I’m sick and tired of Deadpool. Even before his movie broke records in swearing and getting money, he’s been entirely overexposed. This bag of broken bones and one-liners has had more miniseries than Wolverine, and has maybe even killed more guys. Marvel has been pushing Deadpool for the last decade harder than any other character, having him team-up with or try to kill nearly every other Marvel character. He’s Marvel cash Hellcow and he’s only gotten bigger.
Let’s start off with a little history lesson about Deadpool. Rob Liefeld, who is known for drawing women with boobs and butts always in frame , created the Merc with a Mouth in New Mutants #98 in 1991. Domino and Gideon both had their first appearances here as well, but neither of them took off, being relegated to the backup X-Men known as X-Force.
According to Wikipedia , which never lies, Liefeld created the look of Deadpool and the writer, Fabian Nicieza, gave him his wit. Deadpool’s costume is a direct rip-off of DC’s Deathstroke. There’s a fine line between homage and direct copy, and that’s calling your character Wade Wilson when the originals called Slade Wilson.
Deadpool then hopped around for a bit, doing what 90’s characters did in the 90’s. He had a series that lasted for 69 issues where he fought, quipped and spoke in yellow text boxes. He wouldn’t be popular again until Cable and Deadpool in 2004. The comic combined Cable, a no-nonsense soldier from the future with the idiot that was Deadpool. The pairing created comedy gold until the main run ended in 2008.
Here’s where things start to get ugly. Since his creation, Deadpool has had his own book. So Marvel decided to give him two, then three, then all hell broke loose. Here are just a few of the Marvel series we got featuring Deadpool: Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe , Deadpool Kills Deadpool , Deadpool Corps , Deadpool Pulp , Deadpool v. Carnage , Deadpool/Spider-Man , Hawkeye vs Deadpool. And these are just a few of the series released since 2010. Every time I’d start one of these series, a new #1 was on the shelf the next week. After getting through Deadpool Corps I gave up, unable to keep up with the torrent of red jumpsuits.
Not everything was a shameless cash grab though. Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan wrote my favorite Deadpool series, starting in 2013. There was a bath-tub ridden by Zombie President Taft, 90s’ robot animals that turned into tanks, and Deadpool even got married. There were one-shots that put Deadpool in every era of Marvel comics that always had me rolling on the floor. Posehn and Duggan weren’t afraid to tackle serious issues either, bringing Wade to North Korea to save mutant test subjects (trust me, it gets weird.) I cannot recommend this series more if you consider yourself a Deadpool fan at least.
Deadpool is still my favorite comic anti-hero. When he first showed up in the Ultimate Spider-man television show I squealed with glee. Little cameos turned into starring roles and eventually into blockbuster movies. Over exposure can destroy a character, though, and Batman has definitely seen better days after being dragged through the field with Superman and soon with the Suicide Squad.
You can’t walk through a comic convention without bumping into 27 Deadpools, Girl Deadpools, Kidpools and even Dogpools. The character, along with some great writers and artists along the way, combined the gritty aspect of the 90s’ with the satire of a modern-day world. But Marvel I’m begging you, stop trying to push him down my throat. I’m never going to buy a life-size replica of Deadpool’s head as a bank.
Tune in for next time, when I remind everyone that Harley Quinn isn’t just a clown with a hammer!
