations are hilarious, like when he finds workarounds for words that are censored in the caption boxes, and commenting on Fat Cobra’s violence haiku. Not all the jokes work, but none of them are groan worthy, making this an overall entertaining read.

The art by Danilo Beyruth is decent. It’s a mostly simple look, with some great visual humour spliced into the backgrounds. The action scene between Gambit and a bunch of villains at a Barbeque looks appropriately chaotic. The colouring by Cris Peter is good. Everything is bright and colourful, which fits this comic’s mood quite well.

This mini-series is at least worth a look if you enjoy Deadpool or Gambit as characters, and at least worth a read if you like both. This issue’s story is really weird, but that’s oddly appropriate for this strange duo of anti-heroes.  Hopefully the next issue is a bit easier to follow, but even if it’s not, so long as it’s as fun as the last couple of issues, it should at least be entertaining.

7/10