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Deadpool, the Interview

posted by Matt Knicl at 4:00 am.

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I don’t really know why I like Deadpool. Long story short, he is a mercenary who is a few bullets short of an ammo clip. He has a healing factor and was a subject of Weapon X, the program that gave Wolverine his adamantium claws. For the past few years, writer Fabian Nicieza (New Thunderbolts) scribed Cable & Deadpool, a book that paired the off-the wall metafictional antihero with the would-be world savior from the future, Cable.

Unlike most of the X-Men titles, which are harder for a comic reader to get into than size 30 pants (oh no he didn’t) due to crazy backstory, Cable & Deadpool was very accessible even though there were dozens of cameos. Sadly, the title suffered a giant blow when Cable was recruited for the Messiah Complex story. Deadpool teamed-up with other Marvel characters, like Doctor Strange and the Fantastic Four, but none could fill Cable’s void. Next month’s issue #50 will be the series’ last.

Marvel gave me the opportunity to talk to Mr. Nicieza about these developments.

Matt Knicl: Why is Cable & Deadpool going to the farm?

Fabian Nicieza: You could easily use sales as a reason, but since it’s sales always hovered around the same borderline “keep publishing or cancel” levels since the book’s inception, Marvel could have kept it going as it was, unless they had a reason to do something different with the characters. An editorially driven creative change for the X-titles resulted in their interest in using Cable, which led to removing him from his own monthly title, which led to making a monthly Cable & Deadpool book unnecessary for their publishing plans.

Matt: Do you have plans for Deadpool in the future?

Fabian: No. Marvel? Probably.

Matt: What was your favorite part about the series or these characters?

Fabian: Just the fact we survived for 50 issues and got to do pretty much anything we ever wanted to do was my favorite part. You don’t usually get to just play and have fun for 4 years writing comics with no pressure or attention nowadays.

Matt: What was your favorite guest-star character to use?

Fabian: I loved using Silver Surfer, since that came out of left field and I’d only ever used the character once for a wordless sequence in New Warriors a long time ago. I also loved being able to use BOB, Agent of Hydra, since that was a goofy fun character I’d invented almost 18 years ago during one of my many fun conversations with Mark Gruenwald about comic esoterica.

Matt: Do you find coming up with Deadpool’s metafictional pop culture laden dialog difficult to write?

Fabian: No. What I find difficult is worrying about how many readers will get it. I’m sure it’s the same thing Dennis Miller used to have to worry about when he was funny. Ultimately, as the series went on, I realized I couldn’t worry about who got the joke and who didn’t. Just tell the joke and if a reader didn’t get it, there would be another one coming at blinding speed right behind. When Deadpool is talking, it’s like the autobahn of humor.

Matt: Did you have any say about what happened with Cable or was that editorial mandates?

Fabian: Not really. I mean who wants to lose their co-lead from the title they’re writing — but I understand how comics publishing works, so not only didn’t it surprise me, it actually amused me.

Matt: What can we look forward to in issue 50 of Cable & Deadpool?

Fabian: Reilly plotted a really fun story with whoop-ass Venom-symbiote dinosaurs rampaging all over Manhattan and lots of guest-stars. We go out in the same fashion we came in. Subtle as pie to the face.

Matt: Is there any last thing you wish you could have done with Deadpool but didn’t get to do?

Fabian: I would have liked to have done an arc or more where I could have ventured a bit more to his darker side. When he was partnered with Cable, I felt I had to play Deadpool just a little more goofy in order to balance it with Cable’s deadpan serious nature. I am fully comfortable with Deadpool’s darker side, not only having created it, but also having had my plans for his second limited series scuttled by editorial decision back in `94 or so because it was deemed “too dark.”
Other than that, no, it was a blast.

Matt: Are we every going to see any Deadpool Classic or Essential Deadpool for the earlier 90s stuff?

Fabian: You’d be asking the wrong guy. I don’t know if the Essentials program tried to stick to older material from the 60’s and 70’s. Have they done 80’s or 90’s material in the Essentials? Either way, I’m sure they’ll get to it eventually.

Matt: What projects do you have lined up in the future?

Fabian: I’ve been doing a lot of non-comics work in the last half of last year, so you won’t see as much comic stuff from me in the first half of `08. I do have a really fun CAPTAIN ACTION one-shot from Moonstone publishing coming out in April. A Batman Confidential 5 part arc with Kevin Maguire coming out late spring. And I’ll be involved in a pretty big publishing program on a weekly basis later this year, which will be announced eventually.

Cable will receive his own miniseries in March and Deadpool can be seen in current issues of Wolverine: Origins. And there will be a Deadpool Classic.

Images courtesy Marvel.com

Matt Knicl: My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.