Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
I was saving an image for this review and ended up accidentally writing “Night of the Living Deadpoop” as its caption, and well, it got a laugh out of me, so I decided to open this write-up with that useless trivia. Hope you don’t mind! Deadpool can’t be the only one allowed to talk to their readers, right? There’s no copyright on that!
So, Night of the Living Deadpool by Cullen Bunn and Ramon Rosanas (illustrator) is a four-issue comic book series, and a combined volume was available for me to borrow on my Kindle Unlimited subscription. It follows Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, Marvel’s favorite black sheep, as he wakes up from a long nap only to realize half the world has perished in a zombie apocalypse. He’s probably the only superhero left, having slept through the chaos—plus, there’s his super regenerative abilities. Just like the dead don’t die, Deadpoop—sorry, Deadpool—doesn’t die either. As a horror fan with a soft spot for the zombie sub-genre, I immediately downloaded it. (If me talking about myself even in the second paragraph has started getting annoying, feel free to leave a negative comment. I will read it, make a mental note, and delete it.)
Anyway, Night of the Living Deadpool could’ve been freaking epic, but it isn’t as unhinged, wacky, or funny as one might expect. That said, it’s still got plenty of humor with a new twist to the zombie genre, making it an entertaining page-turner. Deadpool first tries to figure out what the hell is happening, makes a few human friends along the way, kills truckloads of zombies, a few evil uncles and aunties, and then tries to find the cure for the virus that caused the zombie outbreak.
Also Read: Ten of Swords Review: When Zombies Need a Union
“In the movies, if a guy wakes up from a coma, a ’90s era Sandra Bullock professes love to him. But me… I wake up from a little nap… and the only thing waiting for me is a bunch of spaced-out brain-eaters from beyond the grave,” Deadpool hilariously says at the start of issue two of Night of the Living Deadpool. For younger readers who don’t get the joke, he’s referring to the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping, where a guy wakes up after an accident to find out he’s engaged to a stranger.
Night of the Living Deadpool is a Deadpool show all the way. Cullen Bunn gives almost no space to other characters to make a mark, which may work perfectly for some fans, though a few, or even one, memorable sidekick wouldn’t have hurt. DC’s DCeased, which also pits superheroes against zombies, was more fun, largely due to the fantastic artwork. The artwork in this Marvel offering is good, but the color scheme is slightly dull—only Deadpool is in his iconic red-black suit while the backgrounds, zombies, and supporting characters are drawn in black-and-white. While it makes the mouthy superhero stand out, a fully colored version would’ve worked better.
The final issue focuses on Deadpool’s journey to find ground zero and maybe discover the cure. Cullen Bunn delivers an unexpected final twist, where Deadpool, in his typical self-absorbed way, finds something that makes him the center of the new zombie-infested universe. Sort of. It’s a wacky, wicked end, which feels abrupt but also gives a sense of satisfaction if you give it a second thought.
Rating: 4/5. Night of the Living Deadpool is also available on Kindle Unlimited.
Read Next: When I Arrived at the Castle: Graphic Novel Review
Also Read: Nobody Wants This Review – The RomCom We Need (Short Audio Version below)