Joe Kelly Leaves Deadpool!

This month I'm interuppting what would usaully be happening (I was going to do an article on Deadpool vs. Spider-man) becuase the news has recently come through that Joe Kelly is leaving Deadpool as of issue 33!

Joe Kelly has recently announced that he is leaving the writing chores of Deadpool as of issue 33. Which is really a great shock, when you consider that during the recent cancellation scares Kelly kept saying he'd be writing Deadpool as long as his could. If you want to read the official word then drop in at Your Man At Marvel. But, the story basically goes like this: due to the cancellation scares, plus Joe's work commitments, Joe feels that he isn't having as much fun with Deadpool anymore, and rather than let it deteriate further, he's decided to get out while the going's good. A recent editor change on the book and Joe's interest in doing creator owned work were probably also contributing factors. But, I don't want to dwell on this too much, I'd rather give a tribute to Joe's excellent work on Deadpool.

Joe Kelly's love of and dedication to Deadpool as a book and a character were evident from the start of his run. While he'd written some okay stuff on Daredevil, he really shined on Deadpool. His mixture of humour with character driven plots (okay there were a few humour driven plots) have entertained comic fans and lead to Deadpool gaining a cult following (meaning there may not be as many DP fans as say, X-Men fans, but boy are we dedicated). The fact that Kelly had a plan for Deadpool and a story to tell from issue number one was impressive and made the book very rewarding if you joined on at the start.

My personal highlight of Joe Kelly's run would have to be issues #14-19, which delved into Deadpool's past revealing events that lead Deadpool to being the man he is today. During this run Deadpool was faced with Ajax. Ajax, in my mind, was a great villain and definitely the best villain that Joe Kelly created. And eagerly awaited each issue, staking out the local store until it arrived. Another, great thing about this run was that it contained a classic 'merc hangout, where Deadpool tags along with Bullseye for one of his missions. While this probably wasn't the funniest issue, it was definitely up there with issue 11, 27 and others.

But, besides these great moments I think the greatest thing that Joe Kelly did with Deadpool was making him a living, breathing individual. He's not just a 2 dimensional character, he's not just the wacked out, fast talking merc that I first knew. He's something more now. I don't come back and read Deadpool each month, because I'm sucked in by the flashy cover and the advertising gimmicks, but because I know I will read about Deadpool in those books, laugh myself silly, be entertained and possibly even think more deeply about life and myself as I reflect on what Deadpool's gone through.

Anyway it's the end of an era for Deadpool. Christphor Priest is taking over (of Black Panther fame and Quantum and Woody before that) and seems to have a few good ideas. I just hope he does better work than his short run on the latest Kazar series.

By Spidermad