Love or hate his work, Rob Liefeld is unquestionably an iconic comic book creator. He's the co-creator of both Cable and Deadpool, for starters, and his unique stylings as an artist have inspired many of today's popular illustrators.
Well, it's been confirmed that Liefeld plans to retire from working on Deadpool after his final series featuring the Merc with the Mouth hits comic book stands this summer.
"About 10 years ago, I really felt like I was in a groove, and in my mind, I was going to do this till I was 70," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "But the eyes and the hands, and the aches and the pains - they have a different timetable, I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older. The last year’s worth of work was the hardest to produce."
"I can’t continue to grind like this, so why not make the last grind something memorable?" Liefeld muses. "It’s just a function of, the eyes and the hands have to cooperate with your ambitions, and I can sense that this is getting harder and harder. Why not just put my own guardrails up and deliver it on my terms?"
"I’m a little sad, but I’m happy that all the Deadpool work that is out there will be strong," he added. "I’ll continue to enjoy the character, but I feel like I’ll have told all of the Deadpool that I need to share."
Since 1990, Liefeld has written and illustrated more than 1000 pages of Deadpool content and has likely been responsible for hundreds of covers featuring the iconic anti-hero. Apparently, his new Deadpool project is an "offbeat" story which will arrive just in time for Deadpool 3.
Asked about his final story, he'd only say, "This would be an expensive story to adapt, is all I’ll tell you."
Liefeld also revealed he's visited the set of the MCU threequel and, unsurprisingly, he was blown away by what he witnessed. "I saw some crazy shit, and none of that has made its way out," he teases. "I was really excited by what I was seeing. Fans want Deadpool 3 to represent a turning point for Marvel. I’m really hoping that this takes Marvel into new heights and puts them on a new direction. I’m as excited as everybody else."
Check out Liefeld's retirement announcement in the Instagram post below.