Deadpool Epic Collection, Vol. 1: The Circle Chase

Deadpool Epic Collection

by Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza (Writer)

Heeeeere’s Deadpool! He’s the Merc with a Mouth, the Regeneratin’ Degenerate, the Sassin’ Assassin, now in his own Epic Collection! Debuting as a fast-talking thorn in Cable and X-Force’s sides, Deadpool quickly stole the spotlight. Now, with sidekick Weasel in tow, he sets out on a quest for romance, money and mayhem — not necessarily in that order! Wade Wilson must unravel the mystery of Tolliver’s Will, but when the Juggernaut crashes Deadpool’s party, it’s the unstoppable vs. the un-shut-up-able! Can the beguiling Siryn inject a little sanity into the proceedings? And what tragic secrets of Wade’s past will be revealed?

COLLECTING: New Mutants (1983) 98; X-Force (1991) 2, 11, 15; Nomad (1992) 4; Deadpool: The Circle Chase (1993) 1-4; Secret Defenders (1993) 15-17; Deadpool (1994) 1-4; material from Avengers (1963) 366; Silver Sable & the Wild Pack (1992) 23

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Graphic Novels Comics

472 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 2021

About the author

Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium.

In the early 1990s, self-taught artist Liefeld became prominent due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which rode the wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Rob Liefeld's Youngblood #1.

He is married to actress Joy Creel.

Reviews

[Nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

As interesting as it is, seeing deadpool's early roots, few of the issues included are anything special and some were just outright bad. Even the actual deadpool minis included weren't much to write home about. If you can stomach the bad corner of the 90s just for the one character you like, this book is for you I guess. Otherwise, you aren't missing much by skipping this in favor of better deadpool books.

Weirdly enough the best issue in this book was nomad. Not something I expected.

[Ricky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to see the first Deadpool stories but it takes until the final four issues before the character actually gets a personality and storyline that are both equally compelling.

[Vaughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains Deadpool's first few appearances in comics as well as his first two miniseries. His character wasn't established yet, and he's introduced as a wisecracking assassin working for a man named Tolliver.

The majority of the stories in here aren't very good, but it is interesting to see the development of the character. He first appears in some New Mutants and X-Force comics which are included here. There are brief information blurbs between the X-Force issues so that you can follow the overall story even though only the comics including Deadpool are collected. As well as X-Force, there are also appearances in Nomad, Secret Defenders, Silver Sable and even the Avengers. Again, the majority of these comics are a bit of a slog to get through, but we get to see some development around Deadpools motivations and there is a lot of focus on his relationship with Vanessa Carlisle, although that relationship will only be fleshed out in later volumes under Joe Kelly's writing.

The highlights of this Epic are the two Deadpool miniseries. Each are four issues long. The first is written by Fabian Nicieza and involves Deadpool and a number of other assassins fighting over the contents of Tollivers Will. The second is written by Mark Waid and has Deadpool being hunted by Black Tom and the Juggernaut who are after the secret of Deadpools healing factor. During this series he teams up with Siryn and we get to see the start of their friendship.

This is a good book to get if you're interested in seeing the origins of Deadpool's character, but there is a lot of sub-par comics in here. The volume after this includes the beginning of Joe Kelly's run, which is one of the most popular Deadpool runs and is where the character gets a lot more substance.

[Aaron Jefferys · Rating 5 out of 5]

As most new(ish) Deadpool fans nowadays, I was introduced to Wade through his movies, so I expected the smarmy, mouthy mercenary’s antics to be as enjoyable as they are in the films. And I was right!

Origin comics can be a hit or miss with regard to having fully fleshed out the character they’re spotlighting - this makes sense, they’re new! We’ve got to give them time to really develop and evolve. Deadpool’s writers do this deftly.

From his intro to his subsequent cameos and mini-series, he never lets up shooting off the annoying/clever witticisms that make fans out of so many comics readers and moviegoers. And it only gets better from there!

Wade is the violently funny “merc with a mouth” throughout his cameo appearances and his own titles. The writers did a hell of a job humanizing him through his tragic backstory and motivational changes and decisions he makes to put his talents to better use rather than just being a nigh invincible jokester for hire.

Out of the gate, Deadpool is who he is and remains the sword-and-gun-wielding funny man we know and love. His development into something more than a tool with which to spill blood (for money, of course - boy’s gotta eat) is a testament to the staying power of Wade Wilson as the anti-hero we’ve come to enjoy so much from page to screen.

This volume/collection of early Deadpool titles is essential reading for any Deadpool fan or any comics reader who wants to understand the man a little better. I had a blast with this one!

[Nasty Knob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this compendium of Deadpool's early appearances and multiple mini-series. My introduction to Deadpool was the original run of the Circle Chase mini-series, and he's been my favourite Marvel character ever since. While I own most of the issues of X-Force featuring his appearances as a guest villain, I wasn't aware of how many one-off appearances he'd made in other titles until I bought this book. Some people have complained that most of these singular issues are out of context, since this isn't a comprehensive volume of those complete story lines. That is a bit problematic, but it's something I can look past because I don't care about those characters or their storylines. For fans of classic Deadpool who don't own the original back issues or would just like everything together in one tidy little package, this is a must-have.

[Del · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I expected. Not quite at the level of Joe Kelly's writing, but not far off and imo the art was better. Deadpool doesn't appear much in the new mutant and xforce issues here but they are worth reading as they provide invaluable context to his first limited series the circle chase and to the 2nd Mark Waid series before Kelly steps in in the mission improbable epic. Both series were excellent reads and top drawer art and well worth reading to see how the character originally was before his 4th wall type modern takes. Tbh, I prefer this kind of deadpool than the modern takes, and it does get better too with the Joe kelly run but the initial limited series are both excellent in their own right and you can see how they were used as a catalyst by kelly to expand the pool universe.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deadpool Vol 1 famously came out without a logo on the front cover. I wonder if this book is logo-less because Deadpool wanted to avoid his name associated with it like movie directors will take their names off bad movies they are unhappy with. Because oh my, is this book bad. The only good part was the four issues by Mark Waid at the end. But even that was only a three-star story, and not worth the pain of reading the rest of this book.

[Scales]

either you should skip this, or buy it as New Mutant / x factor epics. there really isn't much here for a casual Deadpool fan. The Character didn't really become his own until the ongoing series by Joe Kelly (around where this one ends)

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

How the hell did we survive the 90s with this stuff? I forgot how much the product had to have flash No matter how much the story was trash.
Glad Deadpool matured for the millennium

[LB · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Deadpool, but most of these issues featured him as a minor character. Unless you’re dying to see Deadpool’s first appearances, skip this.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the biggest Deadpool fan but for the mixed bag this book was it wasn’t bad. The Waid run at the end felt the most in character

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to read back through the early Deadpool appearances, and see where the character got their start.

[Ginger Wolverine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s honestly hrs to follow