In the most telling confirmation that the 90s are well and truly over, Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld has announced that in seeking to ensure he winds down his comic book career with “the best effort” possible, his next dance with The Merc With A Mouth will officially be his last.
Liefeld, who alongside writer Fabien Nicieza first introduced the world to the wise-cracking, red-and-black-clad Canadian in 1991’s The New Mutants Vol. 1 #98, confirmed his retirement from the character on January 5th via a post made to his personal Twitter account.
“I am retiring from Deadpool,” he bluntly opened his announcement. “Yup, after 33 years of not only introducing Deadpool but chronicling many of his most popular adventures it’s time for the Deadpool Daddy to say farewell. One of the fun parts about getting older is you can retire from things, so here I am.”
But rather than just abruptly exit the The Crimson Comedian’s adventures, Liefeld informed his fans that he had “worked up one last crazy Deadpool yarn for the fine folks at Marvel” which the publisher “responded [to] with electric glee and I started producing it last month for release Summer 2024.”
Following this reveal, Liefeld then took a moment to reflect on his time with the regenerating anti-hero, recalling “I often wonder what my life would be like if I had not created and sold not just Deadpool, but Cable, Domino, Stryfe and many others to Marvel.”
“‘What If young Rob hadn’t taken up the challenge of transforming a title that was headed towards cancellation?’ is one of the better alternate universe tales,” he mused. “It certainly transformed my young career, creating opportunities and record breaking sales for New Mutants & X-Force.”
“Creating and introducing the Deadpool Corps., featuring Lady Deadpool & Dogpool was a great function of my mid-life crisis during 2009,” he further reminisced. “In 2015 I started Deadpool: Bad Blood, getting Deadpool his first original graphic novel, and his only chart topping, #1 ranking to date, an achievement that got me a round of congratulations from Marvel brass that pumped my chest out farther than Captain America’s! No other auteur has combined to write and illustrate more Deadpool work, I’ll complete this journey with over 1000 pages alongside my Mercenary Misfit. So, I’ll finish this one last Deadpool story, and trust me, it’s a wild one, and call it a collaboration for the ages. It’ll be fun!”
Drawing his thoughts to a close with some insight into the reasoning behind his decision, Liefeld ultimately explained, “In case you are wondering, why now? That’s easy, I’ll be 57 at the end of this and my eyes are still functioning, the work continues to be strong, I want to go out with the best effort I can muster. The hand-eye coordination won’t be there forever.”
“I’ll elaborate more on this on my next Robservations podcast and look forward to taking this journey with you, the world’s greatest fans, who have always provided the best support a cartoonist could ever imagine,” he concluded. “And that, is saying something!”
As of writing, neither the title nor the premise of Liefeld’s upcoming final Deadpool story have been detailed by either the creator or Marvel Comics.