Deadpool enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity a few years ago. The fact that the best Deadpool stories in recent memory came not from one of his various ongoing solo books but from Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force is telling. Deadpool often works best in smaller doses and can easily wear out his welcome if not handled well. If Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan's new series is all we see of the Crimson Comedian during the early months of Marvel NOW!, that won't be such a bad thing.

Placing two comedians in charge of one of Marvel's most comical characters seems like a no-brainer in hindsight. Posehn and Duggan work diligently to clean the slate and directly target readers who either don't know much about the character or have simply grown tired of seeing him everywhere in the Marvel U. Wade is back in his usual status quo here. His healing factor and ugly appearance are back, and he's busy wreaking havoc and trying in vain to earn the respect of Marvel's more respectable heroes. That's all you really need to know coming into this book.The wrench the two writers throw into the works is allying Wade with S.H.I.E.L.D. The idea seems to be that Deadpool is the man to take on missions too weird or politically sensitive for S.H.I.E.L.D. Or the Avengers. Cue the zombie Presidents conflict that has been so hyped up in various pre-release interviews It's a simple but effective development in Wade's ongoing quest for legitimacy. The added benefit is that Posehn and Duggan are able to add a handful of supporting characters rather than dipping into the familiar but limited pool of players like Bob the Hydra Agent. Wade's handler, Agent Preston, is cut very much from the same cloth as Detective Soap in Garth Ennis' Marvel Knights Punisher work. She's not exactly the heroic soldier most S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents are cast as, and she seems to be perpetually dumped on and abused by her superior officers. It's a welcome change of pace for Deadpool's world. I just hope Preston breaks the Soap mold as far as experiencing real character growth over the course of the series rather than serving as a perpetual laughingstock.

Creators Talk Deadpool Relaunch

Oddly, the first issue isn't as overtly humorous as you might expect given the pedigree of the writers. There are still plenty of wacky hijinks and pop culture references, but Wade is a bit more straightforward and even lucid than normal. A lot of the humor comes from puns and wordplay as the zombie Presidents enter the picture. I'd rather see the writers underplay the humor rather than overdo it, but there is that sense that they're still coming to terms with the character and not really cutting loose yet. In general, they stick to the Joe Kelly/Rick Remender school of Deadpool writing. Those pesky dual narrative captions are gone, and Wade's many internal voices are reduced to one loud exterior.In many ways, artist Tony Moore is the real star of this debut issue. Moore's expressive, slightly cartoony style is a natural fit for Deadpool's world. His facial expressions are really top-notch, even when it comes to Deadpool's masked face. There's a certain grim quality balancing out the zaniness as well, and the early battle sequences has its fair share of gross-out moments. Moore's slight redesign of Deadpool's costume also works well. It does what some other Marvel NOW! redesigns have failed to do in that it adds a bit more functionality without compromising the appeal of the original look.Deadpool #1 is one of those issues that will leave you wishing Marvel had played their cards closer to their chest and not given away so much regarding the conflict of this first arc. It's also a bit subdued in terms of humor. That said, it's a fun and unfettered approach to Deadpool's world, and does just about everything a Marvel NOW! series should in terms of offering readers a fresh start.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN