
Next up is the Deadpool Bi-Annual, called such because the editorial team screwed up and put two annuals on the schedule in the same calendar year. Hastings hints at this aspect of the Chameleon without using homophobia as a source for jokes or tension it's the obsession that makes the Chameleon frightening in this story, without additional negative subtext. Longtime fans might remember that at one point, the Chameleon professed his love for Peter Parker, which makes the entire thing even ickier. Acting like a hero grates on a merc's nerves as he constantly has to remember to not kill anyone. Exhaustion and a tranquilizer force Spider-Man to sleep and Deadpool takes his costume in order to draw the Chameleon out. The Chameleon has been stalking Spider-Man at all hours of the day and night whenever Spidey tries to capture him, he ends up catching the innocent bystander he was impersonating. okay, he's still crazy, but he's the voice of reason. This annual takes the unusual step of Spider-Man being the crazy one and Deadpool being the. Its two main draws are a Spider-Man team-up and Christopher Hastings of Dr. The second annual, while by no means of poor quality, is just a side story in comparison to the first one. More importantly, this is a retcon that not only fixes plot holes, but it brings back an interesting character to use in future stories without killing anybody. I don't think I've read an annual this essential to a book's plot since the two Transformers annuals from a few years back.

This is a crucial detail that wasn't present in Dead Presidents, where Deadpool's reset just seemed like yet another semi-reboot. What splits the two invulnerable lunatics apart is another lightning blast from Thor combined with a punch to the head from Luke Cage their separation leaves Wade a little empty despite Madcap driving him insane. Evan “Doc” Shaner masterfully illustrates Deadpool's downward turn and the mental struggles between the voices in his head Madcap's voice balloon even turns into a humanoid form in one memorable sequence Their overactive healing factors saved them after being electrocuted by Thor and they merged into the Daniel Way version. Here, we learn that just before Secret Invasion, Deadpool and Madcap were competing for a price on Matt Murdock's head. What I didn't get to mention was how Ben Acker and Ben Blacker artfully pulled off two major transitions that otherwise happened off-panel. I mentioned in my review of The Wedding of Deadpool that the title's first annual is printed both in that trade and in this one. Four important tie-in issues have been collected in Deadpool: The Ones With Deadpool, and they show how this new, consistent characterization paid off in the long run.

The Marvel NOW! relaunch cleared the field and allowed Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn to restart the franchise in a more controlled way.


Either Deadpool was a ruthless anti-hero or a complete farce, sometimes within the same mini-series. During the Deadpool glut a few years back, one of the biggest problems was that the books couldn't settle on a solid persona. It's one task to have a great run on a title it's quite a larger one to set the parameters for anyone else writing said character at the same time.
