SEASONS BEATINGS is a one-shot series giving readers a holiday story with all the zany flavors of Deadpool. Corny and downright incoherent at times, SEASONS BEATINGS #1 nonetheless offers a hopeful message coated with the holidays’ spirit of giving.
STORY
Jason Latour’s story follows the fast-paced, zany style of classic Deadpool comics. The mercenary wakes up in a dumpster wearing a Santa suit, covered in blood. Deadpool’s fourth-wall breaking adds to the craziness of this predicament and sets the tone for the rest of the issue.
The story jumped around to various Marvel heroes and villains, showing us how they handle the holiday season. However, the tone’s constant switching often made the story lose its sense of coherence. One minute we empathize with Peter Parker’s depression during this season and just a little while later we’re watching Squirrel Girl crack jokes as she pounds Doombots.
Nevertheless, SEASONS BEATINGS #1 encourages us to embrace the spirit of giving in the midst of its many storylines. They (somewhat) converge in the end, but it was hard to tell what the point of the story was at the conclusion. It would have been good to see greater coherency between each of the characters’ individual stories.
ART
Marcos Martin’s cover art, coupled with the story art from Chris Brunner, Veronica Fish, and Irene Strychalski, fits well with the aforementioned classic Deadpool style. The characters were brightly colored to emphasize the happy-go-lucky aspect of Deadpool’s characterization. But the artists also used heavy shading in many of the panels to remind the reader of Wade Wilson’s darker side.
Travis Lanham’s lettering works well as it seems to capture each character’s voice accurately, and the reader won’t be confused as to who was speaking, even in the scenes with many characters.
CONCLUSION
This issue does a good job of crafting a wild Deadpool story that’s infused with holiday themes and morals. However, the lack of cohesion in the storyline failed to keep me engaged. This could have been a much more enjoyable story if Latour had focused more on tying each of the subplots together.
Did you think this was a fitting Deadpool holiday book? Let us know in the comments below!
