In Marvel comics, Deadpool is a pretty ubiquitous character. He just joined the Avengers, he has some connection with the X-Men, he’s had a bunch of miniseries, a few stabs at an ongoing, and pairings with Cable, Wolverine and the Punisher. He’s been in a Wolverine movie and Fox is about to make (or release) a solo movie. I guess I’m supposed to think he’s a very popular character, but the actual vibe I get is “Man, they’re trying a little too hard to make this character the Next Big Thing.”
Can anybody defend the importance of this character? If it disappeared tomorrow, I probably wouldn’t notice. Do any of the Teeming Millions identify as Deadpool fans?
He’s huge with fans. Huge. His position in the new Marvel comics as a sort of super-celebrity isn’t them trying to oversell a minor character, it’s them parodying the character’s fan base.
That said, comedian Brian Posehn started a run on Deadpool about two years back that was fucking excellent. It’s all been collected by now, except maybe the last book, and I highly recommend picking up at least the first one, Dead Presidents.
I’m a Marvel Zombie (got a serial number and everything) and I find him really boring.
Sure, there’s room for parody in the Marvel Universe. But DP is tedious. He’s a one-trick pony. He’s too much like DC’s Lobo. Since they have vastly more power than the people they brutalize, there’s no drama in it. It’s just bullying and cowardice.
He’s very very popular because he’s Spiderman with guns and no morality.
So he’s just fanboy wet dream.
He’s arguably the last Marvel breakthru “star” character.
Which the fact that they don’t have his movie rights–AND still overpush the character in the comics (seriously, Captain America Steve Rogers just made him an Avenger, when a decade ago Cap was written as thinking Wolverine, a guy he worked with regularly and trusted, was insulting as an Avenger) seems to undercut the theory that Marvel is downplaying the FF and the X-men because of the lack of movie control.
Meh. Can we call it a “Decade” in Marvel character years?
That said, ex-Cap, Spidey, Rogue, and Wade on a super-team* is* kind of crazy. (Then again Cap once had a team with a defected USSR agent, two “evil mutants,” and Hawkeye. So I guess it’s in character, sort of.) Me, I’m buying the Avengers title with an old New Mutant, the island full of mad scientists, Songbird, and Squirrel Girl (and Hawkeye e_e).
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver have been regular members since 1970, and Hawkeye has been a regular since 1965. I’m not sure just how many periods they, Widow, and Cap were on the same Avengers team (though all of them except Cap were on the West Coast team in the 90s), but there’ve been more than a few possibilities.
Well, I was thinking that Widow and Hawkeye joined together, as two reformed Iron Man antagonists. I’m not sure where I got that idea. But I accept that I just don’t know that much about the Avengers.
I adored Deadpool when he was the comedic foil to the gruff, no-nonsense Cable in the aptly named “Cable and Deadpool” series. Did a good job of using DP as more than ‘humor’ too, he showed a heart and was a necessary counterbalance to keep Cable from running off the rails (he filled this role in Uncanny X-Force too). Unfortunately for awhile under Daniel Way’s pen he just became the crazy cuckoo comedy character, all chimichanga this and Beatrice Arthur that. I’ve heard good things about his more recent run but I got so burnt out I haven’t looked at it yet.
Yeah, my first exposure to the character, he was pretty deep into self-parody, and it was pretty tedious. I picked up Posehn’s run mostly because I like his stand up, and was really impressed by it. He does a really good job of rehabilitating the character. He keeps the humor, of course, but regrounds it, and builds some genuine pathos into the character. It’s an incredibly strong run, although it does start out pretty firmly in the “wakka wakka” goofball stuff that had defined him up to that point, if only to provide a starting point to move away from.
I’m a big superhero comic book fan, and have been for 50+ years. I don’t care for Deadpool, but my 14-year-old grandson, who doesn’t care about superheroes much, thinks he’s hilarious. He’s got the T-shirt and the bobblehead, but has only read a couple of the comics.
Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver all joined in issue 16, 1965-ish. They and Cap were the team for a while, while all the original founders took a break.
Yes, Deadpool is popular. He has kept at least one series in circulation since the late nineties, which is quite an accomplishment, really.
I remember well the Kelly run. Very interesting read. It was superficially a sort of meta take on Superhero comics with a character breaking the fourth wall and making fun of old-fashioned mores, but often getting weirdly dark and mean-spirited. I should give the Posehn series a try.
