The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1975: The New Mutants #98, February 1991

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(A brief note: according to The Atlantic, the term "latinx" is not exactly a popular one. It is used primarily in academic circles, and since that's where I come from, I'm going to use it. I hope it doesn't offend anyone. I use it exactly to avoid such offense.)

Let's start off my week of Latinx creators with a big one, and currently one of the most valuable comics in my collection. This issue, from featured creator Fabian Nicieza, is the first appearance of the inimitable Merc with a Mouth, Ryan Reynolds' alter ego, Deadpool. Though the credits list Nicieza as a "Scripter," and Rob Liefeld as the story writer, Deadpool's trademark, aside from his violent ways, is his unceasing patter while battling, eating, fucking, whatever. And that comes from a scripter, I would imagine. Rob Liefeld often talks about himself as Deadpool's creator, but comics are words and pictures.

Aside from this, we also have Domino's first appearance, a character played with utter perfection by Zazie Beetz. These introductions, of course, are groundwork for the end of The New Mutants with issue #100, and the beginning of the Liefeld/Nicieza title X-Force. With Liefeld's departure with the other image founders, Mr. Nicieza took over the creative direction of the series until the universe shattering events of The Age of Apocalypse. Mr. Nicieza was a foundational writer for the X-books throughout the 90s and early 2000s, and laid the groundwork for a lot of what has since become canonical in the Marvel Universe.

As with my look at Black creators, I'm interested to see what kind of Latinx representation there is in these comics that feature creators of that ethnic background. I didn't see too much representation in this issue, with the exception, perhaps, of Rictor, who leaves the team in this issue. I couldn't actually find too much info on Rictor's background, but it's telling that after Liefeld leaves the series, Mr. Nicieza returns Rictor to the X-Force fold.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1603: Deadpool/Death '98, 1998

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."