Deadpool & Psylocke #2!

Deadpool and Psylocke pose next to each other on the cover of this comic, with a swirling tower of lights behind them. Three bright yet indistinct silhouettes stand between them and the tower of lights, appearing vaguely ominous. The title of this series - “Deadpool & Psylocke” - is visible at the top of the image, as well as the issue numbering (this is issue 2).

Deadpool poses dramatically in a dark purple-and-magenta city street. In a text box in the upper left corner, the comedic preface is explained: “Mutants! Feared and rejected by a world they have to live in. Some tread the path walked by Charles Xavier (rolled? Floated?), while others find their own ways. Others, like… Deadpool & Psylocke!” The title of this comic - “Shock and %@#&ing Awe!” - is visible to the left of the middle of the image. In the bottom middle of the image, the setting is described as, “Deadpool’s dated, dystopian sci-fi mindscape.” In the bottom left is the comic’s primary credit, “A toy comic by Phil Wrede.”

Deadpool directly addresses the “camera,” and scrapes his finger across the blade of one of his swords, to test whether he can hurt himself inside of his own mind. He cuts his finger open, getting an answer to that test quickly.

Deadpool expresses regret that he didn’t bring more weapons besides his swords into his mindscape, but then it occurs to him that he’s inside of his own mind, and therefore perhaps he can add to his arsenal anything he can imagine…

Deadpool concentrates very hard, and makes a revolver appear in his open hand. He goes on to make an unnecessary joke about the gun firing blanks.

In his other hand, Deadpool calls an assault rifle into being. Just as he’s about to celebrate, a soldier on patrol approaches him. Deadpool prepares himself for a fight, and quotes the Terminator when he remarks, “/=#$ you, $@&hole!”

The soldier fires his large machine gun at Deadpool, who leaps out of the way in a rather dramatic fashion.

In midair, as he’s dropping back toward the ground, Deadpool aims and fires his revolver, shooting the soldier directly through the eyepiece of his night-vision goggles.

Deadpool tucks and rolls as he lands, leaping to his feet at just about the same time the soldier collapses on the ground.

A trio of robot soldiers approach Deadpool now, and he feigns being afraid of them.

Deadpool thinks carefully about what to do, and calls a minigun into being in his grip!

Deadpool nearly blasts the three antagonists in half with the fire from his minigun.

As the gunfire dies down, plumes of smoke rise from the corpses of the robot soldiers.

Deadpool makes some lustful remarks about his minigun, and we take a break from his mindscape to see what’s going on in the real world. Psylocke is still guarding his physical form back in his apartment, and is surprised when the front doorbell rings.

Psylocke carefully approaches the front door, interrogating the person who claims to be there to deliver pizza on the other side.

The person in the hallway holds up a pizza box to the peephole, and sounds surprised when Psylocke reveals to him that she can read his mind.

Psylocke summons her psychic knife around her right hand, and the man in the hallway (who isn’t ever addressed by name in this comic, but he’s meant to be Brendan Doyle, the Mauler) throws his prop away. Then, he fires a pair of missiles from shoulder-mounted launchers at the front door of Deadpool’s apartment.

Psylocke barely manages to dive out of the way of the exploding front door, and Doyle strides in through the burning door frame, a machine gun drawn.

Psylocke punches Doyle across the face with a fist enhanced by psychic force, and barely manages to summon telekinetic shields to defend herself when he opens fire with his guns.

Doyle launches four missiles from mounts on his thighs, and Psylocke manages to cut one of them apart right away, with her psychic knife.

Psylocke defeats two more of Doyle’s missiles, but the fourth one gets through her defense, and explodes behind her.

Just as Doyle is acting all proud of himself for hitting her with a missile explosion, he’s shocked when she uses the momentum of the blast to carry her into him. She cuts into his mind with her psychic knife, and starts to read his memories.

In the past, Psylocke sees Doyle standing in a line at attention with two other men. One is the character who attacked and killed the Terminator in hand-to-hand combat in the previous issue; Deadpool accused him of being Tom Selleck (or, more precisely, Magnum, P.I.), but his identity hasn’t been confirmed. The other is a taller man wearing boxing gloves. They’re approached by yet another man, whose face is hidden by the blade of a spear.

Psylocke complains that she isn’t able to decipher the identities of the men around Doyle, and she turns back apologetically to the motionless Deadpool, wishing him luck.

Back in Deadpool’s mindscape, he’s sitting on the ground and smoking a cigarette. He looks longingly at the minigun next to him, and though it’s not explicitly stated what went on just now… you can probably guess.

Deadpool acts as though the minigun is demanding more of his attention, and as he leans down to pick it up, he’s distracted by something we won’t see until the next page.

The man with the boxing gloves approaches Deadpool. He wonders aloud if he’s mixing up his memories of Terminator and Mad Max. Deadpool calls a pistol and a pair of handcuffs into being as he starts walking towards the new challenger.

Deadpool tries to offer this strange man a peaceful solution to whatever conflict they apparently have, but the new arrival just punches Deadpool square across the face!

The credits for the comic strip, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the use of fonts by Blambot, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the creation of Marvel characters by actual human beings, the use of stock visual effects by Action VFX, the creators of The Terminator and, finally, that the figure photography/script/lettering were by me, Phil Wrede.

It was last June that I posted the first installment of this little tale, and finally, the second part is here! If you need a refresher… I’d suggest going back and reading it. It doesn’t take that long!

Most of what I have to write in the text of this post has to do with Deadpool & Wolverine, since it hadn’t been released when I unleashed the first part of this comic on an unsuspecting world (that didn’t notice it at all)! Even then, there’s not a lot that needs saying; everything that could possibly be said about it – for good or for ill – was said within about five days of the movie’s release (probably). I think it’s firmly the third-best Deadpool movie, but for all its weaknesses/failings (of which there are plenty), I appreciate that, from a certain point of view, it’s a story about adult men developing a new friendship. If Deadpool, one of the most obnoxious guys in the multiverse, can surround himself with a chosen family who genuinely cares about him, so can I. So can you! So can we! So say we all!!

(I freely admit that this is not a very bright light to shine during the first month of what is a truly dark time, but we’re so broken, and broken apart… We’ve been encouraged to be divided for so long, that we should cherish our connections, especially our new ones, whenever we can!)

Plus, it was nice to see Jennifer Garner and Wesley Snipes in costumes again. And the little highlights/outtakes reel during the credits.

This didn’t have much to do with the comic you just finished reading, I know, but what is there to say about a story where Deadpool probably* makes love to a minigun?

*I’m going to leave Deadpool’s remarks open to your interpretation, dear reader.

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