Deadpool - the story so far - Part Deux

Marvel.com have been rolling out Wade Wilson's complete history in bite-sized chunks; you can check out the first four here, and the rest are below! :)

The History of Deadpool Part 5


The History of Deadpool Part 6

The History of Deadpool Part 7

The History of Deadpool Part 8

If you didn't catch my interview with new Deadpool artist Mike Hawthorne, you can find it here - along with a link to Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld talking about Wade Wilson's inspiration and his fav. Deadpool writers; and there's plenty more Merc with a Mouth nonsense at my Deadpool Crew Facebook Group!

Deadpool #54 Review

So, thanks to Hydra Bob, Deadpool's succeeded in getting injected with the serum that's taken out his healing factor and he can now fulfill his wish to get offed. The complications: Bob got the serum from Tombstone (who had it made in order to kill Deadpool as payback for putting him in the slammer) by promising Tombey that he could be the one to kill Wade Wilson. Only, getting gunned down by a second-rater like Tombstone isn't the spectacular ending the ego-crazed Wade desires, he wants to go out in style--possibly by being destroyed by his team-mates X-Force after playing them and massively pissing them off.



'Fine.' Except, if Tombstone doesn't get to be the one who puts a bullet in Deadpool's head, he's gonna make damn sure he puts one in Bob's.

Wade got into his crazy scheme in the first place after his 'friends' temporarily killed him--briefly reuniting him with the love of his life, the female embodiment of Death--before his healing factor brought him back; Wade surmising that what his friends wanted for him was for him to be with Death, and deciding that this was what he wanted for himself now.



Only, that whole thing--? Kind of a subjective call. Those 'friends' are gone, the only one that wasn't party to it is the only one that's stuck around. Hydra Bob. Wade hadn't thought about anyone else, he hadn't considered what would happen to Bob if he carried out his plan. And he doesn't want his one true friend Bob to die...


*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

We hit the ground running in this concluding chapter of DEAD, as the bulletproof Tombstone comes gunning for Deadpool before Wade's had the chance to come up with a plan to save Hydra Bob's ass. Of course, if he really cares about Bob, he could just take the hit from Tombstone, but with Hydra Bob having shown Wade he does have a true friend, maybe Bob's actually given him something to live for. After all, this whole thing kicked off when Deadpool returned to Earth after saving a planet--to no kudos--looking for some love from his buddies and getting a barrage of gunfire from them instead.


So, now mortal and vulnerable and without a plan, Deadpool goes on the lam with Bob and Tombstone pursues--before being met with a 'temporary fix' that'll buy them some breathing space.

Bob's scared to the point of bordering on suicidal, and in a tense conversation with Wade, Deadpool's twisted mind kind of has a reboot. This was all a game to Wade--who saw the way he played his team-mates X-Force, Daken, Kingpin and co. off against each other as a grand game of Chess--his ultimate challenge--and attaining the lethal serum as the lynchpin of that. But getting it didn't turn out to be so tough for Wade, Bob did the work there, really--and now that Deadpool is mortal as a result of it, there's no challenge. Dying would be easy. And with Death a woman of VERY high demands, dying now wouldn't be worthy of her.



So Wade doesn't want to die now--but there's the small problem of both Tombstone and X-Force being out to kill him. So Deadpool and Bob are going to flee via Grand Central Station (one of the places X-Force have deemed to look for him at), so they need disguises...

But then, upon seeing his newly scar-free face in the mirror--a result of the serum--Deadpool realizes they don't need disguises--no-one now knows what either of them look like without their masks...



Despite this, tension holds as Wade and Bob hit Grand Central Station, only to be met by X-Force--and things don't look good for either of them.

I won't say exactly happens, but--*BIG SPOILER ALERT*--everything gets resolved and tied up in a neat little bow and Wade Wilson is now a blue-eyed pretty boy, complete with stylin' hair (that's come from nowhere) and comes out of DEAD mortal, and with a new lease on life.

Ale Garza's art isn't as strong here as it has been in previous issues--on occasion, I mistakenly thought there were two pencillers involved--and it would have been nice to have regular Deadpool artist Carlo Barberi back for the conclusion of the story he helped kick off--but Garza, inked by Sean Parsons, does a decent enough job.

In the writing, Daniel Way requires you to read between the lines and put things together in terms of the characters' motivations, which asks for a high degree of trust that he knows Wade inside out, given that they're certainly not the most logical or linear of motives.

We have a decent conclusion to the big arc here, though I would have liked to have seen some Deadpool on Death action (not in the biblical sense, that would be gross). If, like me, you find that amiss, you'll be able to find it in my unofficial Prequel to DEAD, Bootleg Deadpool hearts Death, here.



Way will be staying on board as Deadpool: the pretty boy years begins in issue #55, meanwhile, I'm continuing to work on showcasing my MwaM-writing skillz (for which Deadpool hearts Death was the last thing)--having fun along the way--should a vacancy come up at some point. ;)

And you can get a first look at my new thing here:



Meet Wade Wilson, Blind Al and Weasel parodies Wayne Winston, Nigel and Rodent--who will be making their debut in an upcoming Abnormals Special, taking on Grant Springford's little demon Nasty--dynamically illustrated by Sgt. Mike Battle's Graham Pearce.



Stay tuned ;)

Deadpool #52 Review

Part 3 of DEAD. The Wilson wagon starts to shake--and then...

As we begin this issue, Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool is continuing to play everyone in his neo-chaotic game of 'Chess' as he attempts to smoke out the lethal serum that will negate his super-charged healing factor and kill him, enabling him to be with Death. Last issue, Wolverine's son Daken blew up the lab that the serum was made in, and may or may not now be in possession of the final vial.


Having fed Daken information and manipulated him, it appears likely that Deadpool is aware of Daken's actions when he calls him to pass on a--made up--message from Wolverine, telling him to get out of town, whilst planting a bomb beneath the restaurant table he's sat at--severely spoiling Wolvery Jnr.'s meal.

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Meanwhile, Wade's sent his sidekick Hydra Bob back to The Kingpin's HQ supposedly to relay info back on weak spots that Deadpool and his X-Force team-mates can use to attack the Kingpin through--Deadpool having told them that The Kingpin possesses the lethal serum. But The Kingpin's captured Bob and is holding him as bait, as he wants Deadpool to come for him.


Hitting The Kingpin's HQ through something far from a weak spot--immediately ambushed by his ninja The Hand and right-hand woman Typhoid Mary, X-Force engage in a fast-pased battle; and having got away with playing all sides for the first two parts of this arc, now that X-Force--this time, including Deadpool--and The Kingpin's crew are thrown together, Wade's lies start to get revealed and his team-mates smell a rat.

Throwing a barrier in their way so he can go after the escaping Kingpin himself, bypassing the held-hostage Bob, fighting the feelings of guilt the voices in his head throw up over his actions, Deadpool pursues the big guy in the hope that The Kingpin really is now in possession of the serum, and another of Deadpool's 'Chess pieces' takes his place--but then in the final three pages, there are two twists!

Guest art team Ale Garza & Sean Parsons do a nice job, Dommo Sanchez does his usual outstanding job on the coloring, and writer Daniel Way allays concerns I had that the vast majority of this 5-part arc would be spent on build up.

After the end of this issue, who knows what's coming next.

UPDATE 4/6/12: Looks like the end of the ish was no hoax--although doesn't quite mean what some of us may have thought it did--check out a Preview of Deadpool #53 at Comics-X-Aminer! (contains spoilers!)

Deadpool #50 Review

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Congratulations to Mike Workman on winning the Deadpool/Death Caption Contest I've been holding here in the run-up to DEAD!

Mike, your little yellow & white boxes of craziness are now immortalized here and at my Deadpool Crew Facebook Group!

So here we are at Part 1 of the much-anticipated, much talked about DEAD arc--which comes with the tagline 'Watch him Croak'...


For some time now, Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth, has had a death wish. After changing direction from badass merc to wannabe superhero and back and flying to outer space where he saved some planets, but felt alone and missed the pat on the back he would have gotten from friends--Deadpool returned home, only to be met by all his friends trying to kill him--and for a brief moment, succeeding.

But his supercharged healing factor kicked in and brought him back to life. However, in that brief moment, he was reunited with the love of his life, the female emobodiment of Death--and realized (or deluded himself into believing) that this was what his friends wanted for him. That this was what he wanted. To feel Death's embrace forever.

Since then, he's been on a mission to beat his healing factor and get himself killed for good, but has only wound up getting himself put in the nut house, thereupon meeting fellow fruitcake Dr. Ella Whitby--who was obsessed with him and had his old discarded body parts, lost in battles, in her freezer. Disgusted at this, Wade chucked the parts in the dumpster--but they thawed and formed the sentient Evil Deadpool... and Deadpool and Evil Deadpool went head-to-head--before 'Evil' was taken down by a sniper dart. And died.

Which brings us to now.


Deadpool wants what he had. He wants to find that sniper and get a dose of what killed Evil Deadpool. But with 'every cop in the world out to get him,' drawing attention to himself isn't gonna be the way to go as it'll only end up with him put away again--where he can't reach the serum. He's gonna have to 'use pawns to do it.' And so Deadpool begins putting the pieces in place for his own inimitable 'Game of Chess.'

'The Horse Heads.'

Telling them the serum nullifies mutations and hiding his true motivations from them, Deadpool convinces his X-Force team-mates that The Kingpin has it and gets them to help him try and find the sniper The Kingpin 'hired,' that took out Evil Deadpool, believing this to be the smarter way to go than aiming directly at The Kingpin, as he'd quickly cover his tracks.

Deadpool also meets up with Wolverine's son Daken...

'The Shooter.'

...and invites Daken to accompany him on the search for the serum (Daken, also possessing a super-charged healing factor, having a vested interest)--and then kill him with it. But Daken turns down the offer, believing it too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Wade sends his sometime sidekick Hydra Bob...

'The Wheelbarrow.'

...to visit The Kingpin, asking for the big guy's help in finding the serum. Bemused by this, The Kingpin's tolerance for Bob rapidly erodes before he forcefully shows him the door and sets his right-hand woman Typhoid Mary (who had a 'thing' with Wade in the past)--together with his Ninja lackeys The Hand--about finding the serum for his own gain.

'The One That Goes Diagonally.'

All this plus an inventive use of Wolverine's claws to get change for a payphone, double-crossing, and some intrigue involving a 'Baby's First...' book that begins and ends Deadpool #50--and you have a solid, extra-sized set-up issue for the 'Dead' arc. We're not privy to exactly what Wade's trying to pull off here, and though we don't have the full picture, there's also a piece in Deadpool's chess game that he isn't aware of--a 'Wildcard' introduced at the end of the book.

Returning art team Carlo Barberi & Walden Wong deliver some of their best work yet, aided by excellent new colorist Dommo.

There's been much talk about this hyped-up arc, which seems as though it may be writer Daniel Way's swansong on the volume of Deadpool that he's been with since the start. Way's also revealed that this mysterious serum that the Merc is searching for dates back to the start. A signature of Way's run on Deadpool has been the Merc 'playing' people and things not being as they appear; this looks set to be the grandest example of such yet--and one with the highest of stakes--the life of Deadpool himself.

I'm intrigued to see where this is gonna go...

Bootleg Deadpool hearts Death #1

Deadpool is going to die (?). In Deadpool's 'Dead' arc, running through Deadpool #50-54, out in Hardcover on July 11th, Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool: The Merc with a Mouth has finally found a way to beat his supercharged healing feeling factor and be with the love of his life, the female embodiment of Death.

Wanting to have a little fun with that, I've taken an existing Deadpool/Death fantasy scene and broken it up into short funnies with all-new dialogue...

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Join me here every Wednesday for more Deadpool/Death shenanigans as we countdown to 'Dead', on which writer Daniel Way has recently shed more light in an interview with Marvel.com:

"Despite his miraculous healing abilities, there’s been something out there since the very beginning of the character that can kill him, or at least make it possible for him to die—permanently. The real deal.

"And that’s great news for Deadpool, as that’s been his new obsession. Deadpool’s the type of character that’s always obsessed with the things he couldn’t have or couldn’t do. The best way to motivate him to do something is to have as many people as possible tell him he can’t. For this particular goal, Deadpool hasn’t really sat down and thought out the implications of dying; to him it’s just a goal, not a destination. He hasn’t figured out that dying would be the end of the line for him. He just wants to do it. With his manic personality, he hasn’t considered the ramifications of what that means."


Way continues, "Now with the news that there’s something out there that could actually kill him, it becomes a kind of mystery where he has to find out who has it and get them to use it. At first you’d think it’s just a matter of him going out into the public and making himself as visible as possible, but at this point he’s wanted by Interpol, the N.Y.P.D. and every international law enforcement agency out there. If they grab him, they’ll lock him up and he won’t be able to get to this thing that could kill him. For “Dead,” he has to figure out a Rube Goldberg-style plan to flush out this thing while still maintaining cover from his pursuers. That means sucking in all of these different parties after him to get them to do what he wants them to do. No one knows they’ve been drafted into Deadpool’s plans until it’s too late. This arc has a very big cast."

And that 'big cast' includes The Kingpin, Typhoid Mary, Nick Fury, Wolverine's son Daken, Deadpool's teammates X-Force, and his sometime sidekick Hydra Bob--whom it doesn't appear as though things are going to go well for...


[UPDATE:] You can now find more on 'Dead' and episode 2 of Bootleg Deadpool hearts Death here!

Deadpool Wants Death

As many of you know, I'm gunning to work on Deadpool and if I'm able break the the door down, I'd love to play with some of Wade's friends (not it that way), so I was looking forward to the latest issue of Deadpool (#36) as it promised a tearful reunion with them...

After taking out the galaxy's Numero Uno merc Macho Gomez and stealing his space ship to fly off and take his status, too, Wade's trip to outer space concluded with his obliteration of Id the Selfish Moon--but--though successful--Wade was left feeling empty, "In space, no-one can hear you win."

So Deadpool's returned to Earth, looking for some love. Looking for his friends...

Crash-landing on the island he'd previously left Hydra Bob on--and inadvertently decimating the-world's-biggest-popcorn-kernel that Bob's just spent the last God-knows-how-long proudly creating, Wade seeks reaffirmation from his bud--but finds that, not only is it not forthcoming, but that Macho Gomez is still alive and has rounded up Wade's friends to take him out! And Bob's just alerted them.

What follows is an all-out fight as Gomez, Taskmaster, Weazel, Sluggo, The Great Lakes Avengers' Big Bertha, and Blind Al and her dog Deuce attempt to kill Deadpool--and for a moment there, they succeed. Deadpool dies and is briefly reunited with the love of his life, Death; whereupon, she informs him that this is what he's always wanted from his friends. To deliver him to her.

Then Wade's healing factor kicks and he's brought kicking and screaming back into the land of the living; his friends--except for Bob--having dispersed.

I'd hoped for more from Wade's reunion with his buddies--particularly from Blind Al, who I'm a big fan of from her days as Wade's roommate/hostage in Joe Kelly's seminal run on the book--and Al, and some of the others assembled, wanting to kill Deadpool is inconsistent with what's come before from them, which writer Daniel Way attempts to get past with the Death-love argument (the implication being that some of them want to kill him because they do care about him).

I can't really swallow what Way's selling here without there having been more exposition on the individual characters' motivations, but bringing Death, and Wade's feelings for her, back is consistent--and welcome--as are Wade's fun psychotic love/hate exchanges with Hydra Bob, bookending the issue, and the art from Sheldon Vella, which hits the right tone.

Introspective, following his meeting with Death, Wade has a dialogue with himself which runs: "Okay, so... what I'm looking for is friends--which I'll never have...that'll kill me--which'll never happen...because I want somebody to care about me. Except no-one ever will."

If Wade's head was a mess before, it's a huge mess now.

There's only one solution.

Death.

Things have taken a darker turn and from what I've seen of what's coming up for Deadpool, this isn't gonna go well for him...