Sometimes, a self-aware Marvel character needs to stretch his legs and let loose in another country – within Shonen Jump guidelines, of course.
We first got word of a U.S. release of Deadpool Samurai back in 2021 (along with Marvel Meow) and, at the time, all I knew about the series was that, at some point, Deadpool meets All Might.
Now that I’ve gotten my hands on the first volume I can tell you that Deadpool Samurai is more than just an excuse to have the Merc with a Mouth run amok in the pages of Shonen Jump. It’s, well, that, and… honestly, it’s a lot of that, but beneath all the references and humor is a story about a team of misfits going up against Marvel’s most sinister(ly popular) villains.
What the heck is Deadpool Samurai even about?
The synopsis reads:
Anyway, Deadpool lands in Tokyo with a bang! What could possibly go wrong when Iron Man invites Deadpool join the Avengers’ new Samurai Squad? After all, Deadpool is just in it for the money… and the trip to Japan.
This is fine, right?
A more detailed synopsis, written by me, myself, and I, would be something like, “Captain America says there’s too much chaos to keep up with so decides to send Deadpool to Tokyo to handle things there. Iron Man’s like, ugh, fine, so now Deadpool’s getting his own manga-influenced squad. His teammates are manga variants of Marvel characters, so get ready for a new take on Spider-Man, Venom, and whoever else shows up in the series!”
So Deadpool’s in Japan now, how’s that working out?
As someone who has only seen the character as portrayed by Ryan Reynolds (I’m very behind on comic books, I’m sorry, there are a LOT of them), I can’t really weigh in on how accurate the manga is in regards to how Deadpool acts in the comics. That being said, in the manga, he’s got references on top of references from Marvel, Shonen Jump, and storytelling in general.
It’s similar to how he acts in the two Deadpool films, though the manga censors anything too explicit because Deadpool’s trying to behave (kinda) for the sake of Shonen Jump.
So yes, sometimes, there has to be a cutaway so you miss out on the blood. Wade apologizes for that.
As fun as his commentary and nods to other Shonen Jump properties is, the manga hits a point where you kinda want to get to the actual plot – and Deadpool KNOWS that, going so far as to say when the story should move along.
I was way more into the new characters the manga introduces, because why just focus on Deadpool being in Japan when you can introduce us to new versions of Spider-Man (Sakura Spider) or show what happens when a symbiote attaches to a pop idol? Those were the parts I liked the most, and those were the parts where I feel Deadpool had the best character interactions, as he doesn’t agree with the way Neiro Shinichi (the idol with the symbiote) wants to do things, but he’s trying to do things the way they do in manga so that requires some adjustments.
Having Deadpool try to make sense of Neiro’s backstory and why she acts the way she does when it’s obvious to him (and the reader, even if they’re knowledgeable about manga) that she should be more cautious is a lot more interesting to me. Deadpool trying to team up with these characters is entertaining because they have to get used to his antics AND he has to get used to them and manga in general.
I want to see more moments like that, not just with Deadpool, but with the other Marvel characters who show up in the story. These characters are in a new storytelling medium – which Deadpool is aware of – so that humor worked better for me compared to, say, Deadpool knowing what a villain’s going to say before he says it because it’s so cliche.
It’s funny, yes, but sometimes it would feel like I was getting too much of a good thing. I found myself wanting the story to tone down this variety of Deadpool humor just a bit so we could actually take some time in this new setting.
To the manga’s credit, it does eventually find its groove, and I do want to see what happens next now that it has started to move at a more comfortable pace, I just hope it stays the course in future volumes instead of defaulting back to Deadpool making jokes in every single panel he’s in.
For now, I think this first volume is a pretty good start and has piqued my interest in seeing what these characters encounter next. I, at the very least, have to make it far enough for Deadpool to stare in awe over All Might.
You can check out a preview of the first volume of Deadpool Samurai right here.
(Image: Hikaru Uesugi)
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