Every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer while still acknowledging that the abandoned story DID still happen. Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of Abandoned Love. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

This time around, based on a suggestion from reader Pawel P., we take a look at how Deadpool gained (and then lost) a second inner monologue...

It is hard to believe with how popular Deadpool has gotten in recent years, but there was a seven-month gap in 2008 where Deadpool did not have his own comic book, between the end of Cable/Deadpool in February 2008 and the launch of his second solo ongoing series in September 2008.

What's interesting is that Deadpool might not have even GOTTEN another chance at a new series had it not been for the success of Daniel Way having him guest-star in the pages of Wolverine: Origins in early 2008 right as Cable/Deadpool was coming to a close. This was basically a "soft opening" for Way's new take on the character.

Here he is in Wolverine: Origins #21 by Way and artist Steve Dillon...

Notice how Way gives him dueling inner monologues? He made this even clearer the next issue...

So anyhow, this new approach by Way was well-received, so Way was given the opportunity to go to the next step (that was the plan all along, but I believe if the Wolverine: Origins arc had bombed, then there might not have been a step two), launch a new Deadpool ongoing series during Secret Invasion (drawn by Paco Diaz and Juan Vlasco). Way brought along the dueling inner monologues, only now formalized even further by having the "main" inner monologue be in yellow while the second one being in white...

This set-up continued for the rest of this volume, which lasted four years.

When the next Deadpool series by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Tony Moore and Val Staples launched, though, gone were the dueling inner monologues...

So what happened to them? Read on to find out!

In the 2013 Deadpool Annual, by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker and artist Evan "Doc" Shaner, we learn that Deadpool's other inner voice was actually that of the old Marvel supervillain Madcap, who Thor had accidentally merged together with Deadpool...

At the end of the issue, they effectively had Luke Cage and Thor pull them apart...

As it turned out, getting rid of Deadpool's dueling inner monologues was Duggan and Posehn's way of freeing up Deadpool's head space so that they could try a similar idea, where he ended up sharing his body with a dead female SHIELD agent for about twenty issues, as first shown in Deadpool #6...

All things said and done, the Acker/Blacker solution is pretty clever - and also WAY OUT of left field. But in a good way. Madcap?! Freaking MADCAP? That's awesome.

Thanks to Pawel for the suggestion! If anyone else has a suggestion for a future edition of Abandoned Love, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!