Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld has announced that he is moving on from the Merc with a Mouth and retiring from the character. He has revisited the character over the years in certain projects, but after over 30 years, Liefeld is ready to move on. Liefeld believes that he has said everything he wants to say with the character. The artist shared on social media:
“I am retiring from Deadpool. It’s official. 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. So I worked up one last crazy Deadpool yarn for the fine folks at Marvel and they responded with electric glee and I started producing it last month for release Summer 2024.
“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. 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.
“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!
“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. And that, is saying something!”
Liefeld had an awesome run with Deadpool! I still remember going to my local comic book store in the ‘90s and picking up The New Mutants #98, and being introduced to Deadpool! I still have that comic!
The fan response to that character exploded and Marvel Comics wanted more of him. The character’s popularity just continued to grow and now we are awaiting a third Deadpool movie, which fans are extremely excited about.
Liefeld will continue to create and draw cool comics, but he’s said goodbye to Deadpool.
