“Deadpool: Back in Black” #1 (Review)
Marvel Comics, October 5, 2016
Writer: Cullen Bunn
The character “Deadpool” occupies a unique space in American comic book publisher Marvel’s rich portfolio of properties. While Deadpool is part of the continuity shared by all of their mainstream properties, the character is given the ability to break the fourth wall in a humorous way, but attributed to schizophrenia.
It is unfortunate that a serious mental disease is used as a vehicle to give writers freedom to tackle subject matters that would otherwise not be possible when held to a stringent editorial direction (in 1989, American comic book writer John Byrne in “Sensational She-Hulk” had the characters address the reader without the need to explain why).
But in any event, as a result, Deadpool’s participation in any story usually takes on a satirical tone that is just as likely to poke fun at the narrative as easily as it would call out the idiosyncracies inherent in the American comic book industry.