"Deadpool?" A concise yet bewildered and collective question that was collectively asked by almost everyone who came across the new display.
Was there ever a guy like that in their Marvel line-up of heroes and rogues?
Not that they can remember.
It was clear that this was a new one. And created by Alexander Creed at that.
So... it's Marvel... plus Alexander Creed... plus a new comic title!
There was a lot to say and voice out at the sight of that... but most who caught sight of it were pretty stunned.
It's not every day that something as momentous as this could happen, after all, and there happens to be a lot to take in.
With this formula making it up, it's as good as guaranteed... to be flocked, picked up, and cause a comic hubbub as they always do.
Much more so this time around, as they flipped the pages to get a read on what's this about.
And most were pretty speechless as they did so.
A very typical issue when it came to being inducted and introduced to the so-called 'Merc with a Mouth'!
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Of course, there was an escalation to things.
Like how it started out from the perspective of a taxi driver named Dopinder, who promptly self-monologues... to his well-suited and just alighted passenger.
"Hi, my name is Dopinder. An immigrant from India with an American dream. Hoping to make it big and where better to do it than the very famous New York! I've got to start somewhere so here I am, you're taxi driver for today."
"I don't care, so just drive to the bank, why don't ya?!" The man only urged.
Dopinder being naturally passive didn't take the disrespect to heart. He could only sheepishly gaze at his wealthy-looking customer through his rear-view mirror.
Just as he was about to engage in more friendly small talk, a phew and splat just had to happen.
And in the blink of an eye, his rear-view mirror was splattered with blood and the man reflected was now without head!
Poor Dopinder's soul would have left his body as he had the urge to scream like never before.
It's just that he turned speechless as a Spiderman-esque costumed fella entered his cab and disrespectfully poked the bloodied body.
"Crap! I popped his head! How am I supposed to get the bounty on his head now?"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
That was Dopinder's speech-depriving induction and introduction to the so-called Merc with a Mouth!
As for why the blood-red figure was called that... well... he's so talkative that even a characteristically talkative taxi driver seemed mute. "Hello, I'm Wade Wilson, by the way. A mercenary for hire and this headless fella happened to be a target of sorts."
"Not in any way related to that other mercenary Wilson stationed at DC... erm... Washington, DC."
What the heck?! Was that a dig into the proverbial fourth wall?
After all, just about everyone who read that line inadvertently remembered a certain Slade Wilson.
Was this Alexander Creed's response to DC's absurd claims, along with the recent Terminator and Metallo debacle?
"Anyways, I'm sort of in a hurry, so can you drive me to criminal hotspots near us." The blood-red merc didn't even care for the bloodied seats, his suit color was just suited for it. "I've got to pick up the slack that you're X-Mens left behind. Even that friendly Spiderman isn't in the neighborhood and I'm just one guy. Not some Fantastic 4, who are also pre-occupied, by the way."
"If you're wondering why, you see... this whole Marvel-ous multiverse we're in, has gotten a change in management. And while they're sorting the kinks out, I got a lump sum from a certain powerful someone to stand in for the decommissioned heroes as of date."
"Subbing in for thousands of absent figures across a span of five months isn't exactly that peachy, okay, so chop chop... there's a lot of New York grievances for me to avenge while the Avengers are also away!"
With how stupendously out of whack that whole spiel was, Dopinder was understandably mute and unable to take this all in. The poor guy was traumatized... and he was only going to get traumatized some more.
As the pages of the comic book flipped, he was the poor, unwitting chauffeur who delivered a wanton killer through the wontons of criminalized Chinatown.
It was almost like that DeNiro's Taxi Driver movie but also not.
For fear of his life and numbness, wherever active thugs were, the hapless cabman had to take his mercenary of a passenger there.
And when that happens, someone is bound to die. But it's never the blood-red figure.
Dopinder's eyes may be playing tricks with him or it may as well just be that those injuries and bullet holes were really healing up.
Something that the speed-healing freak easily divulged. "Don't be so surprised. I've got the blood of the Wolverine flowing in me."
And with that, the eye-catching and rambunctious slaughter continued.
Making for comic book sequences that were so very far apart from the Marvel heroes that came before him.
Even Dopinder took the courage to voice out. "W-why kill them, Mister? Wouldn't it be just fine to knock them out or use non-lethal means or-or something?"
To which, the questioned simply answered. "Come on. You can see what I'm packing, right? How exactly do guns and katanas strike you as non-lethal?"
Obviously, the man's methods were set and by the end of their cab ride, the dead bodies of criminals that were collected that day were apparently enough to fill up a pool.
Something that the Merc with a Mouth relished, even quipping. "And they don't call me Deadpool for nothing!"
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Well... that's who Deadpool is.
And truly, what a character!
So out there but charming nonetheless.
Like the living personification of the "totally random" jokes, 4th wall-breaking, crazy healing factor, and tons of blood.
Still, despite that overly brutal caveat and how very far removed it was from the usual CCA-sanctioned storyline, readers and comic-goers ate it up.
Who were quick to line up for purchase in comic book stores everywhere else and racking up considerable jumps in sales... for Marvel, that is.
Which begs the question of whether the phenomenon is still considered a Creed buy train or not.
Not that it mattered, the expected success is Alexander Creed's achievement nonetheless.
The man is just that good. Succeeding, even when his new creation is so not fitting for the Valentine's season that it was debuting in.
Perhaps the red color scheme worked... but that's about it.
It can't be that such a brutal mercenary has got some love story to tell, right?
With how annoyingly mouthful he is, there's a chance that he does have a romance to tell
Then again, that's for them to find out in the next issues of Deadpool to come!