REVIEW

RECAP

VALENTINE’S DAY! Love is in the air as Deadpool takes his new romance, Valentine, out on the town! Unfortunately, bullets, blades, and explosive devices are also in the air since both of them have enemies who want them DEAD.

CREATIVE TEAM & INFO

Author: Alyssa Wong
Artist: Javier Pina
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel
Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance, Superhero
Published Date: 04/26/2023

Deadpool may be hopelessly romantic in this series, but his love life still needs to survive his life as an antihero. While he and his new love interest, Valentine (yes, their name is Valentine!) try to make date night happen, they keep getting interrupted by the Atelier-hired assassins Drop, Ravhona, and Mirror. But with Lady Deathstrike and Wade’s new Symbiote-bonded pet dog, Princess, there to help, date night looks like it may finally happen for these lovebirds…

This issue is very much a Deadpool story. Yes, he may not be as profane or gritty in this series, but given the fact that he’s fallen madly in love with Valentine (which is something he would do), it makes sense for him to tone down those elements a bit (they’re not absent – just not on every page of the book). Only Deadpool would have a symbiote dog for a pet and name her Princess. And of course, Deadpool would be a megafan of Taylor Swift. Writer Alyssa Wong absolutely demonstrates how much they understand the character of Deadpool to create a fun, adventurous romance story with all of the preposterous events and shenanigans in a story that works and makes sense for the Merc With A Mouth. Sure, there may have been a couple of times that Deadpool may not have seemed like Deadpool (like saying “shoot” instead of “s*%^!”) but love (or at least infatuation) can change a person in trying to become a better version of themselves. Although it’s not clear in this issue why Lady Deathstrike is helping Wade even though she doesn’t like him, Valentine, or Princess, her involvement in the story is very comical in a way that we don’t see her in other issues. Where Deadpool is the antihero, she is the antifriend – reluctant to help him out and ends up being his biggest cheerleader in the hopes that he and Valentine will have their date.

The art and colors by Pina and Milla, respectively, was very well done. The art was interesting and engaging, and the page layouts were very enjoyable. It was very clear that letterer Sabino had a lot of fun with this issue, especially in drawing the dialogue for Princess. The most prominent example of this is when Princess sneaks up behind the three assassins and says intimidatingly to them, “I did.” The dialogue bubble was twice the size of any dialogue box previously used, giving the impression that she was either loud or frightening, and the fact that it was paired with such a simple statement drove home the point that these assassins should be scared of her while at the same time making the situation comical. It’s always great to see when letterers can have fun like this.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When he's known for giving maximum effort, Deadpool extends this same philosophy to his love life, which means maximum action, maximum romance, and maximum violence. Wong, Pina, Milla, and Sabino captured a wonderful story that leaves us to wonder what will happen next with the lovebirds.