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Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


Who is Deadpool?

The Merc with a Mouth is a self-aware, jokey gun for hire with a heroic streak who stars in his own solo series, usually has his own miniseries going on and tends to join a team every now and then. He speaks in yellow word bubbles for style reasons, has a healing factor much like Wolverine's and is completely competent at fighting and adventuring in a way that makes him look completely incompetent. His body is completely gnarled up due to being covered in tumors and scar tissue, usually making him look like Freddy Krueger. You know, when they could afford the good makeup like in New Nightmare.

His name is Wade Wilson (or is it Jack?) and he came from Canada (or is it Ohio?). Well-trained in military tasks, he contracted cancer and signed with Weapon X to be experimented on in hopes of finding a cure. They used him as a guinea pig to graft a man-made attempt at copying Wolverine's healing factor. The process was torturous and taxing to both body and mind. He escaped and became a mercenary until realizing that maybe there was more to him than just murdering for a bunch of money.

What's his Publication History?

Deadpool was introduced by Fabian Nicieza in New Mutants #98 back in 1990 because Rob Liefeld really wanted to draw Deathstroke the Terminator, so they shaved off the serial number. He antagonized X-Force for a while until Nicieza wrote a miniseries called the Circle Chase where Deadpool was still an rear end in a top hat, but showed a brief moment of emotion and selflessness in the end. Afterwards, Mark Waid wrote a miniseries where he's later said if he knew who Deadpool was before accepting the offer to write it, he would have refused. Still, he made lemonade out of those lemons and wrote a good four-issue run that introduced Deadpool's romantic connection to Siryn and continued to make Deadpool just a little more likeable.

In the mid-90's, Joe Kelly got to spend several years writing the Deadpool ongoing and while it builds on Waid's four issues, it's known by many as THE definitive take on the character. Deadpool made an honest-to-God attempt to be a hero and while realizing that he may never escape the ghosts of what he's done in the past, he'll still try. It went for 33 issues plus specials and is worth reading if you ever want to get into the character. Once he left, Christopher Priest wrote a very average run for a little while. Then different writers took over with different levels of success. Some good, some bad.

The final stretch of the run was done by Gail Simone in what some consider to be her best work. At #69, Deadpool seemingly died and the series was relaunched as Agent X, featuring a similar-but-different dude named Alex Hayden, who is also a jokey, quick-healing, scarred mercenary, except Japanese. Simone left before they could reveal Hayden's connection to Wilson and different writers drove the series into the ground (yes, including Evan Dorkin of all people). Simone was brought back in for three more issues to resolve everything and bring Deadpool back.

Creator Nicieza got to write 50 issues of Cable/Deadpool, which turned the mortal enemies into a heartwarming bromance. While filled with fantastic moments and good stories, it suffered a bit from cannibalizing their histories a bit too much and rarely creating anything new for them to deal with. I mean, Nicieza introduced a guy named Black Box and... that's about it, I think. Still, a completely solid run that ended because Cable was killed/escaped into the future because of bigger X-Men storytelling, making it all about Deadpool.

Deadpool was given a relaunched solo series once again, this time written by Daniel Way. Way had written a Deadpool arc in Wolverine: Origins that showed he had a good grasp on the character. The first year of his series was really strong with stories about him fighting Skrulls, zombies, the Thunderbolts and Bullseye-dressed-as-Hawkeye. Then the series really fell apart due to Way's inability to write any payoff. Deadpool became a complete rear end in a top hat again and would waffle between wanting to be a hero and wanting to be known as the best merc ever. Interesting concepts would be built up to, then seemingly forgotten about, dragging you into the next story, which would also lack payoff. He gained a crappy arch-nemesis Evil Deadpool (made of dismembered pieces of Deadpool sewn back together) and did a whole arc about losing his healing factor, only for the series to abruptly end with him getting it back.

While that was going on, Deadpool was everywhere and had a million comics. Deadpool Team-Up was a really fun series for the most part where each issue was a different creative team matching Deadpool up with a different hero. Then there was Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, a 13-issue second solo series where Deadpool and the head of his zombie counterpart from the Marvel Zombies universe got into wacky adventures with curvaceous women constantly drawn falling out of their clothes. It was okay, I guess. That spun off into Deadpool Corps, a Liefeld-drawn series where Deadpool teamed up with various Deadpools from other realities to do stuff in space. It sucked hard.

During all of this, the best Deadpool comic was Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force, which reminded everyone that Wade Wilson is in fact best when he plays up the pathos. Sure, he's funny, but the scene of him pointing out that he has a serious problem with the fact that Fantomex shot a child in the head for the betterment of the world when Wolverine doesn't is absolutely amazing.

Once Way's series ended, Deadpool got yet another ongoing as part of Marvel NOW, written by the team of Brian Posehn (known as "that big, goony guy with the red horseshoe hair you see on TV sometimes") and Gerry Duggan. They once wrote a comic about Santa Claus in the post-apocalypse that was pretty rad. Their first Deadpool arc was about Deadpool fighting zombie presidents and that got old pretty quickly, souring a lot of people on the series. Then the comic really started gaining momentum, escalating into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, one of the all-time best Deadpool storylines.

The Posehn/Duggan run is seriously good and should be read. They also have a secondary story going on right now. Deadpool: The Gauntlet is a 12-issue weekly digital series telling the story about how Deadpool was hired by Dracula to retrieve his slumbering bride-to-be, the succubus Shiklah. During the adventure, Deadpool and Shiklah start to fall for each other, which will spill into the main series in a big way come this April.

Otherwise, overwhelmingly mediocre writer Cullen Bunn has been writing a bunch of Deadpool miniseries for the past year or so. It started with Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, which is just a mean-spirited and hollow comic about Deadpool killing off every Marvel character because he realizes they're all fictional. It's poo poo. Then it becomes Deadpool Killustrated, where he moves on to hunting down classical characters who created storytelling archetypes. Also poo poo. It comes to a head in Deadpool Kills Deadpool, where the main comics Deadpool has to fight his evil self from the previous two minis, leading to the deaths of all the other alternate universe Deadpools (including all of the Deadpool Corps). Still poo poo, albeit not as bad as the previous ones.

Right now, Bunn is writing Night of the Living Deadpool, which is actually pretty decent. His next project will be a miniseries about Deadpool fighting Carnage. Keep in mind, his last Carnage crossover was not very good.

Deadpool's also a member of the Thunderbolts, a team put together by Red Hulk to do his dirty work. In return, the team members get to do their own personal missions with everyone else agreeing to help out. Deadpool's been jealous of the Frank Castle/Elektra friends-with-benefits relationship, but come April I doubt that will be a problem anymore. Much like his solo series, it started out written by Daniel Way and was absolutely terrible. Charles "writes more comics than Johns and Bendis ever did combined" Soule took over and made it totally worth reading.

What Should I Read if I Want to Get into Deadpool?

Deadpool Classic has the complete Joe Kelly run. The one problem is that the first volume also features his first appearance and the two miniseries before giving you only the first issue of Joe Kelly's run. Otherwise, just plow through those trades and you'll be good.

All of Cable/Deadpool is worth reading. The first two trades of Daniel Way's stuff isn't bad and the Deadpool arc in Wolverine Origins is one of the best things Way's ever written. There's a good miniseries called Deadpool: Suicide Kings. Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force is all really good outside of some iffy art in the Captain Britain storyline. If you want to get into Thunderbolts, definitely start when Soule takes over (#12 in issues, volume 3 in trades).

In terms of alternate universe stuff, Deadpool starred in Deadpool Pulp (Deadpool as an insane government agent during the 1950's) and 5 Ronin (various Marvel heroes reimagined as warriors in feudal Japan). Both are worth a peek.

With the current run, you might as well just start off at Deadpool #1 and work your way up from there. Power through the first arc and you're in for a good time.

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X-O
Apr 28, 2002

Long Live The King!

Read Deadpool and Deadpool: The Gauntlet. They're very good.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



As the creator of the old thread, I really like the title of this new thread.

OlyMike
Sep 17, 2006
I'm talking about flagellation, who gives a damn about parades
Did anyone else read the Deadpool MAX series? It was pretty depressing, but I liked it okay. Is there a general opinion about the "Max" series of all of the comics? I liked the Punisher ones a fair amount, and the Wolverine ones were okayish. Is it just an excuse to put tits and brain matter into popular comics?

fatherboxx
Mar 25, 2013

Deadpool MAX is a strange beast, it overstayed its welcome, but some of it is solid gold - the issue with "Taskmaster" boy scout camps stands out. Really harsh parody of "extreme" comics and their attempts at blending superheroes with task force action. Makes sense: if classic Deadpool is mostly a vehicle for making fun of pompous heroics, his MAX version should be the same for the heroics in tacticool gear. Some genuinely disturbing portrayal of mental illness too.

The high points of the current run are retro issues drawn by Scott Koblish - "Is this... alcohol?!"

IUG
Jul 14, 2007


Deadpool Max was enjoyable. However, every time I think of it, the first thing I remember is the mashed potatoes Domino. The art was pretty bad in parts.

RandallODim
Dec 30, 2010

Another 1? Aww man...
I only read one issue of Deadpool MAX, and it had a monocle-wearing Cable show up to dick over Deadpool. It was pretty funny.

The current Deadpool is great, and the bits I've seen from The Gauntlet make me really need to read that too.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


I think this run is so great because Duggan/Posen get that Deadpool doesn't joke because lolrandum, but because it's a coping mechanism. All he's good at is killing people, and that would break anyone -- but he's Deadpool and his very nature means he can't ever stop or be stopped. So he embraces his life and makes his own bright spots in between the mass muderings and wrecked relationships. He has maybe two friends, and is possibly hallucinating Preston so that he doesn't lose one of the few people who's seen enough to understand him.

Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


Two words to explain why to read this week's Gauntlet: vampire Grimace

With last week's issue of the main series, I really liked that little moment where they put Deadpool on the operating table and he had to power through how uncomfortable he was due to experiencing Weapon X/Butler flashbacks. That was really well done.

X-O
Apr 28, 2002

Long Live The King!

Gavok posted:

Two words to explain why to read this week's Gauntlet: vampire Grimace

With last week's issue of the main series, I really liked that little moment where they put Deadpool on the operating table and he had to power through how uncomfortable he was due to experiencing Weapon X/Butler flashbacks. That was really well done.

Deadpool is firing on all cylinders lately. I hope The Gauntlet makes it into a TPB. Though I admit it would lose a bit of presentation. They'd done some good jokes with the transitions.

IUG
Jul 14, 2007


At this point I'm just hoping that after it's all done (shortly after) they put the whole collection on sale. I want to read it, but I also just bought new tires for my car.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

Deadpool posted:

Deadpool is firing on all cylinders lately. I hope The Gauntlet makes it into a TPB. Though I admit it would lose a bit of presentation. They'd done some good jokes with the transitions.

I would assume they would since it introduces a very important character. They also have stuck the digital comics in the Infinity Trade. However, they did also include a code for the digital versions and said that they lose something when they are in trade.

Comic
Feb 24, 2008

Mad Comic Stylings

bobkatt013 posted:

I would assume they would since it introduces a very important character. They also have stuck the digital comics in the Infinity Trade. However, they did also include a code for the digital versions and said that they lose something when they are in trade.

Yeah, a lot of them capitalizing on the digital format is that each 'page' can be identical to the last with a little change to show action occurring in the panel. It'd be a bit ineffective to do that in print, and necessary in cases where one part obscures the previous part.

Wanderer
Nov 5, 2006

our every move is the new tradition
I kind of hope the Planet of the Zombie Deadpool Hivemind shows up in something down the line.

Senor Candle
Nov 5, 2008
If you guys wanna see what the gauntlet looks like as a physical comic, the first issue was released as one

Avulsion
Feb 12, 2006
I never knew what hit me
Did Deadpool just get married in this week's Gauntlet?

Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


Avulsion posted:

Did Deadpool just get married in this week's Gauntlet?

This week's issue just about confirms it (Shiklah says "Don't tell my husband" after kissing a victim and I don't think she's talking about Dracula). I'm guessing the reveal will be in one of the two remaining issues and they'll show the wedding itself in Deadpool's main series.

Oddly enough, they did this exact plot in Deadpool Team-Up with Satana, only this time they appear to want to make it a status quo.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

Gavok posted:

This week's issue just about confirms it (Shiklah says "Don't tell my husband" after kissing a victim and I don't think she's talking about Dracula). I'm guessing the reveal will be in one of the two remaining issues and they'll show the wedding itself in Deadpool's main series.

Oddly enough, they did this exact plot in Deadpool Team-Up with Satana, only this time they appear to want to make it a status quo.

We already know that Deadpool is getting married in an upcoming issue.

Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


bobkatt013 posted:

We already know that Deadpool is getting married in an upcoming issue.

Of course. I'm just saying that the marriage happened off-panel in Deadpool: The Gauntlet #9.

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

Gavok posted:

Of course. I'm just saying that the marriage happened off-panel in Deadpool: The Gauntlet #9.

According to the Marvel Wikia, the actual "marriage panel" that we've all seen happens in Deadpool #27, which comes out next month.

This month, we get to see a Deadpool/Nick Fury team-up, evidently...in Fury's prime.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010

BIG HEADLINE posted:

According to the Marvel Wikia, the actual "marriage panel" that we've all seen happens in Deadpool #27, which comes out next month.

This month, we get to see a Deadpool/Nick Fury team-up, evidently...in Fury's prime.

That has a lot of potential. Can you say "dueling rocket bikes"?

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"
Evidently the Fury team-up doesn't happen this month. In lieu of that, I give you "SabreNOPE" (cropped just to show the funny part):

Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


Some wordless preview pages for #27 have been released.

The really interesting thing in all of this is that Deadpool #27 is going to have backup stories by nearly every Deadpool writer ever. It's just missing Cullen Bunn and Mike Benson, but otherwise you have everyone who ever wrote some kind of run on a Deadpool solo comic.

Lars Blitzer
Aug 17, 2004

He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink...


Dick Tracy's number one fan.

Gavok posted:

Some wordless preview pages for #27 have been released.

The really interesting thing in all of this is that Deadpool #27 is going to have backup stories by nearly every Deadpool writer ever. It's just missing Cullen Bunn and Mike Benson, but otherwise you have everyone who ever wrote some kind of run on a Deadpool solo comic.

No Liefeld? Really? I guess they really want it to sell, then.

Senor Candle
Nov 5, 2008

Lars Blitzer posted:

No Liefeld? Really? I guess they really want it to sell, then.

He never actually wrote the main Deadpool series did he?

Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


The Red Hulk shatter effect in this week's Gauntlet is one of the cooler uses of the digital storytelling.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010

Senor Candle posted:

He never actually wrote the main Deadpool series did he?

He created the character. I'm no fan of the guy, but it wouldn't have killed them to give him a backup story.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

El Gallinero Gros posted:

He created the character. I'm no fan of the guy, but it wouldn't have killed them to give him a backup story.

I am pretty sure he is already invited to the wedding, and did he ever write him? In X-force he was the artist but never the writer. To be fair Marv Wolfman and George Pérez created him.

Wanderer
Nov 5, 2006

our every move is the new tradition
I'm really impressed they got Priest back, even if it's just for a page or two.

Senor Candle
Nov 5, 2008

El Gallinero Gros posted:

He created the character. I'm no fan of the guy, but it wouldn't have killed them to give him a backup story.

"created" as in he colored Deathstroke a different color.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010

bobkatt013 posted:

I am pretty sure he is already invited to the wedding, and did he ever write him? In X-force he was the artist but never the writer. To be fair Marv Wolfman and George Pérez created him.

He wrote Deadpool Corps for a while.

CaptainSweden
May 3, 2012

Gavok posted:

Way had written a Deadpool arc in Wolverine: Origins that showed he had a good grasp on the character.

Huh? I thought that it showed the exact opposite, he showed that he had no understanding of the character,

Gavok posted:

The first two trades of Daniel Way's stuff isn't bad and the Deadpool arc in Wolverine Origins is one of the best things Way's ever written.
I think Way is a terrible writer, I can't stand his work, especially his Deadpool stuff because he gets the character so wrong.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

El Gallinero Gros posted:

He wrote Deadpool Corps for a while.

Are you sure? Everything has him as the artist, and with Victor Gischler.

Senor Candle
Nov 5, 2008

bobkatt013 posted:

Are you sure? Everything has him as the artist, and with Victor Gischler.

Even if he did that isn't the main Deadpool book.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

Senor Candle posted:

Even if he did that isn't the main Deadpool book.

The article says its almost every writer who had a solo run.

Senor Candle
Nov 5, 2008

bobkatt013 posted:

The article says its almost every writer who had a solo run.

Oh you're right. I hadn't read that thing in a while. Still, Liefeld's biggest contribution to the character is basically the color palette right?

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

Senor Candle posted:

Oh you're right. I hadn't read that thing in a while. Still, Liefeld's biggest contribution to the character is basically the color palette right?

Yep. Also to be perfectly honest Joe Kelly has every right to be named creator.

kdrudy
Sep 19, 2009

Great Hitler fight in this weeks issue.

X-O
Apr 28, 2002

Long Live The King!

The Gauntlet has been so good so far. I'm gonna miss it when it concludes next week. The Infinite format works great with Deadpool. Also I've said it before, but I really wish Reilly Brown was drawing the main title. It's not like I dislike who we have now (especially on the flashback issues) but Brown is pretty much my ideal Deadpool artist.

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Dr. Lunchables
Dec 27, 2012

IRL DEBUFFED KOBOLD



From what I can gather, Gauntlet is worth spending the money on ...? I like Duggan and Posehn and have a copy of the first issue, but I was unsure if I should invest real money on it. Does it deliver in a bang/buck sort of way?

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