The Max Bemis Foolkiller Finally Makes the Reading Pile

It’s been a while since I talked about anything I was currently reading. Sadly, my reading list has been trimmed due to lack of free time. However, I’ve been enjoying and buying a number of titles. Tokyo Ghost has been a fave, Frostbite has been interesting, Walking Dead has been okay, and the usual staple of Detective Comics, Batman, Flash, etc have been interesting since Rebirth.

Foolkiller #1

The one book I’m going to focus on today is one that a lot of people have likely seen but maybe have not quite popped on, and that is the new Max Bemis written Foolkiller. Three issues in and the current incarnation of the Foolkiller is still a bit unsteady but enjoyable.

Hot off his appearance in Deadpool: Mercs for Money, the Greg Salinger Foolkiller has taken up evaluating villains for SHIELD and deciding whether or not they should be, uh, vigilanted? Okay, murdered. Given the rather questionable morals of Salinger, it’s pretty easy to say that most of the fools, err, patients simply don’t make the grade. And there are some colorful and creative patients at that.

Of course, there is a big hiccup in the process that is revealed when the 1990’s Foolkiller (that would be the third version of the character Kurt Gerhardt) becomes a patient. In issue #3 some things are brought to life and the zaniness really gets going.

Foolkiller #3

Bemis is doing okay by the history of the character, making keen references and such. The pencils by Dalibor Talajic is interesting and just crazy enough to make the book fun to read. The covers by Dave Johnson have been equally as great. It’s not George Perez, but then again, this isn’t exactly a hot selling character book either.

This version of Foolkiller is very different from the dark world of the 1990’s version and a bit more tame than the Marvel Max version that popped up in the 2000’s. No this is a bit more of a zany Deadpoolish take on the character, at least so far. Does it have impact? Well, probably not so much. It’s been fun though, and the throwbacks via covers and characters are pretty cool.

Bemis is doing his take on the character, and I’m going to see it through before I pass a final judgement on it. I’m enjoying it so far, because of the irony of an insane person acting as therapist. I mean, that alone is a pretty interesting Dexter type of swing. I have a feeling it’s only going to get darker and a little more crazy.

The verdict is pretty simple: if you like Deadpool or have fond memories of the Foolkiller, this probably a book you'll want to check out, but if you prefer your heroes a little more on the Captain America side, this is likely a pass. Long-term investment potential is likely minimal, which makes it a work of passion.