You guys like dead presidents, right? And no, I'm not talking about money, though that's nice too. I mean, literally dead presidents, reanimated and sent to do evil in the modern day. You guys like that? Because we've got your first look at the return of Undead Harry Truman and Undead FDR, coming at you in the brand new Deadpool #1. The inked pages are by artist Tony Moore, and for commentary, we're chatting with Editor Jordan D. White. So let's get to it, before Taft dies in another bathtub:
MTV Geek: Let's talk about this first page here... Can you tell us what's going on with B.E.A.R.D.O., Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Jordan D. White: I can’t say too much, but he’s an all new character who is going to be pretty important in this new series. We’re actually going to code characters’ importance by the length of their facial hair--which means Deadpool himself is sport Rip Van Winkle style whiskers.
Geek: How about that guy with the crackling energy? Is that one of our Dead Presidents, or someone/thing else?
JDW: That absolutely is one of our late great commander in chiefs, and shame on you for not recognizing Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of these great United States, he of the Fair Deal and Whistle Stop Tour! What did they teach you in school?
Geek: At Comic Journalist School? Barely anything. So is that bearded guy disappearing in the last panel, or is it just not inked yet?
JDW: You had it right the first time. We did not just yank the page off Tony Moore’s desk before he was done.
Geek: What about the artistic process here? I imagine the general idea for Tony is "go to town!" But any special direction or insight you can give us?
JDW: Yeah—we all know how amazing Tony is and we knew as soon as the idea of him drawing this book that he would nail everything we were looking for. He can do amazing action scenes, and he can pull off the humor of the character as well. And, as you can see here, he can draw something as absurd as undead president and totally sell the insane evil of that idea.
Geek: Moving on to the second page, is this FDR vs. Deadpool?
JDW: YES, IT IS. FDR is my favorite President, so I was extra-thrilled to see him show up in this issue as a twisted, bastardized version of himself who needs to be stopped at all cost.
Geek: This is, I think, our first real close-up look at one of the DPs... Hey, Dead Presidents, Deadpool, both DP - is that a coincidence?
JDW: YOU HAVE UNCOVERED THE MARVEL NOW! CODE! Captain America will be fighting Cannibal Accountants, the Fantastic Four take on some Frenzied Firemen, and Iron Man will be doing the Instant Mash. As for the first look, only if you don’t count poor Truman. But he is used to being overshadowed by FDR.
Geek: Um, back to the question: Something is clearly not right with FDR's eyes, and he seems to be rotting a bit. Did these Presidents come back wrong? And if so, what can you tell us about that?
JDW: Deadpool is a patriot, he would never attack one of our presidents if—wait, he’s Canadian? Really? Oh. Even so, I am sure our neighbors to the north would never attack one of our former presidents without a good reason. And when was the last time one of our presidents came back from the dead and was totally his normal self afterwards? Never.
Geek: From a design stand-point, what were trying to hit with Tony for the Dead Presidents?
JDW: I remember in one of the script describing them as being messed up versions of the presidents, as if through the lens of the ghosts in Ghostbusters—except not see-through. I think you can see that influence a bit. But really, I think Tony just flat out nailed the look of taking these great American figures and just making them…evil.
Geek: Anything else to add that we missed? Or should be looking out for?
JDW: That’s about that, for those two pages…but there are SO MANY amazing pages in issue one alone, I cannot wait to share them. SOON.
Deadpool #1 hits comic stands from Marvel Comics in November!
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