I like Deadpool. He's a funny character, and has injected a definite sense of the ridiculous into the Marvel Universe that was sorely needed. Previously, characters like Howard the Duck or Slapstick would have filled his metatextual shoes, but despite Howard's huge success in the 70s, no one has quite done fourth wall breaking like the Merc with a Mouth. It's funny, because I just ran across the issue of New Mutants in which he's introduced, and I wonder if Nicieza and Liefeld had any idea that their gross 90s ultra-violent mercenary would become one of the most beloved Marvel characters ever.
Today we get a bit of the 'Pool's back story, much of which was used in the Deadpool film, as well as some lovely interactions between him and Death. Yep, Death, with a capital D. Though Marvel's Death often appears as we see here on the cover, in characterization in today's comic, she's more than a little like Neil Gaiman's revered depiction in the Sandman and Death series from Vertigo. Okay, she's perhaps a little more lusty over Deadpool, but there's banter and flirtation, which is not really in line with previous depictions of the great equalizer. More often than not we see this entity as the silent muse of someone like Thanos, or simply watching coolly as the Silver Surfer engages in some vast cosmic threat. Today, though, she's kind of in love with Deadpool, and he's kind of in love with her.
I've got a bunch of the Joe Kelly Deadpool series in the collection, but it's bits and pieces of stories so I've never really delved into it. That's something I've noticed about the project - I'm definitely more likely to read something where I've got at least a few issues in a row, just to get some continuous story. This says something, I think, about the vacillation in serial nature that comics undergo in various periods. For example, the Amazing Spider-Man stuff I just read had a very, very loose plot running through the issues, but were, for the most part, standalone stories. Once we get to the later 90s, stuff like that is hard to find. The overarching stories take precedence. I remember Warren Ellis noting with Planetary that even though there was a larger story taking place, each comic was to be self-contained, and enjoyable in some way aside from the overarching plot . But what I need to do, if I'm ever to get through these comics, is to simply dive in and accept that I won't get it. I know I've talked about it a lot before, but there's still been this subconscious drive to find the runs of comics, rather than the individual issues. I'm going to try harder to be a bit more Zen about my practice. Which makes little to no sense, but there you have it.
"...forget about him, and I'll teach you the horizontal mamb-hrrk."
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