Mike Hawthorne Archives

I begin today by musing on the ephemeral nature of the vast amounts of information we publish daily in this digital age. How will the archeologists and historians access all of this data, and what will they think of it?

After those deep thoughts, I unwrap the pair of library editions of Rick Remender’s Fear Agent. My memory of the plot of this modern take on sci-fi pulp is a bit dim, but I share some of the history of the series as related in iFanBoy’s fantastic three-part oral history and attempt to explain why I don’t love this series.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 68 features Fear Agent Library Edition Volume 1 and Volume 2 from Dark Horse Comics. These editions are about to get very scarce, as Rick Remender has moved the publishing rights for this series back to Image Comics!

Updated Mar 25, 2025! The Deadpool comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through December 2025.

Looking for Cable? He used to live on this page, too! See The Definitive Cable Collecting Guide and Reading Order.

Deadpool is now a multi-media star – perhaps one of Marvel’s most-visible characters – but he had humble beginnings.

He was introduced in 1991 in one of the final issues of New Mutants, created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza as mercenary who was an oddball cross between Spider-Man and DC Comics’ Deathstroke.

Deadpool was just one of a slew of newly-introduced extreme characters that leaned into the bloodlust of early 90s fans. Yet, he stood out in the crowd in his remarkably sparse early appearances. That was largely because Nicieza gifted him with a unique, sardonic, self-deprecating voice, which other writers gladly picked up.

After six years of guest appearances, Deadpool landing his own ongoing in 1997 penned by newcomer Joe Kelly only tiny handful of issues into his career. The series stuck – it was one of the few to survive Marvel’s early 2000’s cull, and Deadpool would never again go without at least one ongoing series to his name.

Crushing Comics S01E068 – Rick Remender’s Fear Agent + The Impermanence of Information

Deadpool – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order