Warzones!: Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos

Comic Info

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #1 Variant

Reprints Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #1-4 and Werewolf by Night (1) #1 (September 1972-November 2015).  Deadpool is…dead.  Now, his wife Shiklah is out for revenge against Dracula for doing it and enslaving her people.  With the Scepter of the Manticore in her reach, Shiklah could have ultimate power, but Dracula’s sent his Howling Commandos to make sure that Shiklah doesn’t become a threat.

Written by Gerry Duggan, Warzones!:  Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos is a Marvel Comics Secret Wars tie-in series.  Featuring art by Salva Espin, the series was also collected as part of Deadpool by Posehn & Duggan:  The Complete Collection—Volume 4, Deadpool Classic—Volume 19, and Deadpool Minibus—Volume 3.  The collection also features a reprint of Werewolf by Night (1) #1 (September 1972) written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Mike Ploog.

Event series are often a bore which is exactly the opposite of what they are supposed to do.  They are supposed to bring in the casual readers, reward the regular readers, and provide a story with big and lasting impact.  This rarely seems to happen in today’s comic book market, and Secret Wars seems to be one of those series that never rose to the occasion…but some of the tie-ins were fun.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #2 Variant

The series is largely a Deadpool series despite the lack of Deadpool (he serves as narrator and sometimes character).  The tone and storytelling has the inane nature of a Deadpool comic with a bunch of different characters.  I don’t generally love Deadpool personally, but there is the occasional laugh while reading the comic (which should be more regular with all the attempts to make jokes).  The story is alright but it doesn’t feel like it really has much substance (especially if you aren’t a regular Deadpool reader).

I am a fan of Marvel’s monsters and characters like Werewolf, the Living Mummy, Frankenstein, and Man-Thing were always some of my favorites simply because they never felt like they belonged in the Marvel Universe.  The characters have been poked prodded and revised over the year and barely resemble the characters that they were in the 1970s, but it is always nice to get them back (even if it isn’t for long in this collection).

Warzones!:  Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos feels a bit more complete than some of the other Warzone! and Battleworld special series in that it doesn’t feel rushed or drawn out.  Four issues feels like it tells the story like it should be told and gives you resolution (unlike some of the titles).  The series served as a model for a spin off series Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. which also came out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. comic series.