Deadpool Minibus

I sort of stopped reading superhero comics around when Sam Raimi started making Spiderman movies. Technology was on the verge of giving movies the possibilities so far exclusive to superhero comics and the following years gave us the X-men, the Watchmen, the Avengers and a host of related or other superhero-movies better suited to enjoy with beer and greasy fingers, than your average comicbook.

Thus, I had completely missed the rise of Deadpool to Marvel fame. I had heard of him, and seen the Gangnam Style video on youtube. But I hadn't quite got the point. He seemed to me to be a comic relief to a Marvel universe that had - since the mid 90's something - started to become a darker, social realist (anyone remember Tony Starks alcoholism?) narrative. A universe more and more like our own, with heroes more and more complex - or nuanced. More grown up and adapted to an audeience that might also have grown up. But also not as fun anymore. "Why so seriousss", as a famous DC villain once said, while at the same time being made exactly that by Cristopher Nolan and Heath Ledger.

And do need to state that I'm still enjoying the realism that has crept into the world of superheroes. After all, that's what made me love Spidey from the start. His constant struggle to be able to be both Peter Parker and Spiderman at the same time. And there is lots of kudos to the host of writers struggling to form this mass of decontextualized comics into something coherent. To write (or rewrite) the complete history of the superhero universe.

Enter Deadpool.

Not knowing where to start, I first tried to find the birth of Deadpool or some similar starting point. But I ended up with this collection of four stories with a flavour that immediately appealed to me: "Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe", "Deadpool Killustrated", "Deadpool Kills Deadpool" and "Night of the living Deadpool" - with "Deadpool vs. Carnage" as a nice bonus.

This was madness. Not my choice, but the content. With a total disregard for everything I've mentioned above regarding the evolve of the Marvel Universe, Deadpool balances on the edge of heresy when not only killing everyone and everything (including himselves) in an over-the-top all-out gorefest, but also breaking the (in?)famous fourth wall when acknowledging the fact that he´s a fictional character. And I love it!

Without getting so much into the stories themselves, the appeal of them (and Deadpool himself) lies in the aforementioned relief. Not necessarily comic relief, though, but rather a relief from the increasing rigidity following the ordering and contextualization of the Marvel universe. Suddenly, everything is possible again. Suddenly, there is hope of being surprised for real again.

I realize I have longed for my superheroes to be able to act without having their actions reverberate over to some other heroes' domain. To let them have their own place in the spotlight. Of course, there is a valid as well as creative point in creating a Marvel or DC universe, but it has come with the cost of a more limited space to act within. And I feel that Deadpool manages to counteract this effect. At least somewhat.

Because while reading the Deadpool Minibus, I get the sense that this is Wade "Deadpool" Wilson imagining the whole thing from a most likely padded cell somewhere. Living in his own schizophrenic dreamworld, totally unable to exist in the real world (or the real Marvel universe, that is).

And, while that thought might be just as depressingly social realist as Tony Stark's alcoholism, it also gives Deadpool a well deserved place in that same universe.