Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Alan Robinson
Colorist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover Artists: Ron Lim & Israel Silva; Mark Bagley &
Richard Isanove
Production Design: Carlos Lao
Digital Comics Specialist: Annie Cheng
Print Layout Production: Meghan O’Leary
Sr Manager Digital: Tim Smith 3
Editors: Drew Baumgartner, Cy Pedro Beltran, Mark Basso, Tom
Brevoort & CB Cebulski
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $5.99
Release Date: March 19, 2025
When Deadpool enters Madri-Gen, guards greet the merc with a
mouth at gunpoint. Deadpool apologizes for shattering their plate glass window.
But he has a job to do. Deadpool won’t let locked doors or men in uniforms
stand in his way of securing a paycheck.
Unfortunately for Wade, more than guards impede his march
toward a five-star review. Wolverine also wants to steal the company's hot new
product. As in Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII, Wade and Logan pursue the same
target. Neither will let the other get in his way. Who will claim the neurostimulator?
And who will leave Madri-Gen empty-handed? Let's leap into Deadpool Vs.
Wolverine Slash 'Em Up #1, and find out!
Story
While Deadpool doesn't want to disappoint his client,
Wolverine's ambitions are more complicated. At least, they seem so. Logan believes
he let a young man down a long time ago. Securing the neurostimulator for his
former friend helps Logan feel like righting a wrong. But Logan’s memories of
his time before he became Weapon X make Wade jealous. In Christos Gage’s story,
Deadpool would give anything to reclaim memories of his youth.
This realization pits the two living weapons at odds. Yet it
also unites them. While they hack and slash their way through Madri-Gen and
each other, Wade and Logan debate the importance of memories. As they try to
steal this device for their clients, both men realize that Deadpool could
benefit most by using it. Yet lingering in the background of Deadpool Vs
Wolverine Slash ‘Em Up #1 is a question.
Logan’s memories of torture and enslavement weigh him down.
Peter Parker sacrificed his additional memories of Uncle Ben to return
Spider-Boy to the Web Of Life And Destiny. Will reclaiming his past complete Deadpool
or fill the aching void with dead weight?
Art
As Deadpool takes on young guns with attitude, Wolverine
arrives to cross claws with swords. Amid the slashing, hacking, and
impalements, the two living weapons entertain their opponents before killing
them. Alan Robinson transforms the high-tech corporate world into a Dungeons
And Dragons tournament in Deadpool Vs. Wolverine: Slash 'Em Up #1. As Wade and
Logan follow in Indiana Jones’ footsteps, they battle beings from Dr Moreau’s
laboratories at Omni Consumer Products.
Carlos Lopez applies a loaded palette to the heroes’ journey
from the sleek, neutral floors and ceilings of desk-filled offices to
subbasements filled with traps, pitfalls, and monstrosities. Vibrant colors
fill backgrounds in closeups. Gunfire, laser beams, and explosions brighten
this fast-paced action thriller. Yet nothing warms the pages of Deadpool Vs.
Wolverine: Slash 'Em Up #1 as much as Deadpool's zest of life and how he shares
others' pain.
Joe Sabino fills white and yellow dialogue balloons with
uppercase letters that grow bold for intonation, enlarge for volume, and shrink
for lowered voices. Deadpool ensures that he and Wolverine receive headliner
status with red 3D logos. The merc with a mouth also vocalizes every injury.
Sound effects help us hear grunting ground troops, bouncing grenades, bonking
heads, and wall-demolishing impacts. Who knew Mace wasn't a helpful hardware
place? Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Some claim that memories are for losers who lead
uninteresting lives. Many preach that it is not what you know but what you do
that matters. Yet you cannot understand the worth of something until you have
it. Wolverine prefers to shatter a mirror than look in it. But in Deadpool Vs
Wolverine Slash 'Em Up #1, Wade Wilson wants to perceive the man he has become.
And he can't do that without having something that may not be good for him.
Rating 9.5/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
