The first of my Christmas swag up for review, Side Pieces is the second volume in the Spiderman/Deadpool series, the first of which I adored. Lacking the overall story that drove Isn’t It Bromantic and instead gathering together some of the additional material that’s bookended other stories, Side Pieces is more hit and miss than its predecessor, but not enough to make it completely unenjoyable in itself.
Taking in the making of a Deadpool movie, a flashback to some election tampering, an encounter with Penn & Teller and more, if any of the stories don’t quite hit their mark (like the Penn & Teller one, written by Penn, who should stick to his day job) then another one quickly comes along to cleanse the palate – such as my favourite, a bout with an angry Saturn who’s rather pissed that his holiday has been taken over by Christmas until Deadpool shows him that, for many, Christmas is still all about getting pissed, overeating and general mayhem.
I’m a complete sucker for this pairing up, so I still enjoyed this outing, but I must admit that I would have infinitely preferred something less disjointed and more akin to Isn’t It Bromantic, as this volume is definitely comprised of a lot of filler. I’m still eager to finish this run with the third volume, and hopeful that it will mark a return to the story of Isn’t It Bromantic, but I must admit that I’m in nowhere near as much of a hurry now.