Comics: The End of an Era

Last week marked the 50th and final issue of Marvel's Cable & Deadpool ongoing series. Of course, with Cable's apparent death in issue 42, the comic became increasingly inaccurate in its title and morphed into what can only really be described as Deadpool Team-Up. Often, the cover art would feature this special guest prominently (whether it be Wolverine, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and so on), with his/her/their name replacing a hastily crossed out Cable. Many fans of the comic seemed to have been turned off by this change, but I quite enjoyed it. Indeed, the cover to Cable & Deadpool #45, featuring World War Two era Bucky Barnes standing next to Deadpool in his own version of a Captain America outfit carrying a backpack with about 25 guns poking out of it, was what got me to pick up an issue in the series in the first place. I was obviously late to the party, and while the giant 50% off the entire store sale at Wild Pig Comics in Kenilworth, NJ last October allowed me to pick up issues 34 to 43 for 50 cents apiece, I still haven't read any of the earlier portions of the run. Even still, the charm of Fabian Nicieza's writing (good luck on your part in that weekly series over at DC there, Fabian) was irresistible, and I grew to really enjoy the series overall. It's a wonder such a quirky book made it all the way to 50, to be honest.

But what about the comic itself? Well, it was a lot of fun. Picking up right at the end of issue 49 with Deadpool accidentally teleporting quite a lot of dinosaurs from the Savage Land into the middle of New York City during a Venom virus outbreak (as seen in Mighty Avengers #7-8 and New Avengers #36), and creating some particularly ferocious Venom dinos. It was a star studded issue, featuring cameos from the Mighty Avengers, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Antics ensue, including the standard fourth wall digs at One More Day, Deadpool's non-involvement in Messiah CompleX, some of the less recognizable Mighty Avengers, and the general cool factor of fighting giant alien dinosaurs. It was a really good issue. Pretty much everything you expect out of a Deadpool book, with a surprising amount of heart (well, that's a relative term when Deadpool's involved, but the last scene had some nice moments). It was an extra sized issue with some nice back matter, including a double sized Dear Deadpool, some comments from Fabian and the Editor, and other goodies. It was a fitting way to end a series at right around when it probably should have ended. We're going to be seeing a new Deadpool ongoing that will apparently be headed up by the current creative team of Wolverine: Origins. Deadpool's in the current W:O story arc, and it seems like Daniel Way has a good grasp of the character, so there's no reason not to believe he'll do the Merc with a Mouth justice.