This column contains spoilers for Deadpool: Bad Blood #1, in stores now (granted, Deadpool: Bad Blood #1 is a serialized version of the 2017 Deadpool: Bad Blood graphic novel, so maybe it doesn't count as a spoiler).
Today, we take a look at a recent Deadpool comic book that features the Merc-With-a-Mouth explaining the virtues of having pouches on your costume.
In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack's term) "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book creator comments on/references the work of another comic book/comic book creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message."
The treatment of the Vietnam War in popular culture was fascinating, because a good deal of Americans at the time had come of age during a period where war films and war comic books were a way of life, but after some early box office success with Vietnam War movies with John Wayne's The Green Berets, America turned on the war (not unjustly so) and eventually the films made about the Vietnam War were coming through a much darker lens, especially in the latter half of the 1970s (perhaps most famous being Vietnam by way of the Heart of Darkness in Apocalypse Now).
However, while the public sentiment was not for the war itself, an unusual thing happened where the images of Green Berets and Navy SEALs in action in the war still permeated the American consciousness and the sight of these special forces soldiers burned certain aspects of their attire into our mind in terms of what looked like a "cool" military design and one of those aspects was, well, POUCHES!
In 1973, the Green Berets began using the All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (or better known as ALICE), a harness with lots of pouches for stuff and the Navy SEALs had similar gear and these designs really burned their way into the view of people when they thought "military look" and as the 1980s began, those designs began to pop up in comic book and animated characters.
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WHERE DID THE POUCHES LOOK REALLY COME TOGETHER IN THE WORLD OF COMICS?
Probably the first major character to rock the pouches look was Deathstroke the Terminator in New Teen Titans #2 (by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Romeo Tanghal), where we amusingly first saw Deathstroke just from behind (but lots of pouches in that direction, as well)...
Even on the second page, most of Deathstroke is from behind, which is an unusual page design choice for a brand-new character, right?
Speaking of unusual design choices, I already poke a little fun at this on Twitter and on Facebook, but check out the outfit (and the teensy umbrella) that Grant Wilson's ex-girlfriend is rocking when she visits Grant's grave at the end of the issue.
That was certainly...a choice.
In any event, while Deathstroke was probably the first, he likely wasn't the most influential. That was probably G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a new comic book tie-in to a then-new line of toys that turned members of the special forces into basically superheroes and boy were there a lot of pouches...
The most famous of the G.I. Joe team members was definitely Snake Eyes, who even rocked pouches on his ankles!!
It was Snake-Eyes who would prove to be the biggest influence on Rob Liefeld when he designed Deadpool, a sort of evil version of Spider-Man in the pages of New Mutants. And boy, did Deadpool have a lot of pouches...
Liefeld obviously has also previously created a character in New Mutants known as Cable who ALSO had a lot of pouches...
but Deadpool is really the character at hand here, so let's talk about him specifically.
DEADPOOL EXPLAINS THE VIRTUES OF USING POUCHES
Over the years, Rob Liefeld has been involved in plenty of good-natured ribbing over the proliferation of pouches in his comic book work. He even created a character known as "The Pouch" as a gag in Bloodstrike #23 (part of a story called "Brutalists") back in 2018 (at the time, Liefeld noted, "Since the moment I introduced The Pouch on my social media, the fans have exploded with support and enthusiasm! The truest definition of 'because you demanded it!' The Pouch comes to life on the cover and in an interior story included in Bloodstrike Brutalists 2!”).
With regards to Deadpool specifically, Liefeld illustrated a story written by Joe Kelly in Deadpool #900 that saw Deadpool empty out his pouches and show what he keeps in them (including bus fare, snacks and a hockey puck since he is, of course, Canadian) and more recently, Liefeld did a story called "The Tao of 'Pool" from Deadpool Nerdy 30 (with Chad Bowers, Bryan Valenza, Jay David Ramos, Frederico Blee, and VC's Joe Sabino) wherein it was revealed that Deadpool's pouches are made for him by none other than Liefeld himself.
In any event, that brings us to Deadpool: Bad Blood #1 (by Liefeld, Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Shelby Robertson, Adelso Corona, Marat Mychaels, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and VC's Joe Sabino), where Deadpool is fighting against the mysterious Thumper when he notices that Thumper has a pair of explosives hooked on to his belt...
Deadpool notes that this is one of the reasons why you carry stuff in pouches, as thererefore people won't KNOW that you're carrying explosives and so they won't be directly exposed to enemy fire, which Deadpool then takes advantage of by firing on them...
which, of course, does not go well for ol' Thumper...
This was a really clever way of both calling attention to Deadpool (and Liefeld's) history with pouches while, well, you know, showing why pouches really ARE a very effective thing to have on your costume!
If anyone has a suggestion for a future Meta-Messages, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com