Comical Books: The End of "Deadpool"

Deadpool is getting his own movie next year. So let's talk about his most recent comic run.

Comedian/ musician Brian Posehn wrote this 48-issue series.¹ He's a perfect fit for the character, and this is a worthy follow-up to Daniel Way's character-reviving run on the comic.

Brief background on Deadpool, for the uninitiated: he's basically Wolverine without claws or metal skeleton. And with a demented, reality-bending sense of humor.

It starts quite hilariously, with endless fourth-wall breaking and satire and wisecracks and wonderfulness.

Then it treads water for a dozen issues or two.²

Then it comes back to life near the end and you get a lot of good jokes and punchline payoffs.

Highlights: Deadpool joining forces with the ghosts of the Founding Fathers. Deadpool taking on S.H.I.E.L.D. Deadpool teaming up with the ridiculous character, DAZZLER. Deadpool gets married.

Oh, and Deadpool dies at the end. Spoiler alert for the previous sentence.³

Now with Marvel comics, you can't take any death seriously. So I'm highly skeptical about Deadpool's demise, even though they made it very dramatic and decisive. With Deadpool's movie coming out soon, his character is a license to print money.⁴

This was a cool run, overall. Ups and downs, like any series. A legit entry point for new readers and fun for longtime fans.

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1. Which I read as 8 trade paperbacks because I can't be bothered to read individual issues. I'm not too old for comics, but I am too old to collect single issues.

2. Most of the spirit-possession stuff is just boring. But you get some cool one-shots along the way where issues pretend to be rejected issues from the 80's or 90's and are thick with retro references.

3. Also Deadpool's death was a huge bit of comics news, so if you didn't know, there's a good chance comics aren't a big enough deal for you to be bothered by this reveal.

4. Unless the movie screws him up as badly as the last movie he was in, the unbelievably bad "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," where they actually sewed Deadpool's mouth up at the end. He's the "Merc with a Mouth" and they removed his mouth. Whose idea was that?

-Phony McFakename

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