The Bolivian jungle... Steamy... Rank... More Humid that a church pew on Sunday...
-Joe Kelly, Deadpool #1 or "Hey Kids, It's Deadpool!"

"Together Again for the First Time"
Damn good Wednesday today.

Seven Soldiers #1 is finally coming out -- not that I'm going to have any chance of understanding what the hell's going on. Richard Donner, Geoff Johns and Adam Kubert on Action Comics. The Clone Saga continues in Ultimate Spider-Man. New Planetary. And I haven't even touched on my personal little favorites like Secret Six or Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Lot of four-color fun, but you know what I'm looking forward to the most?

Superman/Batman Annual.

The solicitation says that it's supposed to be a bit of a retold first-meet story between our titular characters, so that's one way of looking at it as a story that brings two people back together again for the first time, but what they completely fail to mention is that this is the first time Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness have worked together since Deadpool.

Kelly and McGuinness worked on the first nine issues of Deadpool together, I consider these nine comics to be the heart of my comic book collection, which is kind of weird. Neither Kelly nor McGuinness are anywhere close to being the best in their respective fields. And they've both done better work since then. But these issues just have a special place in my heart. They've somehow taken on a mythic quality. I'm convinced that, while I loved comics and had always wanted to be a writer, it wasn't until I read Deadpool #1 that it occurred to me that I might consider becoming a comic book writer. And I'll still credit a mutual affection for Deadpool as the reason Caleb and I became friends.

So of course, I'm convinced that we should consider the Kelly-McGuinness dynamic as closely as we regard Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, or at the very least as closely as Bendis and Bagley.

What strikes me as odd is the parallels between Kelly and McGuinness. Did you know that they both worked on Wolverine Annual '95, but on seperate stories? And how strange is it that they both started working on the Superman revival at the end of the 20th Century? I mean, if you ask me, this is as weird as Lincoln and Kennedy both having Johnsons for VPs!

What's kept them apart for so long? What will the Return of the Team mean for us all? Is Deathstroke going to read like Deadpool? Will Batman tell Superman the meaning of life or vice versa?

Damn good Wednesday indeed.