Welcome to the Austin Books & Comics New Reader Guide! We’re here to introduce some of our favorite books that you may not already know about, and maybe even help you find your next favorite comic series!
Wade Wilson: The Merc With A Mouth. the Regeneratin’ Degenerate. The fourth wall-breaking, wisecracking antihero has exploded in popularity in the last few years. Numerous ongoing comic series, limited series, video game appearances, and a movie have propelled Deadpool into a public eye like never before. The combination of ridiculous action, goofy humor, and genuine pathos have given the character a huge appeal, along with a load of ongoing and limited series.
In this guide you’ll find the current Deadpool ongoing series, as well as some of the more acclaimed past ongoings and limited series.
All titles are available at the store, and if not we will be happy to special order them for you!
Current Series
Deadpool (2015)
With a very self-aware premise, the current Deadpool series finds Wade as the most popular superhero in the world. To help out with his newfound hero-y duties, Deadpool has hired a team of miscreants and morally questionable allies to raise brand awareness and kick butt in red and black.
Writers: Gerry Duggan
Artists: Mike Hawthorne, Scott Koblish
Number of volumes (to date): 3
Uncanny Avengers (2015)
Founded by Steve Rogers post-Secret Wars, the new Uncanny Avengers not only included members of the Avengers and X-Men, but also the Inhumans and a certain red-clad fan favorite mercenary.
Writers: Gerry Duggan
Artists: Carlos Pacheco, Ryan Stegman
Number of volumes (to date): 2
Spider-Man/Deadpool
Reuniting the classic creative team that made Deadpool famous in the first place, Spider-Man/Deadpool is the ultimate mismatched team-up of Marvel’s Greatest Superhero and the Merc With a Mouth. Inspired by Spider-Man’s do-goodery, Deadpool desperately tries to befriend Spider-Man, despite Spidey’s complete abhorrence to Deadpool’s violent ways. Not only that, Deadpool has been hired to kill none other than Peter Parker!
Writers: Joe Kelly
Artists: Ed McGuinness
Number of volumes (to date): 2
Deadpool and the Mercs For Money
To help out with the abundance of jobs due to his newfound massive fame, Deadpool hires a team of mercenaries including aquatic soldier Stingray, cartoony Slapstick, Masacre (¡El Deadpool de Mexico!), undead Terror Inc., and mercenary stalwarts Paladin and Solo. He may be a hero on his own terms, but how will Deadpool fare as a team leader?
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Iban Coello
Concluded Series
Deadpool (1997)
The character-defining run that took Deadpool from secondary X-Force character into the hilarious, fourth-wall breaking, surprisingly-deep antihero we all know and love. The series had numerous creative teams throughout its run, but the best (read: funniest, most-well-written) runs were written by Joe Kelly and Gail Simone, which are collected in Deadpool Classic volumes 2-5 (Kelly) and 9-10 (Simone). Gail Simone’s run also includes the spin-off series Agent X, which picks up directly after the 1997 run that ends with Deadpool’s apparent death, and stars a wisecracking amnesiac who may or may not indeed be Deadpool.
Writers: Joe Kelly, Gail Simone
Artists: Ed McGuinness, Pete Woods, Alvin Lee of UDON Studios
Recommended volumes: 2-5, 9, 10
Deadpool & Cable
Following the conclusion of Agent X, Deadpool was relaunched as Cable & Deadpool (retitled Deadpool & Cable in later reprints due to his surge in popularity). The series is a great buddy-action-comedy that features Deadpool’s insanity (but desperation to do the right thing) playing off of Cable’s straight-man stoicism. Cable attempts to set himself up as a global savior, aiming to bring about world peace by martyring himself. The world reacts with hostility, with the X-Men reluctantly bringing Deadpool along due to his and Cable’s connection (including a hilariously awkward costume selection).
Writers: Fabian Nicieza, Reilly Brown
Artists: Mark Brooks, Patrick Zircher, Reilly Brown, Dave Ross, Lan Medina, Staz Johnson, Ron Lim, John Malin
Number of volumes: 2 (Ultimate Collections)
Deadpool (2008)
Spinning out of Marvel’s 2008 crossover event Secret Invasion, this series opens with Deadpool infiltrating the Skrull armada to steal data for Nick Fury. Throughout the series he runs with (or afoul of) everyone from Norman Osborne to Bullseye-as-Hawkeye to the X-Men to an evil version of himself cobbled together from old parts!
Writer: Daniel Way
Artists: Paco Medina, Carlo Barberi, Dalibor Talajic
Number of volumes: 11
Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth
Deadpool is hired by super-science-terrorist organization AIM to steal a bio-weapon, his own zombified head! Deadpool and his new, bitey pal Headpool team up and venture across multiple dimensions, encountering various alternate versions of himself including Kidpool, decorated SHIELD agent Major Wade Wilson, and Lady Deadpool, as well killing a ton of zombie superheroes!
Collected in Deadpool Classic, Vol. 11
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Kyle Baker, Bong Dazo, Ken Lashley, Rob Liefeld, Matteo Scalera
Uncanny X-Force
A secret organization has resurrected the nearly-omnipotent mutant Apocalypse, so X-Men Wolverine and Archangel assemble a new X-Force team consisting of Fantomex, Psylocke, and Deadpool to stop Apocalypse by any means necessary. Despite being part of a designated kill squad, Deadpool has some major reservations with some of their missions, including facing the classic moral question of “would you kill a mass-murdering tyrant as a child?”
Writer: Rick Remender
Artists: Rafael Albuquerque, Esad Ribic
Number of volumes: 7
Deadpool (2012)
Relaunched as part of the Marvel NOW initiative, this series brings together the acclaimed writer duo of Gerry Duggan and comedian Brian Posehn. The first story arc opens with a rogue SHIELD agent attempting to resurrect the dead presidents to make America great again, but the spell fails and the presidents are brought back as evil zombies! SHIELD hires Deadpool to clean up the mess, and all kinds of insanity/hilarity ensues! This series also introduced the recurring trend of flashback issues, done in the visual style of the era it takes place in (WWII Golden Age war comics, trippy Kirby-esque Silver Age, gritty 70’s crime, etc…).
Writers: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn
Artists: Tony Moore, Mike Hawthorne, Scott Koblish, Evan “Doc” Shaner, John Lucas
Number of volumes: 8
Limited Series
Hawkeye vs. Deadpool
It’s Halloween in Brooklyn, and everyone’s in costume as Deadpool and Hawkeye must team up to stop a brainwashing scheme terrorizing the borough, if they don’t kill each other first!
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Matteo Lolli
Deadpool Pulp
Spinning out of the Marvel Noir series, this limited series re-imagines Deadpool as a gritty covert operative hunting a rogue CIA spy in a surprisingly dark, 1950s pulp-inspired thriller.
Writers: Mike Benson, Adam Glass
Artist: Laurence Campbell