From April 2008, Cable & Deadpool #50, "Symbiosis Mitosis" Script by Fabian Nicieza, plot and pencils by Reilly Brown, inks by Jeremy Freeman and Bob Almond. At the time, I thought Deadpool was going to be benched for the foreseeable future, but he started his current series November 2008. I had been a fan of Pool since Deadpool #6 back in '97, and enjoyed the abortive follow-up Agent X, but only read Cable/Deadpool occasionally. Until Cable was written out and supposedly killed for Messiah Complex, leaving Pool with, as he points out, "a solo team-up book."
In the previous issue, Pool ends up accidentally teleporting a bunch of dinosaurs from the Savage Land, to New York City. For good measure, the New Avengers were apparently moving some Venom-type symbionts (or symbiotes, depending on who you ask) and they end up attached to the dinosaurs. Wade and his supporting cast (including Bob, Agent of Hydra; Irene Merryweather, a holdover from Cable whom Pool was kinda sweet on; and the now morbidly obese Agent X) have to man up and help Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four save the city. Will Deadpool become the hero he wants to be?
As was typical for Nicieza and the book, it's pretty light-hearted, with a couple of burns on Spidey's post-wedding status, Ms. Marvel and "Mr. Wonderful," and the Initiative-as-allegory. But Pool also gets a little encouragement from "Mr. Thing" that he seems to take to heart, and shows that he's willing to put himself on the line for his friends. And there is a little message from the book's former co-star...
A recurring problem in any Deadpool book is that instead of getting a team-up, he should almost certainly be beaten up and thrown in jail by any hero he encounters. Even though he saves the day, Pool pretty much caused most of this disaster--but not all, giving him a way out. That and he annoys Ms. Marvel too much for her to try and bring him in.
The series ends on a callback to its first issue, with Pool sitting around watching the Golden Girls. Only this time, he's surrounded by his friends. Which of course won't last, since he starts his next solo book alone, and more insane, with the multiple voices in his yellow caption boxes. I remain torn on that gimmick: it has its moments, and is an interesting narrative trick, but would also be a level up in crazy.
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