I didn't set out to get all Madcap's early appearances, but here we are.

Today, safety lessons your mom should've taught you! The definition of "'sponsible"! And how long it takes two super-powered children to realize someone's not right in the head, in 1988's Power Pack #34, "Child's Play" Written by Howard Mackie, art by Larry Alexander and Louis Williams, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

Katie, the youngest of the Power Pack, is bored out of her mind, and gets in trouble for trying to pull a practical joke on her older brother Jack. Meanwhile, at Four Freedoms Plaza, the visiting Franklin Richards is likewise bored, and gets in trouble for trying to pull a practical joke on the Human Torch, and nearly getting disintegrated in his father's lab. Franklin's age and power levels seem to vary wildly, but today he seemed younger than usual, and had the power to appear elsewhere in a "dream form," so he visits Katie. Together, they catch an episode of the Madcap Mystery Hour!

Presumably the show was public access, but I could see it catching on. Katie and Franklin decide Madcap would be a fun guy to hang out with, and with their powers they're able to find him for a visit. And Madcap's game for running around with super-powered children, since he's crazy. Madcap sticks his head in a garbage truck, squashing it and his hat flat, but both recover: Madcap has a healing factor, I'm not sure what the hat's excuse is...Madcap tells the kids the pursuit of fun is the only thing that matters, and gets them all sticks to play pirate. The kids point out their respective moms told them not to run with sticks, lest they poke an eye out, so naturally...

When Madcap turns his insanity power on the crowds, the kids have to try to keep anyone from getting hurt. Katie has to swipe a Porky Pig-like mask, to protect her identity, as Madcap interferes with a bank robbery. But the kids both learn responsibility...from the example of someone utterly without it.

I think there have been a few stories with an aged-up Power Pack: getting most of them up to tweenage, maybe? And Alex has shown up in Fantastic Four in recent years. Still, if this issue had been written today, it probably would've featured Deadpool in Madcap's role...even though there are probably laws in place to keep Pool away from kids.
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I don't have all of "Born Again," but I have "Madcasting." That seems fair...

I keep telling you, this blog is "Random Happenstance." Not "Timely Happenstance." Although it could be "When I Damn Well Get Around to It Happenstance." Like today's issue, since we mentioned it back in December: from 1986, Daredevil #234, "Madcasting" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Klaus Janson.

A gun-smuggling operation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of "some fruit in a clown costume," as one thug puts it, since he's glad it wasn't Spider-Man or Daredevil. He might later wish it was, though: it's Madcap! The lunatic with a better healing factor than Wolverine and a madness-inducing stare! And he's not so much fighting crime, as just happened to run into these guys. Too bad for them.

After sending the thugs to looney-tunes land, Madcap runs into cable newsman Dollar Bill--he was a supporting character in old issues of Defenders, but had apparently his star had fallen, since he now had a one-man cable public access show. Still, the man knew talent, and saw potential in Madcap. I don't know if Dollar Bill has appeared in a comic in the last two decades, but that name alone is due for a comeback...

This issue was back when the leather-masked crimelord the Rose was competing with the Kingpin for control of the city's rackets; and the gun-smugglers were his. He offers five grand--which seems a little small-change even for the time--to anyone who gets rid of this new vigilante. But he gets results quickly, even with Daredevil investigating; but Madcap is introduced to the ominous-sounding Max the Axe. Well, it'd be ominous for anyone else: even axed several times, then burned "almost beyond recognition," as DD puts it, Madcap recovers and returns to try and commandeer Dollar Bill's show.

Daredevil's barely in this issue, but Janson's inks still make it seem like his series, more than anything. Still, not one of DD's greatest hits, at any rate.

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I refuse to call this issue a "Madcap romp."

My Youngest son is a huge Spongebob Squarepants fan, so I've seen a ton of episodes. In one, Squidward asks Spongebob's starfish friend Patrick Star, point-blank, "Just how dumb are you?" Patrick immediately replies, "It varies." I assumed this was the case for Deadpool as well: how crazy is he? As crazy as the writer needs for the story, right? Right?

Even though I'm a fan of Deadpool, I seem to go long stretches without reading Deadpool. I only read Cable & Deadpool a couple times, before the title dropped Cable. I'm still missing a few issues of Deadpool Team-Up, and most of those I bought on sale. Ditto Deadpool Corps, a thoroughly silly yet somewhat enjoyable book. Oh, and I did like Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, which was mostly carried by Bong Dazo's art. Sounds like a lot of Deadpool, right? But I've only caught part of Daniel Way's run--over sixty issues--or the new Marvel Now! volume four.

But I did try Deadpool Annual 2013, "Madcapped!" Written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, art by Evan "Doc" Shaner.

Now, there's a lot to like about this issue: the art is clear and funny. And so are most of the jokes: I think Acker and Blacker overall hit more than they missed, and that's more than you can say about a lot of Deadpool comics. And unlike a lot of comics from guest or celebrity writers, they use continuity! (Correctly! More or less.) And they bring back a classic Marvel villain, Madcap!...you would be completely forgiven for saying "Who?" there.

A Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary creation, Madcap originally was a young man on a religious field trip that ran afoul of an Advanced Idea Mechanics cell that was trying to destroy one of their inventions, Chemical X--wait, it was actually Chemical X07? Huh. Anyway, X07 was an enzyme that would "incite a rapid healing in human bodies," which kinda seems like the sort of thing AIM beekeepers would really need; so there must have been some side effects...the accident kills everyone on the future Madcap's bus trip, including his parents and sister, but he soaked up the X07 and survives. Losing his faith, he attempts suicide, only to discover he has super-healing and no longer feels pain. Then he gets really crazy, and discovering he also had the power to induce a cheerful insanity in others, he makes a costume, feeling that nothing means anything and there's no higher purpose. Madcap didn't have a ton of appearances (he showed up in Power Pack of all places, with a nice cover) but Gruenwald used him in an issue of Daredevil...that I suspect was a fill-in, but OK. I don't think any of that info was actually in this issue, either; but you get the gist of it.

Coincidentally, Daredevil is where this issue starts as well; as pre-Secret Invasion and Daniel Way, in Hell's Kitchen, Deadpool is about to take a shot at Matt Murdock. (Which doesn't really fit with where Pool was at the end of Cable & Deadpool...) Before he can shoot, Pool is accosted by Madcap: their healing factors seem to be evenly matched, but Madcap's insanity-power instead sends Pool to his "happy place." Worse, their ruckus has attracted the attention of Daredevil, who's both immune to Madcap's power and really doesn't like Deadpool. (Go get the Daredevil/Deadpool '97 annual: it's great!) Worse, a passing Thor shows up, and at DD's request, "Lightning 'em, Thor." A startled Madcap leaps into Deadpool's arms, Scooby-Doo style, just in time for the lightning to reduce them both to a pile of ashes. ("Too much, Thor." And Thor's response is hilarious.)

Of course, Deadpool heals back from that, since his healing factor is pretty much magic now, isn't it? (I always thought it was pretty good, but not functionally invulnerable good...) Grumbling, Pool doesn't know if Madcap healed earlier and left, or died...but now there's a new voice in his head, in the form of the white caption box. Cue a flashback to Daniel Way's run on the book, except now that extra voice in Deadpool's head is Madcap, and he seemingly knows it, even if Pool doesn't acknowledge that other voice as Madcap. How well that retcon fits is for someone else to decide, but it's a bit sweeping for my taste: "Those sixty-some issues from that other writer? Nah, they happened like this!" On the other hand, some people didn't like the dueling voices/caption boxes motif at all: personally, it didn't grab me at first either, but I did think it was an interesting workaround for Way to have snappy dialogue without the hassle of supporting cast members.

Then, "Just before Marvel Now!" Deadpool is in Hell's Kitchen, again; about to take another shot at Matt Murdock. Which doesn't seem to fit where Pool was at the end of Way's series, either: Pool was often shown to be trying to be more than just a merc, to be a hero; so this is like watching an addict relapse, repeatedly. Mad-Caption asks if Pool knew Matt was Daredevil, and the answer's kind of? He did remember to set up a Daredevil-senses jammer thing, and a bomb to distract the other heroes. Which doesn't go off, and Luke Cage arrives to return it, up Pool's ass. Which sets off a bit about which Marvel characters' names sound like, ahem, sex acts; which gains Pool a stout beating. Which gives Madcap a chance to take the driver's seat, and he does, using his powers to make Luke do a dance number. Which is when Thor shows up...

I won't spoil the rest, but I wonder if Acker and Blacker maybe weren't given the job of drawing a line, from Way's run, to the new one. This is how things were, this is how things are going to be. Maybe, going forward, Deadpool will be a little less...madcap. As of yet, I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not.
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