I love the character of Deadpool, but none of his modern incarnations do much for me. He's almost always portrayed as an insane idiot who has absolutely no depth.

The Deadpool featured in this trade isn't like that at all. Joe Kelly is a genius when it comes to writing the character; there's simply no one better. He takes a z-list character and makes him come alive. Deadpool becomes a complex and intriguing mercenary who is trying to find his way in the world, trying to reconcile what he does with what he feels. He tries hard to be good, and yet he never seems to succeed at making it. There's always something standing in the way, preventing him from becoming a hero.

There's plenty of action to be found on the pages, but there is so much more. There's Deadpool's unrequited love for Siryn. There's Deadpool's bizarre relationship with his prisoner, Blind Al. There's Deadpool's troubled friendship with Weasel. Deadpool's horrible past unfolds on these pages, and we see what he was like before he had cancer in issue #-1 (I'm not going to lie, that issue always puts a tear in my eye) and some of the horrors he experienced in the Weapon X program. We see him relate to Typhoid Mary and try to fix her, just as Siryn has tried to fix him.

This is the Deadpool that I love to read; this is the Deadpool that pulled me into comics. ( )