‘Deadpool Classic’ is a graphic comic collection, Vol #1, of the antihero character Deadpool. It is a collection of the appearances of Deadpool, from his introduction to the comic universe, where he appeared and was gone after a few pages, to his first starring roles in his own comic.
As Deadpool was briefly introduced in a comic called “New Mutants #98” Feb 1991”, this collection includes only those pages in the New Mutants comic where he first appeared. This means the first few pages are really a sampling, not the entire New Mutants comic. Deadpool’s next appearance was in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1-4, 1994. It appears to be the entire comic plot storyline. The next is Deadpool #1-4, 1994. Last in this collection is Deadpool 1997 #1.
The earlier appearances of Deadpool were in comics that were drawn in VERY busy visuals with color and huge casts of charmless characters. Each page features action boxes so crammed with action, fighting characters, explosions and exposition, I could barely make out what was happening. The last comic in this collection was drawn by artists with a different ethos, so it is considerably cleaner and clearer in the plot action.
What are the plots? Well, they all are the same plot. Deadpool has taken a mercenary job for money. He seemingly doesn’t care much about the ethics of the job. If he is required to assassinate someone, he does it. If he is to destroy someone’s laboratory or work project, he does it. If he is stealing something, he does it. He has no interest in backstories or whether he is working for evil people or good people. He kills whoever gets in his way.
Except he doesn’t seem to actually work without ANY ethics in practice.
Deadpool is not quite so oblivious to ethics as he pretends. If he learns the backstory of a company that he is destroying, or the person from whom he is stealing something or he was supposed to kill, he sometimes changes his mind and allegiances and fights off the bad guys he was hired by.
These merc jobs seem to always mean he encounters only other mutants or sups, so the fighting is spectacularly destructive with a lot of physical damage to bodies of the fighters. Many of the other mutants hate Deadpool because of previous encounters, so it is clear they would kill Deadpool for free even when they are fighting him for a job they were hired to do. A few mutants are Deadpool’s friends. A very few. However, luckily for Deadpool, he possesses the power of miraculous healing. His hands grow back if chopped off for instance.
Deadpool got mutant powers because he agreed to be part of a Canadian government’s (!) military experiment in altering bodies. Wade Winston Wilson, Deadpool’s real name, volunteered because he was diagnosed with cancer and he was dying. But although he survived the experiment and received awesome physical powers along with being cured of cancer, the change left him with his skin covered in scabs, or something like, from head to toe. He is a pebbly-looking monster in appearance. He hates this, and often drinks himself under the table whenever he thinks about it too much. If he hasn’t drunk himself into oblivion, he is always full of rage and feelings of injustice about his appearance when sober. He displays his rage about his looks under the cover of being a motor mouth, constantly spewing biting, non-politically-correct, satirical humor and taunts to whomever.
One of his taunts I liked: “I’m gonna put a few warning shots into your spine.” I was laughing at this and most of his many other rude comments, so, I guess I’m a little, um, off, gentle reader. I like Deadpool. Done.