Deadpool Joins the Mix as the Latest Venomverse Character… or Victim? (Edge of Venomverse #5 Review)

Written by Clay Mcleod Chapman

Drawn and Colored by James Stokoe

Cover Art by Francesco Mattina

Variant Cover Art by Ron Lim, John Livesay and Jordan Boyd

The last issue of the Edge of Venomverse Special features the Merc with a Mouth (Deadpool, for those who don’t know this nickname but really should) as the latest symbiote-bonded hero joining the masses in the upcoming fall Venomverse universe titles. This concludes the Edge of Venomverse series, which features highlighted character moments for the big name Marvel characters joining this zany series by different creative teams and artists, something I am not sure benefitted Marvel in the way they thought it would. Character exploration will continue in the upcoming September release Venomverse: War Stories, which will be a one issue spotlight on all the other characters pulled into this new universe that didn’t make it into the Edge of Venomverse series.

Now, to get into the good and bad of this issue.

What You Need to Know: Deadpool opens the issue with mocking his backstory in his typical third wall breaking way, sparing readers the rehash of his origins which is common knowledge to most with some semblance of comic lore. It jumps right into how he obtains the symbiote bond with his latest gig, checking up on a quack doctor who has questionable ethics and seems to be doing some shady “under the books” case studies involving humans and tapeworm hybrids.

What You’ll Find Out: This comic reads like a typical Deadpool comic, with snarky side comments, sex jokes, and oodles of gore and gross creatures. I am not the biggest Deadpool fan, as many who know me are quick to recognize, so I didn’t have the same reaction to this comic as I did to Gwenpool or Old Man Logan. Gwenpool is very much a silly character, but the creative team leading that comic knows when to draw a punchline at the right time without being obnoxious, which I feel like Deadpool writers keep forgetting and pushing Wade further into absurdity. Just because Wade is a funny character who says things many other Marvel characters can’t achieve does not excuse the sloppy use of the character that I’ve seen in many recent comics starring him.

What Just Happened? Deadpool takes the job and discovers the tapeworm hybrids, who gain a hive mind because of their similarities to the symbiote who the reader assumes has a genetic involvement in their hybrid state, are attempting to take over humanity. Conveniently, there’s a sample of pure Venom just hanging around for Wade to bond with, which he does, and goes on a worm-killing bender. Soon after, he’s transported with his new friend to the Venomverse series and joins the Symbiote Cap to some unknown battle front.

Rating: 8/10

Final Thoughts: Overall, the best thing to come out of this series was the consistent cover art by Francesco Mattina. His artwork was constantly flawless and well done. By choosing different creative teams to run each title, the overall series didn’t seem to flow well from one issue to the next, but hopefully that will improve with the new Venomverse titles.

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