EXCLUSIVE: Deadpool: Bad Blood Ushers In Rob Liefeld's Return To Marvel

11/11/2015 02:00 pm EST

Ever since Deadpool first hit the scene back in the 90's, his popularity has never been higher. He is irreverent, irredeemable, and irresistible. And later next year, he'll also be the star of his own original graphic novel from Marvel Comics. Featuring the return the man who started it all, Rob Liefeld, Deadpool: Bad Blood teams the industry veteran with rising stars Chris Sims & Chad Bowers to tell a Deadpool story like you've never seen before.

ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with the creative team about the new book and dove into what fans can expect. If you're looking for classic Marvel action with some of Liefeld's best hits, you guys are in for a real treat.

Rob, how does it feel to be back at Marvel doing a new project?

Liefeld: Thrilled beyond belief. Seriously, as I've gotten older and my years in comics pile up, I've realized that I'm a Marvel guy for life. All my favorite titles since I was a kid are Marvel titles and in 2015 my favorite titles are Marvel titles. I'm fortunate that I have a great legacy with the company and they've always made me feel welcome every time I come back.

What excites you about doing an OGN?

Liefeld: The idea that you can tell one consecutive story un-interrupted is unique nowadays. No single issue breaks and cliff hangers allow for greater momentum building the tale. The format has tremendous storytelling opportunities. I'm having a blast as are Chad and Chris.

Chris and Chad, what is it like for you guys to be working with an industry Hall of Famer?

Sims: It's definitely a little surreal, because he's this huge figure who came up right when people like Chad and I were really getting into comics. I mean, I've met Rob a couple of times before at conventions, but it's just a quick couple minutes and maybe a picture, but to go from that to talking with him on the phone about ideas for a plot is a huge change, and it's a fun one.

Bowers: Yeah, Rob's a legend. Doing an X-Men book at Marvel is already pretty surreal, but here we are, a year later, doing a graphic novel with THE Rob Liefeld, and it blows my mind daily. I won't do the whole "I grew up reading New Mutants and X-Force" thing, because who doesn't already know that about me? But I'll say that Rob and Erik Larsen had probably the biggest impact on me when I was a kid, and working with Rob now, and learning from him, it's better than I could've imagined. He's fantastic, and this book's going to be a blockbuster!

We've seen many iterations of Deadpool, and many takes on the character - what notes are you going to make sure to hit in this story?

Liefeld: This is literally a story I've wanted to share for the last twenty years. I actually started drawing pages of it out in my notebook back around 2007, it's something I do when I get ideas, artistically riffing, so the idea that I'm actually seeing the story and the pages come to life is a thrill! I don't want to give anything away, I'm just trying to add something memorable to the canon.

Judging by the solicit, it looks like we're going to get some of Liefeld's greatest hits with Cable, Domino etc. Will there be any Liefeld deep cuts showing up?

Liefeld: I can absolutely confirm that there are plenty of characters from my character creation list for Marvel, it's an actual list! that are making an appearance as well as a few new one's to round things out. It's a fun romp, hopefully fans will enjoy the time we've put into it. I'm thankful for the opportunity!

Chad & Chris, has there been anything you've learned while doing X-Men '92 that you're looking to put into play here?

Bowers: Everything! But more precisely, we learned to get out of the way on '92, and let Scott Koblish work his magic. And honestly, that more than anything else I learned applies to what we're doing with Rob on "Bad Blood." That, and I guess not simply relying on the fact that these are characters people already know, and have a history with. We figured out how to write the characters first, and let the story grow from there.

Sims: One of the things we did to prep for X-Men '92 was to go back to the early '90s and read a ton of stuff from that era, and I think our first question to our editor was "Can we use Cable?!" Looking back on that stuff, I got it in a way that I'd never gotten it before, and we want to bring that same kind of fun back for this project too.

So you guys mentioned growing up with these characters, but what is it like getting the chance to put your spin on him?

Bowers: I only missed one issue of New Mutants, and that was #98 -- Deadpool's first appearance. So I only heard about Deadpool from other kids in middle school, and read about him in Marvel Age or whatever. And by the time he showed up again in X-Force #2, he'd already achieved this kind of legendary status in my own head. That issue instantly turned me into a Deadpool fan, and the subsequent appearances and those first two mini-series, more than anything, really play into how I write him, and I think you'll see some of that in the book.

Sims: Definitely. Deadpool was my favorite Marvel book in the late '90s, and one of the first things that Rob told us when we started talking about the plot was "There's a Deadpool for everyone," and I think he's dead on with that. There's the slapstick comedy Deadpool, the Original Recipe sarcastic mercenary, the Hard-R big action antihero. Going in with that kind of feeling, that this is a character that can adapt to whatever we throw at him and still ring true makes it fun to take chances - and obviously, Rob has a pretty good idea of how that Original Recipe version works.

Can you explain what the workflow process is like? Who does what, and in what order does it all get done in?

Liefeld: To start, I pitched a story to Jordan D. White and waited for it to clear. It was a basic framework of key elements but as I left it opening for another party to join me. When Jordan asked me to consider Chris and Chad I thought it was a stroke of genius and really an inspired choice as I'm a huge fan of their X-Men 92 work. They're a blast to riff with. We've back and forth'd the beats several times to build out the story to our mutual satisfaction. It's been fun. I'm really excited and motivated.

Bowers: Mine and Chris's job is pretty easy. We basically sit around and Rob does all the work, and occasionally we get to say things like, "Yeah, but what if he had TWO Satan Claws?!"

What can you tell us about Thumper the big bad villain?

Liefeld: I cannot and will not reveal anything about Thumper at this time!

Bowers: Rob has spoken!

And before I let you guys go, I have to ask - how many Taylor Swift references will there be in the story?

Liefeld: If it gets me on stage with Taylor at one of her concerts, I guarantee you there will be plenty. I'll even wear the Deadpool costume if Ryan Reynolds will loan it to me!

Bowers: Deadpool's definitely got a long list of ex-lovers who'll tell you he's insane.

Sims: Funny thing about Deadpool is that for him, Band-Aids DO fix bullet holes.

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So what do you think ComicBook.com readers, are you excited for an all new Deadpool story? Let us know in the comments below.

Also - did you know you can get Deadpool #1 with an EXCLUSIVE cover by Rob Liefeld from ComicBook.com? Grab one of your very own - right here!

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