Key Issues for the Mercs from Deadpool & the Mercs for Money

Deadpool & The Mercs For Money #5
Cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire

Caveat to this entire post: I started writing this entry several months ago when Deadpool & the Mercs for Money was just a limited series.  I had no idea it would turn into an ongoing title with a switch in the cast. Though the new team is interesting, it has a different dynamic than Deadpool's original choices.  They definitely feel less like D-listers.  I'm also aware that Solo, Foolkiller, and Slapstick are getting solo series. Something tells me these won't be around very long.

     Deadpool is everywhere right now.  His movie just came to Blu-ray/DVD/Digital after a nice run in theaters grossing over $700 million.  He's currently starring or co-starring in at least three ongoing series and at any given time there is at least one limited series featuring Wade Wilson.  If you are a Daredevil or Power Man and Iron Fist completist with OCD, Deadpool's popularity might really be pissing you off because in order to get Daredevil issue #7.1 or Power Man and Iron Fist issue #4.1 you'll need to buy Deadpool #13 with a price tag of $9.99.  Deadpool may piss you off simply because you'll be standing in line behind at least 20 to 30 people cosplaying him at the next con that you attend.

     I, however, love Deadpool.  Is he overexposed?  Definitely.  Is Marvel trying to cash in on the movie's popularity? For sure.  Do the comics suffer for it?  Absolutely not.  Fortunately, the folks writing Deadpool currently all have the same take on him, deeply flawed but likable unwilling hero. Joe Kelly handled Deadpool in the earliest days of the character by defining him and creating much more than a Deathstroke ripoff.  Gerry Duggan has grown and refined all of the traits and flaws that fans love in addition to creating a rich supporting cast.  Finally, Cullen Bunn has given us almost every brilliant limited series starring Deadpool in the past four years.

Slapstick #1
Cover by James Fry and
 Terry Austin

     Currently in both Deadpool by Duggan and Deadpool & the Mercs for Money by Bunn, Deadpool has on his payroll a team of mercenaries from around the Marvel Universe.  I was familiar with some of these characters from past Deadpool stories, but for several of them I knew next to nothing.  I love the "Mercs".  Maybe because I can empathize with their lot in life.  They're not the most popular characters, but they've likely done quite a bit of the grunt work to get things done in the Universe that no one will ever know about.  Their boss is eccentric and doesn't always make sense, but the pay is really good so they put up with it.  They may have aspired to do something else in life, but now they have a wife, some kids, and a mortgage.  This is the story of the C students that know they'll never be Avengers and don't have time to debate the morality of profiling future criminals based on predictions of the future.  I wanted to give a little recognition to these poor guys who will never get a list of their own so I did some research on them and came up with this list of key issues for the character's that make up Deadpool's Mercs For Money:

Agent Scott Adsit

Deadpool Vol 3 #1 (2013) - 1st appearance of Agent Scott Adsit.

Foolkiller (Greg Salinger)

Sub-Mariner #19
Cover by Marie Severin,
Johnny Craig, and
Artie Simek

Omega the Unknown #9 - 1st appearance of Greg Salinger.

Defenders #74 - 75 - Battles the Defenders.

Amazing Spider-Man #225 - Thrown into a mental institution after Spider-Man stops him from killing "fools" at Empire State University.
Foolkiller #1 - 10 - Greg helps the new Foolkiller (Kurt Gerhardt) after being committed to an institution.

Masacre

Deadpool Vol 4 #3.1 - 1st appearance of Masacre.

Slapstick

Slapstick #1 - 1st appearance of Slapstick.

Solo

Web of Spider-Man #19 - 1st appearance of Solo.

St. George #2
Cover by John Muth

Stingray

Tales to Astonish #95 - 1st appearance of Walter Newell.

Sub-Mariner #19 - 1st appearance as Stingray.
Avengers #262 - Sort of joins the Avengers.  There doesn't appear to be an issue where he actually joins.  Just this one where he lets the Avengers move into his Hydro-base. Afterwards, he's kind of just around trying to please Captain America.

Terror

St. George #2 (Epic Comics) - 1st appearance as Shreck on Earth-88194.
Daredevil #305 - 1st appearance as Terror in 616 universe.

Cullen Bunn Just Made My Day

Teaser Image by Greg Land

For those of you like me who have CompleX feelings about Marvel's direction for the X-Men after Secret Wars, we were offered an additional glimmer of hope today.  I say additional because I already have high hopes for Cullen Bunn's Uncanny X-Men.  As revealed over at CBR, the Uncanny X-Men roster will include Monet St. Croix and what I hope is the real Archangel.

As much as I loved Rick Remender's X-Force run, the only thing I disliked more than the Fantomex 3-way split was the transformation of Archangel back to the uncannily vanilla Angel.  I couldn't understand why a character with such conflicting motivations was reduced to a shell and then put on a shelf.  If I remember correctly, he had maybe two or three appearances in Wolverine and the X-Men and was never heard from again.

Regardless, it appears that our Archangel is back.  I don't really care how.  I just want interesting multi-dimensional characters and it appears that Cullen Bunn does as well. Otherwise, why would he have chosen this group of dual-nature mutants with the some of the most interesting and heartbreaking backstories.

I've mentioned before that his Magneto series is/was the best book that Marvel has published over the past year and a half. Is it because it is vastly different than everything else Marvel is publishing?  Not really.  Is Magneto just that awesome no matter who writes him?  Definitely not.  I think it's primarily because Cullen Bunn really understands what makes Magneto work.  He is a villain for sure, but he's also been a victim.  Though in his own really messed up way, he is a hero. Maybe not by homo sapiens standards, but if you were a mutant kid being bullied by humans, you'd probably look up to Magneto. During the series, Bunn also chose to show us Magneto's acknowledgement of his shortcomings. This allowed us to empathize with Eric the same way we would with a Tony Soprano or a Dexter Morgan and suddenly half of our brain cheered for the bad guy while the other half told us you shouldn't be cheering for the bad guy.

Maybe this series will be cathartic for those of us with a CompleX.  Just like the mutant kid who idolizes Magneto, we'll be rooting for these Uncanny X-Men to take on the humans, the Inhumans, and Marvel itself.

Finally, just in case you're thinking I forgot that the blog is called Key Issue Comics, here's a list of the first appearances for Cullen Bunn's Uncanny X-Men:

The X-Men #1 (1963) - 1st appearance of Magneto. 1st appearance of Warren Worthington III (Angel).
Ms. Marvel #16 - 18 (1978)  -  1st Appearance of Mystique.  This one is tough to judge. Mystique cameos in #16, disguises herself as Nick Fury in #17, and makes her first full appearance as Mystique in #18.
New X-Men #128 (2002) - 1st appearance of Fantomex.
Iron Fist #14 (1977) - 1st appearance of Sabretooth.
Captain Britain #8 (1976) - 1st appearance of Psylocke. Her first appearance in US comics was New Mutants Annual #2.
Uncanny X-Men #316 (1994) - 1st appearance of Monet St. Croix.