This week marked the release of Bad Blood, Deadpool’s very first original graphic novel. That’s right, until now the regeneratin’ degenerate had yet to be given a story in a single, long form book. Not only was this his first but it was written by none other than Wade Wilson’s creator, Rob Liefeld. I was fortunate enough to attend the release day signing of the book at Barnes and Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles.
I purchased my book, received my wristband for the 7pm Q&A and signing and planned out how to best spend the hours I had till then. I googled nearby comic book stores and found I was a mere two miles from Hi De Ho Comics, one of the best rated comic shops in the area. I highly recommend checking this place out if ever in the area, great selection, awesome staff. I purchased a few X-Men Gold #1 variant covers and made my way north on the 101 freeway to Newbury Park.
Arsenal Comics was having a special meet-n-greet with Marc Guggenheim that I had read about online and had scheduled into my day’s plan. I had Marc sign my Blade #1 and my X-Men Gold #1 issues. Many on this site have different opinions of this man, his work in comics and television/films, but I want to state that he was one of the friendliest, coolest writers or artists I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. When I asked him why he loved writing X-Men so much he told me, “Because the X-Men are real people to me. Yes, they wear costumes and are mutants but they seem more real than any of the other characters out there.” He was also very excited to announce that he’s bringing back one of my very favorite villains for the ongoing series, Omega Red!
Then I went back to The Grove and Rob Liefeld came out. He is a rockstar. He is hilarious, sincere, and his genuine love for all things comics exudes off of him. To say he speaks fast would be an understatement, I immediately put down my pen and pad and decided to record with my phone and transcribe later.
When Marvel approached Rob in 2015 about writing the first ever Deadpool novel he was at first hesitant.
“Now my family and friends will all tell you I’m a bit paranoid and it has served me well. But, in this case I was a little loopy. They [Marvel execs] said, ‘Rob, this is like a prestigious format. We view this as an honor to give you this. So I was ‘Ya! I’ll do it, I’ll do it!! Sorry about the delay.”
On starting the process:
“I wanted to work with some fresh blood and Chad Bowers and Chris Sims had done X-Men ‘92 which told me that they liked the 90’s. If you’re gunna hang out with me you gotta respect the 90’s, cause the 90’s were awesome comics. The early 2000’s were all these people in long, leather dusters looking like they came out of the Matrix thinking they could make pop culture in their own image and they failed- THANK GOD.”
On why Deadpool first appeared in X-Force #2 instead of the previously announced #6:
“That’s because he is the ultimate fan demand character. Marvel called me up and said, ‘We’ve never gotten more mail on a character than Deadpool in fifteen years….one day UPS pulled up and gave me a box as big as this table. I thought Marvel had bought me a washing machine, but it was all the mail for Mutants #98 and how much people loved Deadpool.” In fact, he went on to say how Marvel originally called and asked if Deadpool could be in X-Force #1 but the issue had already been completed. Fun trivia fact: that’s the reason the comic came with the Deadpool trading card.
When asked by a young boy wearing a Deadpool mask what was going to be special about DP2:
“Buddy, we got Josh Brolin as Cable! That’s good enough! Right? Okay, with Cable there is no Deadpool. Because if you go back, New Mutants was a shack. It was a fixer-upper, I wanted to tear it down. They said, ‘Liefeld if you can make this work you can.’ Because they offered me X-men and I thought I’m not good enough for that. But I can fix this beater upper. And this is my advice for you. In your career don’t always go for the shiny one. Make your own shiny thing.
Marvel originally wanted Cable to be called Commander X:
“So I said, ‘Okay, I can quit…If you look at [New Mutants] #98 you see three characters: Deadpool, Domino, and Gideon. That’s me trying to follow up Cable. I did good by Cable and Cable’s done good by me.”
On how he feels about Ryan Reynold portraying the character and Wolverine:Origins:
“You should ask Ryan who’s like, ‘Stop texting me!’ No, honestly they nailed it when they cast him. In 2009 I kept asking Wolverine: Origins if they’re going to do Deadpool right and I could tell by how they were answering me that they did him WRONG! I told them you’re crazy. Deadpool fans are going to kill you for this... Okay, when those katanas come out they’re like five feet tall. They recoil into his arm, HOW DOES HE BEND HIS ARM?! I mean that whole movie is just a bunch of batshit crazy. “
On speaking his mind as a young professional, dealing with executives:
“Oh, I just didn’t care. Actually, about me being outspoken, it kills me to think about all the tweets I delete on a daily basis, I’ve tried to become more mature because I have children. And it sucks, and I try to be a good example, and it sucks. Comic’s mission, guys like Todd McFarlane and I grew up where everybody kinda just voice your opinion.”
On the original villain in Bad Blood:
As a kid, my dad and mom took me to the drive-in. I saw Bambi, now many of you know Bambi is a classic, beautiful Disney story with an adorable bunny. And the bunny is probably most beautiful, cutest rabbit in the world. And he introduces himself with his paw flapping on the ground and he goes, ‘I’m Thumper, or whatever.’ And my whole life I’m like I need to make a bad guy named Thumper. So I sent Marvel the drawings and they say, ‘Rob, he looks cool. We love that story, what’s his name?’ And I have never been more scared to speak. Oh, boy. This is where they laugh at me and turn me down. So, I say his name’s Thumper. And they’re like , ‘That’s awesome!!’ Never in my life was I more happy that Disney bought Marvel because it got cleared within like eight hours! So now Disney owns a cute little bunny AND a brute that beats Deadpool into the ground named Thumper!”
There were other hilarious moments where Rob suggesting he was even willing to answer “stupid Deathstroke” questions, or addressing his constant sniffing by insisting he’s not snorting lines in the back room like Donald Trump (his words, not mine). He talked sports, hating Lebron James, and cheering against the Clippers with his friend the general manager of the Houston Rockets.
I was given a premiere seat close to the front and the manager informed my row that we were the first ten people to buy a book and thus will be receiving our very own personal sketch from Liefeld himself! Overall, a pretty great day! Special thanks to the staff at Arsenal Comics and Hi De Ho Comics, Marc Guggenheim and Rob Liefeld. And thank you, if you’re still reading this then please let me know what you thought!