I recently commented ‘So the only difference between Ambush Bug and Deadpool is Deadpool kills people?’
The immediate reply was that Deadpool is also pansexual and cusses.
But the two characters are both remarkably similar and wildly different to the point that actually talking it through made me appreciate Deadpool more :D
Ambush Bug is a relatively obscure DC character created in the 80s by that wacky Keith Giffin. He’s a guy on a green suit who ignored the fourth wall so much that he wanted Julius Swartz’s job. (He was an editor at DC, just so you know.) Ambush Bug was actually pretty funny and skewered plenty of sacred cows. Giffin has said the character is now officially retired but that enough money could change his mind.
And Deadpool is- well, you already know who Deadpool is. And if you don’t, I don’t believe you. And like Ambush Bug, he’s really funny, is completely meta and started out as bad guy.
But Ambush Bug is, at the end of the day, a joke. (Which isn’t a dig. That’s the whole point of Ambush Bug) And, somehow, Deadpool actually has become a character with pathos, character arcs and such. They couldn’t have made a movie about him if that wasn’t the case.
Don’t get me wrong. Deadpool is no Thing. Ben Grim is in a class all his own when it comes to pathos. But I read the early issues of X-Force and, man, you would not expect Deadpool to be a breakout character in any way. I seem to even remember the original revelation that his face was mutilated and not caring because he was such a jerk.
(Just assume there are ten or twenty paragraphs ranting about how bad Rob Liefeld’s work is)
But somehow, by making him funny and making him still a jerk but one who is trying to better, Deadpool became sympathetic.
Ambush Bug is fun but Deadpool is interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment