Cult classics.
Therein lies the key to a fanbase, a very small but very special key that inspires devotion and unity under the strangest of banners. Believe it or not, your trash is another man’s treasured character collection. There are those out there who think Stilt Man’s pretty cool, there are those who have every comic Meggan’s ever been in and still others who can recite every member of the Serpent Society. My imagination is even vivid enough to think that somewhere, somehow, someone thinks Penance is cool. That’s the neat thing about comics, no character can truly go unnoticed.
And then there’s Deadpool.
Today, he has two comics coming out, one is his own title and the other is a rather long guest spot on Wolverine: Origins. Both are very out of place within the general X-Men milieu and this brings me to wonder… why? Has Wade Wilson ever carried his own book? Do we really know anything about the guy that warrants more guest appearances?
These days, it’s hard to remember. It’s not that they guy is simply funny; let’s face it, if pop culture quips and fourth wall humor was what it took to make a cult favorite, She-Hulk would be in a lot better position than she is right now. It’s not the violence either: note how Deadpool didn’t get an invite to Cyclops’s all new, all stabbing X-Force. I think both of those have caught our eye, but it’s what writers have given the character that makes him worth a second look and his own book. There have been those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to bring some depth and story to the Merc with a Mouth: Joe Kelly’s run was phenomenal and Gail Simone’s Deadpool was practically a whole new person (oh wait, it was). Still, they gave a throwaway ‘homage’ to the Distinguished Competition’s Deathstroke some time in the sun and a special purpose for his book to mull over. Kelly took the book from his mini-series days to a full 89 issues of progression from ‘funny guy who wants to kill people’ to ‘manic killer looks for sanity in heroism’. Kelly took the time to have Deadpool buoyed up by some rather unique moments of character (such as keeping an old lady in a torture box and trying to save Typhoid Mary from her own madness) that gave weight to the parody character.  Another huge factor in the first series’s 89 issue success was the supporting cast; I always said that a webpage is as good as its links and it works in a similar if metaphorical way about comics. Characters are made and broken by a supporting cast and with enough support, Kelly’s Deadpool series became one of those ‘cult classics’ with loyal fans.
While they tried death and a new face on for awhile, Deadpool came back to being himself which is where the attraction to the character started. You see, the best comedy teams need a ’straight man’, someone to deliver the set-ups so that the other guy can knock the gags out of the park.  Deadpool’s supporting cast have been some of the great straight men (and women) of comics, allowing Deadpool to sling the one-liners and pop culture references he’s famous for. When they paired him with Cable, it was like gold struck twice; neither of these characters really work well as a solitary concept, both have qualities the other needs for a complete story and, let’s face it, there’s not a funny bone in Cable’s body which makes him perfect fodder for the Merc with a Mouth. It was a weird buddy cop story that took awhile to really get the hang of but eventually, you could stop skimming it for Deadpool humor and see the rather fascinating political story that Cable was going through. They even had one of the better Civl War tie-ins.
But now, we find Deadpool alone again and … there’s just something missing.
Today, his own series won’t even give him top billing and his supporting cast is a changing rotation of guest stars and … Bob the Hydra Agent; a funny gag, but not really giving Deadpool a decent sounding board to give him any depth of character. Since the ‘death’ of Cable, the focus of the book shines uncomfortably on Deadpool and even went so far as to bring back T-Ray from Kelly’s run to tell us about how Wade still wants to be a hero… though really, he’s been doing fine in this regard in his wacky anti-hero status. Why bring back the rather confusing T-Ray to carry this through? Over in Wolverine: Origins, we’ve seen to reverted back to type as Deadpool tries to kill Wolverine, something he’s tried to accomplish before but then at least he had a motive. While it is a first issue, this guest star appearance comes at a strange time for Wolverine: Origins; they just had a rather noble little tale about Logan’s time with Captain America and Bucky and now we’re headed on a collision course to wackiness?
We have one book trying to tell us something about Wade Wilson, and another book just giving us the jokes. Somewhere, in between these, lies the cult classic.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
i kinda thought wolverine origins was amusing. in a loony toons kind of way. i really wish marvel would reprint joe kellys run. probably waiting for the new deadpool series before launching an essential or something.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Wow, you need a fact checker:
-The original Deadpool on-going ran into the 60s, not 89 issues.
-Simone original wrote Deadpool prior to the Agent X switch
-Technically, the title is still Cable & Deadpool at present, until #50. At that point, Deadpool’s due to get a new on-going shortly after by Daniel Way. Adding Deadpool vol.1, Agent X, and C&D together, that’s a continuous run of more than 130 issues, which is damn respectable by any standard, even more amazing when you figure in that Jimmy Palmiotti and Wizard staffer had a run on the book, as did Frank Tieri.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Word! “Neither work as a solitary concept…” Are you kidding me? Deadpool had 2 hugely poplular mini’s before the Joe Kelly ongoing, and Cable’s book lasted well past the hundred issue mark. Both characters have starred in comics, almost since their inception - OVER TEN YEARS AGO! There are few 90s, or even 80s creations that have been in circulation that long.