Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1

History

Fabian Nicieza, who had scripted Deadpool's debut in New Mutants #98 alongside co-creator Rob Liefeld, returned as sole writer for this miniseries and finally had room to flesh out Wade Wilson beyond the wisecracking mercenary archetype. Nicieza has cited personal experience — specifically his mother-in-law's battle with cancer — as a direct influence on shaping the Weapon X origin's central irony: that the procedure saving Wade's life also permanently disfigured him and destabilized his mind. Joe Madureira, though not yet a household name, had done scattered fill-in and anthology work at Marvel prior to this assignment; Gentlemen of Leisure's retrospective coverage identifies The Circle Chase as his genuine breakthrough project, the series that led directly to his Uncanny X-Men assignment and made him one of the defining visual voices of mid-1990s Marvel. Nicieza subsequently proposed a follow-up miniseries in which Wade's cancer would return and he would hunt down the scientists responsible, but Marvel editorial rejected it as too grim; the second miniseries, Sins of the Past (1994), was instead handed to Mark Waid.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First issue of Deadpool's debut solo series — a four-issue limited series cover-dated August–November 1993 (on sale June 1993) — marking the first time Wade Wilson headlined his own title rather than appearing as antagonist or supporting character.
• Written by Fabian Nicieza (Deadpool's co-scripter since New Mutants #98) with pencils by Joe Madureira, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Chris Eliopoulos, and editing by Suzanne Gaffney under group editor Bob Harras.
• First appearance of Slayback (Gregory Terraerton): an Australian-born Weapon X cyborg-mercenary with a personal vendetta against Deadpool, created by Nicieza and Madureira; he appears in shadowy silhouette at the issue's close after breaking into Department K files.
• First appearance of Courier (Jacob Gavin Jr.): a shape-shifting information broker introduced in a sequence set in India; the character would later become a recurring player in Nicieza's Gambit ongoing series.
• The story — titled 'Ducks in a Row!' — is structured as a multi-party chase for the inheritance of the arms dealer Tolliver, whose will promises his entire estate and arsenal to the last surviving person with ties to him, drawing in Deadpool, Garrison Kane/Weapon X, Juggernaut, Black Tom Cassidy, and Courier simultaneously.
• The issue features an embossed, cardstock cover — a premium production format common to key Marvel debut issues of the early 1990s — with Deadpool's figure rendered in raised relief against a debossed, metallic-ink logo.
• Joe Madureira's work on the full four-issue run is widely credited as his career-launching assignment at Marvel, directly leading to his subsequent tenure as regular penciler on Uncanny X-Men and establishing a visual style that influenced a generation of artists.
• The material has been reprinted multiple times: in Deadpool Classic Vol. 1 (2008), Deadpool: Beginnings Omnibus (2017), Deadpool & X-Force Omnibus (2017), and Deadpool Epic Collection Vol. 1: The Circle Chase (2021).

Cast · 11 characters

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Variants (1)