REVIEW: Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn't It Bromantic? (graphic novel) written by Joe Kelly, Scott Aukerman, Gerry Dugan, Penn Jillette, Nick Giovannetti & Paul Scheer, Joshua Corin

Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn't It Bromantic? is a Marvel comics collection devoted to modern (2016-2017) Spider-Man and Deadpool team-ups. I bought my copy of this collection new.

Review:

This starts with a multi-issue story in which Deadpool has been hired to kill Peter Parker, CEO of Parker Industries. Deadpool is trying to emulate his hero, Spider-Man, and not kill people...or at least stick to only killing bad people...so he tries to confirm that Parker (who he doesn't know is Spider-Man) is really the evil guy he's been told he is. Part of his plan is to hang out with Spider-Man and see if he can get some inside info. Unfortunately, Deadpool's efforts leave Spider-Man seriously out of sorts and questioning his way of doing things.

The story's flow was a bit jumpy, and I'm out of the Marvel loop enough not know pretty much any of the background details like how Deadpool got married to Shiklah, who Shiklah is, and how Peter Parker became a CEO. Still, I had fun with the first half and Deadpool's efforts to convince Spider-Man that he'd turned over a new leaf. The way the storyline wrapped up seemed a bit too simple, considering how thoroughly emotionally rocked Peter was, though.

Then Deadpool and Spider-Man spend some time on the set of the Deadpool movie (starring handsome Hollywood movie star Donald Dryans), which was mildly amusing.

After that was a faux-1968 issue of Amazing Spider-Man in which Deadpool was working for some rich guys trying to rig an election in an overly complicated way. Then there was an issue in which Deadpool and Teller (of Penn & Teller) had to switch places for a while. After that was a holiday special in which the god Saturn slaughtered people celebrating Christmas because they were ruining his own holiday, Saturnalia. The volume wrapped up with an issue in which a bunch of girls at a boarding school used Deadpool to perform a ritual designed to summon Deadpool's heartmate and resurrect their evil headmistress in the person's body. Deadpool's heartmate turns out to canonically be Spider-Man.

The last bunch of issues varied in overall enjoyability. My favorite of the bunch was probably the last one, with the schoolgirls. 

I bought this collection because I heard it had good Spidey-Pool content, and for the most part it delivered. Story-wise, it was occasionally a bit confusing and got darker than I expected. Overall, I enjoyed this, although it reminded me why I've mostly left Marvel and DC comics behind. I don't know that I'd have liked this as much if I weren't already primed to enjoy Deadpool.