Post by Admin on Mar 28, 2011 19:21:57 GMT -5
It's no secret that I love Deadpool but hate the current situation he's in. The man that was once a dark and hilarious anti-hero has become a clown with a healing factor. So where did he go wrong? Let's go back to the beginning.
Deadpool was introduced as a mercenary working for the mysterious villain Tolliver. Deadpool busted into Marvel in New Mutants #98, absolutely kicking all sorts of ass. He dished out some verbal insults and had the skills to throw out some physical ones, too. He smacked around Cable and the New Mutants until getting a few daggers in the back, courtesy of Domino's powers. That's right, folks, Deadpool had a healing factor, but it wasn't the insanely powerful one he's developed. Sure, the character began as a blatant rip-off of Slade Wilson and threw puns around like an evil ninja assassin version of the popular wall crawler, but he developed into something far greater.
Deadpool's origin is as bleak and depressing as they come. These tragic events helped turn him into the complex and emotional character I know and love. At the core, Deadpool is a good guy, but it took him awhile to actually take that step. At first, he was by all means a kickass villain or merc for hire, mostly appearing in X-Force. He truly began to develop during his first two short runs (Fabian Nicieza & Mark Waid). This began to shine light on the prospect of Deadpool being an anti-hero as he fell in love and completed a few heroic deeds in the process.
Shortly after, Joe Kelly took that idea and ran with it during Deadpool's first full-fledged comic. This is the work most Deadpool fans consider the 'must-read' material. Deadpool opens up more as a comedic character, but for every hilarious laugh there's a deep and moving scene where Deadpool is torn between what he wants to do, and what he knows is right. The deeply conflicted Deadpool, struggling to deal with his traumatic past by covering it with jokes and laughs is the Deadpool I grew to love. Kelly gave Deadpool some excellent scenes, such as when Wade teams-up with the scientist who was behind the majority of his suffering at the Weapon X program. Does he kill the man who once tortured him over and over again, or does he spare the man his life? I won't spoil it, but writers can turn to material like that to get a look at the man I consider to be the real Deadpool.
After a long-lived run, Deadpool began to turn far more comedic, but still capable of kicking you around if required. Gail Simmone then went on to create a short and hilarious conclusion to the saga. She then followed up with the excellent and brief series Agent X. After that, Fabian returned to the title with 'Cable and Deadpool.' This fantastic run did Deadpool some major justice. If he wasn't taking center stage, he was a hilarious and well-used side-kick (or foe) to Cable. But despite the jokes taking center stage, there were yet again some amazing emotional pieces.
Now we move to the latest run with Deadpool, brought to you by Daniel Way. Now before I let loose and really bash this, I just want to confess that I do enjoy some of his work. I think he's best placed in short, comedic oriented runs. His minis 'Bullseye VS Punisher' and 'Bullseye: Greatest Hits' were fun and highly entertaining reads. Now that I have that out of the way, I'll chug some "hateraid" and elaborate on just how much I loathe the current run. The primary issue I have is that Deadpool is no longer a deep character. He's transformed into a clown with a healing factor that occasionally goes emo when reflecting on his life. He focuses just far too much on the comedic side and makes it rather ridiculous almost every time. Sure, some people might enjoy this, but I don't enjoy one of my favorite characters now being turned into a complete joke. For example, making thousands of pancakes so someone can safely fall into them. Sure, it's funny, but let's give Deadpool some respect and not turn his latest volume into a purely comedic run.
Also, what's up with Deadpool now having three voices? There's his standard voice, then two completely different voices in his head that are always at odds with one another. Yes, Deadpool has always had some mental issues due to the torture and effects of the introduced healing factor interacting with his cancer, but this is just ridiculous. He argues in his head, and then he shoots himself in the head out of boredom? How many previous times have we seen him go weeks without a gig and just kill time by watching TV or casually hanging out? And since when did Deadpool have this fantasy of becoming a pirate?
And as you all know, his popularity sky-rocketed conveniently around the time X-Men Origins: Wolverine was promoted and of course, Wilson appeared in it. Now that he was a cash cow, he started appearing everywhere and had numerous other runs (Merc with a mouth, Corps, Team-Up). But there was in fact a glimmer of hope. Mike Benson wrote the short run 'Deadpool: Suicide Kings.' This run held Deadpool to a high comedic standard, but still treated the character with great respect. And at the end of the day, that's what I want to see.
I get it that Deadpool has had time to move past a lot of his dark origin, but it doesn't mean he can now dance around like he's in a slapstick comedy. Cable & Deadpool did it right. He was striving to be good, but he was still conflicted on quite a bit. To top it off, he posed a physical threat as well, instead of often opting to run from any conflict or creating an absolutely absurd plot device. I would love nothing more than to see Marvel give Mike Benson another shot at Wade...But this time with the on-going!
So, how do you guys feel? Are you happy with the current Deadpool run? Do you agree or disagree with me? And what creative team would you like to see take charge of Marvel's merc with a mouth?
Deadpool was introduced as a mercenary working for the mysterious villain Tolliver. Deadpool busted into Marvel in New Mutants #98, absolutely kicking all sorts of ass. He dished out some verbal insults and had the skills to throw out some physical ones, too. He smacked around Cable and the New Mutants until getting a few daggers in the back, courtesy of Domino's powers. That's right, folks, Deadpool had a healing factor, but it wasn't the insanely powerful one he's developed. Sure, the character began as a blatant rip-off of Slade Wilson and threw puns around like an evil ninja assassin version of the popular wall crawler, but he developed into something far greater.
Deadpool's origin is as bleak and depressing as they come. These tragic events helped turn him into the complex and emotional character I know and love. At the core, Deadpool is a good guy, but it took him awhile to actually take that step. At first, he was by all means a kickass villain or merc for hire, mostly appearing in X-Force. He truly began to develop during his first two short runs (Fabian Nicieza & Mark Waid). This began to shine light on the prospect of Deadpool being an anti-hero as he fell in love and completed a few heroic deeds in the process.
Shortly after, Joe Kelly took that idea and ran with it during Deadpool's first full-fledged comic. This is the work most Deadpool fans consider the 'must-read' material. Deadpool opens up more as a comedic character, but for every hilarious laugh there's a deep and moving scene where Deadpool is torn between what he wants to do, and what he knows is right. The deeply conflicted Deadpool, struggling to deal with his traumatic past by covering it with jokes and laughs is the Deadpool I grew to love. Kelly gave Deadpool some excellent scenes, such as when Wade teams-up with the scientist who was behind the majority of his suffering at the Weapon X program. Does he kill the man who once tortured him over and over again, or does he spare the man his life? I won't spoil it, but writers can turn to material like that to get a look at the man I consider to be the real Deadpool.
After a long-lived run, Deadpool began to turn far more comedic, but still capable of kicking you around if required. Gail Simmone then went on to create a short and hilarious conclusion to the saga. She then followed up with the excellent and brief series Agent X. After that, Fabian returned to the title with 'Cable and Deadpool.' This fantastic run did Deadpool some major justice. If he wasn't taking center stage, he was a hilarious and well-used side-kick (or foe) to Cable. But despite the jokes taking center stage, there were yet again some amazing emotional pieces.
Now we move to the latest run with Deadpool, brought to you by Daniel Way. Now before I let loose and really bash this, I just want to confess that I do enjoy some of his work. I think he's best placed in short, comedic oriented runs. His minis 'Bullseye VS Punisher' and 'Bullseye: Greatest Hits' were fun and highly entertaining reads. Now that I have that out of the way, I'll chug some "hateraid" and elaborate on just how much I loathe the current run. The primary issue I have is that Deadpool is no longer a deep character. He's transformed into a clown with a healing factor that occasionally goes emo when reflecting on his life. He focuses just far too much on the comedic side and makes it rather ridiculous almost every time. Sure, some people might enjoy this, but I don't enjoy one of my favorite characters now being turned into a complete joke. For example, making thousands of pancakes so someone can safely fall into them. Sure, it's funny, but let's give Deadpool some respect and not turn his latest volume into a purely comedic run.
Also, what's up with Deadpool now having three voices? There's his standard voice, then two completely different voices in his head that are always at odds with one another. Yes, Deadpool has always had some mental issues due to the torture and effects of the introduced healing factor interacting with his cancer, but this is just ridiculous. He argues in his head, and then he shoots himself in the head out of boredom? How many previous times have we seen him go weeks without a gig and just kill time by watching TV or casually hanging out? And since when did Deadpool have this fantasy of becoming a pirate?
And as you all know, his popularity sky-rocketed conveniently around the time X-Men Origins: Wolverine was promoted and of course, Wilson appeared in it. Now that he was a cash cow, he started appearing everywhere and had numerous other runs (Merc with a mouth, Corps, Team-Up). But there was in fact a glimmer of hope. Mike Benson wrote the short run 'Deadpool: Suicide Kings.' This run held Deadpool to a high comedic standard, but still treated the character with great respect. And at the end of the day, that's what I want to see.
I get it that Deadpool has had time to move past a lot of his dark origin, but it doesn't mean he can now dance around like he's in a slapstick comedy. Cable & Deadpool did it right. He was striving to be good, but he was still conflicted on quite a bit. To top it off, he posed a physical threat as well, instead of often opting to run from any conflict or creating an absolutely absurd plot device. I would love nothing more than to see Marvel give Mike Benson another shot at Wade...But this time with the on-going!
So, how do you guys feel? Are you happy with the current Deadpool run? Do you agree or disagree with me? And what creative team would you like to see take charge of Marvel's merc with a mouth?
