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| I like your art Wade, but it's not what we're looking for at this time... |
I'm pretty sure Salt n Pepa and DMX will not be on the soundtrack to Deadpool, but Marvel has been playing the role of hip hop aficionados lately, so you never know...
An obvious melding of my favorite DC villain Deathstroke (or Slade, for Teen Titans Go fans) and my favorite Marvel hero Spider-man, via the quill of super-prolific knockoff machine Rob Liefeld, Deadpool didn't appeal to me that much at first. It wasn't until a rookie artist named Joe Madureira got his hands on him (in the incredibly funny and action-packed Deadpool mini... scripted by Fabian Nicieza, I think) that I decided Deadpool was actually awesome. Although he hadn't yet fallen into the unapologetically anime-influenced style that would make him a comic book super-star, Madureira possessed the illustrating chops and cool-factor to make Wade Wilson a star in his own right.
From there I fell into the ongoing Deadpool series, with a long run by writer Joe Kelly, whose penchant for dark, perverse humor and bone crushing ultra-violent action blended seamlessly with a gift for scripting poignant, yet corn-free moments of revealing characterization. Kelly's run on Deadpool was peppered with a slew of excellent (if sometimes lesser-known) artists, starting with a young Ed McGuinness, and including the likes of Bernard Chang and Walter McDaniel that really cemented this foul-mouthed anti-hero as a character I really loved to read. Kelly set the tone that I think we will see in the film for a character whose apparent impish amorality is a mask that covers a man in constant physical and spiritual torment.
After Kelly departed the book (and he really put his FOOT in it while he was there), I lost interest in it. But with the introduction of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson on the big screen in the hit-or-miss X-men Origins: Wolverine, I noticed Marvel putting more effort into bringing the cult-classic hero back into the limelight. Since then, creators like Gerry Duggan and Mike Hawthorne have done a spectacular job honoring what pioneers like Nicieza, Mad, Kelly and company have done with the character, and turning the dials up to the best of their ability.
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| Joe Mad didn't create Deadpool, but he made him work... for ME at least! |
After Kelly departed the book (and he really put his FOOT in it while he was there), I lost interest in it. But with the introduction of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson on the big screen in the hit-or-miss X-men Origins: Wolverine, I noticed Marvel putting more effort into bringing the cult-classic hero back into the limelight. Since then, creators like Gerry Duggan and Mike Hawthorne have done a spectacular job honoring what pioneers like Nicieza, Mad, Kelly and company have done with the character, and turning the dials up to the best of their ability.
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| Hilarious cover art by Tony Moore. I love the "F*** You Pay Me" parade balloon! |
Dang, that boy can draw...
But about the movie... I think it fair to say that the last act of that Fantastic Four movie is reason enough to make comics nerds skeptical of Fox's ability to get Deadpool right, but I am really impressed with the trailer for this movie, in ways that I wasn't impressed with FF promos, or say Suicide Squad. If you had asked me after Wolverine whether I was excited to see Reynolds star in this movie, I would be pretty blahzay about it. Now I'm pumped, for a few reasons:
- The announcement of the R rating (which both Wolverine and Ghost Rider should have gotten, but didn't) raised my eyebrows and expectations. The R-rating shows that someone at the studio has rejected the one-size-fits-all fallacy that all comicbook movies should have the same tone. This genre mismatch has lead to lots of critical (if not financial) failures that I'm hoping Deadpool can avoid.
- Reynolds is getting his Jim Carey on with this character, fully exploiting his talent for humor and depth equally. Also, giving his prettyboy good looks to the pre-Weapon X version of Wade Wilson adds to the tragedy of the horribly disfigured character he becomes. This all plays into the dichotomy of pain and humor that is central to the character, and I bet Reynolds' willingness to go full retarded is gonna pay off.
- They're going all-in on the discomfort and absurdity that makes Deadpool work as a comic. Unfortunately, outside of Marvel Studios' interior efforts, Hollywood appears to feel ashamed of the comics properties they make into movies. Focus groups, corporate meetings, and legal wrangling generally squeeze all the fun out of these films. For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be happening with Deadpool. I'm sure the bean-counters are probably sweating bullets about how it will play with certain demographics, but at least with the R-rating, they're not worried about kids being traumatized by Wade's insanity.
Peace,
-samax
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