Wolverine: Origins is currently in the middle of "The Deep End", an arc which doesn't seem to have much to do with Daniel Way's overreaching conspiracy storyline.  Instead, it seems to be intended principally as a launchpad for Way and Dillon's upcoming Deadpool solo series.

Thus far, they haven't made an especially good case for that series.  The first three issues consisted pretty much entirely of Wolverine and Deadpool having a cartoonishly over the top fight on the streets of San Francisco, which was sporadically amusing, but clearly intended to be rather funnier than that.  More to the point, three straight issues of two characters fighting just isn't that interesting.  Way's questionable sense of pacing is a perennial problem for this title.  Even if you think the basic idea was good (and I'd question that), it really didn't justify three months of narrative to cover it.

Anyhow, all of that builds to this issue, in which Deadpool captures Wolverine and, er, they talk at one another for the better part of an issue.  This, I suppose, is where Way really sets out his stall for how he sees Deadpool as a character.  And the answer to that is rather inconsistent.

On the one hand, Way is clearly showing Deadpool as being plagued by hallucinations.  But he also has Wolverine insisting that Deadpool isn't crazy, so much as taking refuge in an erratic personality that feeds his yearning for attention.  And to back that up, we get some fairly generic flashbacks to Deadpool's adolescence.  At the same time, Deadpool puts the case that at least he's comfortable with his personality, while Wolverine refuses to accept the fact that he's basically just a killer.

There are some mildly interesting ideas in here, but ultimately they're reduced to two characters making unsupported assertions at one another.  It's got little or nothing to do with the three issues that preceded it, and it certainly doesn't make me want to read the upcoming Deadpool series.  All the attempts at wacky comedy and silly hallucinations end up feeling contrived to me; a self-conscious affectation attached to a story which is fundamentally rather dry and takes itself far too seriously.  Historically, taking Deadpool seriously has never worked.  He works best when you treat him as a ludicrous character and allow the serious side of the character to sneak up on readers.  I suspect Way and Dillon understand that, but they haven't pulled it off.  The result is a strangely uneven and rather unsatisfying comic.

Heaven knows I've read a lot worse in this series - at least it doesn't involve the conspiracy story.  Ultimately, it's at best a mixed affair, with some passable ideas that don't quite take off.

Rating: C

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