This is a collection of the first 6 issues of the Deadpool series that launched in 2013. I'm not much into superhero comics, but I was drawn to the theme of this one. The wisecracking mercenary fights dead U.S. Presidents who have come back as zombies. Fittingly, I read this during the Fourth of July weekend.

The humor ranges from laugh-out-loud to dad-joke-groan. I love all the references to Presidential trivia and apocrypha. And I appreciate how Deadpool's love of women, violence, and jokes is a nihilistic way of dealing with trauma and despair.

I don't love this comic enough to become a regular reader, but I am intrigued by the Dr. Strange character that appears in it. I may have to check out his movies. ( )

Yup. Sue me. I like juvenile humor when its done right and I thought this was done right. :)

I mean, you've got everything your Civics teachers in American Public High School would want in an educational comic! We get to name ALL THE PRESIDENTS! We even get a little treat with them, such as little tidbits that made them real people...

... as they were resurrected as evil incarnations of themselves bent on destroying America and of course we get a smartass Wade to dispatch them because Shield doesn't want to be seen doing *this* kind of really dirty job.

Make America Great Again! Was taken up by a Shield-sponsored necromancer who's misguided attempt to Save this country by bringing back all the Founding Fathers and the old presidents. That's funny as hell, but even better is Ben Franklin as a skirt-chasing ghost who gives Deadpool a lot of sage advice.

But best of all was journey. He got to kill all the presidents, AGAIN! I gotta say, it's a toss up between killing Lincoln and George Washington and Reagan as to which is my favorite. :) REAGAN IN SPACE! STAR WARS! :) lol

This is solid fun, imho. :)
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3.5 ( )

Who better to save America from its current political despond than a magician who can recall our former presidents from the grave to share their wisdom with us? Except that the eponymous presidents' idea of saving the nation is to destroy it. Armed with a droll assortment of superpowers (i.e., LBJ's Oriental boxing prowess), incredible weaponry (i.e., Big Bill Taft's flying bathtub, FDR's rocket-powered wheelchair), or fierce sidekicks (i.e., Dick Nixon's febrile Checkers, Dutch Reagan's Bonzo, or Teddy Roosevelt's menagerie of zoo escapees), our only possible salvation is our wisecracking antihero, Deadpool. This is a great concept, carried out with considerable wit, great artwork, and innovative reader aids (i.e., color-coded dialogue balloons). Shortcomings might include trying to shoehorn all the presidents in (though I didn't notice the Adams'), most of whom are killed within one panel and who contribute little and give the book a rushed, check-the-boxes feel, and perhaps a more interesting supporting cast--with the partial exception of Deadpool's sidekick Benjamin Franklin, most of the other characters were pretty flat. However, this could have gone on a while longer for my money, with a little more development for more of the presidents. ( )

A patriotic American magician (who wears a kilt) raises the dead Presidents of the USA from their eternal rest to save their country from its current ills. The very first one he sees, Harry S. Truman, snarls: "Fix it? I'll destroy it!" and that is attitude of his colleagues, led by a steely and sadistic George Washington and his brutal henchman, Abe Lincoln. When Captain America is criticized for beheading former President Truman, S.H.I.E.L.D. gives the task of sending the Formers back to their rest to an antihero, Deadpool. Our hero succeeds, backed up by two lower level S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, Doctor Strange, and the [benevolent] ghost of Ben Franklin.

I loved this book. I laughed reading it as much as I laughed during the movie. I laughed out loud every other page. I laughed more reading one issue of Deadpool than I did reading five New 52 Harley Quinns. I have been a huge Presidential nerd since I was very young and I wondered as I read this, did the authors read books of Presidential trivia, or are they fellow buffs?. I thought the worst sins, though, were of omission. No set pieces for hypocritical Thomas Jefferson or mad Andrew Jackson or stuffy Woodrow Wilson or vulgar Lyndon Johnson? Ah, well, I guess they had only so many pages. ( )