Deadpool fans, mark down the date May 17 on your calendars, as that’s the day Wade Wilson’s proud papa Rob Liefeld returns to the character he helped create with the DEADPOOL: BAD BLOOD original graphic novel written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims.

We pinned down Liefeld for a conversation about Deadpool past, present, and future.

Marvel.com: So we’ve just passed Deadpool’s 25^th anniversary and he’s more popular than ever with the film and games; what do you think it is about his character that has made him endure for as long as he has?

Rob Liefeld: Deadpool [and] his origins, are steeped in my absolute envy of everything Spider-Man, and the fact that my buddies Erik Larsen and Todd McFarlane were blazing through the pages on that beautifully full masked character. Upon being handed the reins of writing the stories for NEW MUTANTS, I had to follow up Cable, which at the time, that character had taken the comic book world by storm, and taken [the New Mutants] to new heights. The book started to fail so when Marvel handed it to me, they said I could do whatever I want.

Getting back to the Spider-Man of it all, I went back to Marvel and pitched them Spider-Man with guns and swords because I am obsessed with gear and weapons, which is not an accident because my favorite comic book character of all time is Wolverine. He was the first X-Man to have weapons. Now at the same time, my favorite team was the Avengers, and they [all] had weapons, and these were some of the most popular comic book characters of all time so I knew it resonated somehow. At the time Todd was doing much darker storylines; Spider-Man was a much darker character, his marriage with Mary Jane was on the rocks, Peter Parker was unsure of himself and lost in the world—he wasn’t the fun loving Spider-Man I grew up with, you know, the guy who would make fun of you while he kicked you in the face. I think what works so well about that is everybody loves a smart-ass.

And I think that’s why everybody resonated with Deadpool so well because he was a funny smart ass, and overtime he has become the loveable and formidable smartass. Those kinds of characters resonate because they are fun, and Deadpool has never been more necessary as ever as the world gets more out of control. I think having that smart ass character to make everyone laugh is amazing because everyone needs a time to laugh and if Deadpool can make you laugh while shooting bullets through people’s [heads] then that’s a bonus for all comic book fans; that’s just great action. And again, at that time you had Cable who was the one driving sales for the comics: he was the straight-edge, serious commander type and Deadpool came in within the first month and deconstructed everything and just slapped him around so it was definitely a huge change of pace that people loved back then and still love today. In addition, with Marvel’s amazing publishing, sales, and marketing teams they really took care of him and pushed him to popularity; there were Deadpool action figures and trading cards within the first nine months of his publishing. I think it’s safe to say that everyone loves the badass ninja.

Marvel.com: Where do you find inspiration for Deadpool?  I mean, he’s done so much, it must be hard to put new stuff together.

Rob Liefeld: Actually it’s not hard; I look to exploit the areas that have been left alone.  Deadpool’s past has largely been left alone. When I pitched him to Marvel back in the day, I asked, “Can I have him be a part of Weapon X?” and when they obliged I asked, “is the X a roman numeral? And if so have we seen weapons [one through nine]?” So I made him Weapon IX meaning that he wasn’t put together correctly so that’s kind why he’s so screwed up. So when I examined his past history, I realized they still haven’t done a lot of it. In DEADPOOL #900 I flashed back to him briefly to him in Catholic school, and did a lot of story with him in junior high and high school. I was raised in the Chris Claremont school of soap opera engagement and storytelling because X-Men was the best soap opera ever presented to me as a kid, so for me I always wanted to add layers and have stuff to reveal later on to keep the twists and turns coming. So the opportunity to build out Deadpool’s past and to bring back characters from his childhood and so on, was a big appeal for me. I was always sketching characters in my sketch book and thinking of ways to add them into Deadpool’s life.

Marvel.com: What was it like for you to return to the character for his first original graphic novel, especially at the height of his popularity?

Rob Liefeld: Well first I asked “why a graphic novel?” I was a little suspicious; [Marvel] said that they considered a really privileged format, and I considered it that way since you had no next issue breaks, you don’t have to catch people up. I was also lucky enough that Marvel once again gave me free reign to pretty much do whatever I want with the [story]. I sat down and really carved out a path for where the story was going for this. A week or two later Chad Bowers and Chris Sims came in and started to work with me; it was Chad, actually, who told me that he really lobbied for this thing. I was really excited to work with them because they were teenagers when this character first came out so you know they grew up with him and fell in love with the character same as I.

Marvel.com: Speaking of Chad and Chris, they’ve done some great work with X-MEN ’92. What has your working relationship been like with these two?

Rob Liefeld: Oh the back and forth between those two have been tremendous. You know like I said coming into the project I was like “The Old Man and the Sea” and they were the young fish so it has been amazing to hear what fresh ideas these guys have brought with them. They know their stuff. We were jamming immediately, discussing everything about the character. I’ve worked with other creators before who said they were assigned the project and you could tell they weren’t as enthused, but when it came to Chad and Chris it was like magic. They brought so much—I was proof-reading the book last week and I was howling with laughter, and working with them was easy because I would want to expand on their stuff and go in a certain direction and they were all for it.

Marvel.com: In BAD BLOOD, Deadpool is going to be taking on a new baddie named Thumper. What can you tell us about the matchup between those two?

Rob Liefeld: Well I don’t want to reveal too much, but Thumper is a character from Deadpool’s past that has a shared backstory and where they split and where they come together is a major part of the story. I really want to give the character something that resonates with the reader. With Thumper, this is your introduction to him and his story and oh man the last quarter of the book I really feel like we nailed the journey. Two of the goals given this format, stems from how I was raised in a time where treasury editions were a big deal, Marvel did a lot of them, co-published with DC two of my favorites being HULK/BATMAN and SUPERMAN/SPIDER-MAN; they went bigger with the action and bigger with the detail and thinking of those treasury editions I wanted to go bigger with both in this format as well. It’s a fun journey, a lot of familiar faces and some new faces are in the issue.

Marvel.com: We now know BAD BLOOD is going to be released on May 17. What are you most excited for fans to see when they finally get their hands on it?

Rob Liefeld: Well again, it’s going to be a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun creating the action bits and the comedy bits. I approached my artistic collaborator on this, [colorist] Romulo Fajardo; he is an amazing painter. I went with him because I am a huge fan of Frank Miller and his work that he did [on ELEKTRA LIVES] with [colorist] Lynn Varley and the painted look, and I went to Romulo and [said] “Listen man, if we are going to go in this format we got to step it up” and he showed me some work and went “Like this?” and I went “Holy crap!! Yeah!” He is an outstanding painter; he is an essential part of the look of the book. For 30 years I’ve been putting together comics and creating comics and creating these journeys in different formats, and it’s so rewarding when you have this collaboration with guys like Chris and Chad and Romulo, and to see it put together. I’m just hoping that the printing press comes through for us and prints all those brilliant hues and tones because it really has a great atmosphere. I went around and met a whole bunch of different people at conventions and such, and I’ve [listened] to them, and without going too much into the journey of the book, I’ve put a great deal of what I’ve heard from fans into the book, in relation to comedy and action and I’ve also given [them] some new storylines that they won’t see coming. I’m excited to get my hands on it and go out there and promote it.

Look for DEADPOOL: BAD BLOOD from Rob Liefeld, Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, and Romulo Fajardo on May 17!

This interview originally appeared on the Capcom-Unity blog

As previously announced in our other blogpost, physical versions of “Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3” are coming to PlayStation®4 and Xbox One™ on March 7 for $29.99. These versions will feature updated cover at and an exclusive comic featuring original art from Marvel’s own Sean Chen and Gerardo Sandoval.

We caught up with Sean and Gerardo to share their thoughts on the Marvel vs. Capcom series and what it was like creating the exclusive comic.

Please introduce yourself and give us a little background on what you do for Marvel.

Sean Chen: I’m a veteran comic book artist with about 20 years in the industry. I’m mostly known for a long run on [IRON MAN], but have also done stints on Wolverine, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Avengers, among others.

These days I split my time between [comics] and advertising. In comics, I do mostly covers and special projects for different publishers. In the advertising industry, I mostly do storyboards for television commercials.

Gerardo Sandoval: My name is Gerardo Sandoval. I have worked on titles such as AGE OF APOCALYPSE, GUARDIANS 3000, NEW AVENGERS, and [more].

When you were approached with this project, what was your reaction?

Sean Chen: I knew it was going to be lots of fun. It was a great opportunity to draw many of the iconic Marvel heroes that I loved, as well as some of the well-known Capcom characters. While I was unfamiliar with some of them, they were all great fun to draw.

Researching the few characters that I didn’t know too well turned me into a fan. They were all well designed, both visually and in personality and abilities.

Gerardo Sandoval: When I was younger I was a gamer. I really loved Capcom and everything Street Fighter. For me this opportunity was a huge surprise because I always wanted to do a [Marvel Vs. Capcom] art piece and I never thought that it could be possible.

Being more familiar with drawing characters from the Marvel Universe, what approach did you take when creating your own renditions of characters from the Capcom universe?

Sean Chen: First and foremost, I wanted to make sure that they all appeared and acted in character. Capcom, being the steward of these characters, as well as the diehard fans of them, care a lot about how they are portrayed. A big part of my job is to make sure to be respectful by acknowledging that there are people very passionate about these characters. I did my homework and did a fair amount of research, which included discussing the characters with my son and some of his friends.
The challenging part is that some of the Capcom characters are on the very realistic end of the spectrum, such as Chris Redfield. Others such as Viewtiful Joe are very cartoony. Trying to integrate the different art genres into one story universe took some thought and calibration.

Gerardo Sandoval: It’s not easy to design a piece like this because I only had one chance to create the main characters. I had to [put] each one of the characters in a pose very familiar to the fans. As a fan myself, I knew Capcom characters and how they should look, so it was really fun, but challenging to put all the main characters together in one shot.

Who is your favorite character to draw from both the Marvel and Capcom universes and why?

Sean Chen: I always love drawing Iron Man since I am very tech oriented. A big part of the fun of drawing comics is to engage a variety of character types, and this book had them all. A great counterpoint to the hard edges of Iron Man was the organic and feminine forms of Storm and Morrigan. It was also great fun to draw the anime and cartoon characters as Zero and Viewtiful Joe. I would have to say that Morrigan was the most fun to draw from the Capcom side because she had a unique offbeat design. In terms of personality, Viewtiful Joe was great fun to portray because of his big, in your face attitude.

Gerardo Sandoval: Venom, Wolverine, Sagat, or Zangief. For some reason, I am not into the good guys, I always liked the bad guys. Not Spider-Man but Venom, not Ryu but Sagat. Villains, or anti-heroes, are more interesting characters for me so I really enjoy drawing bad guys. Also, when I was a gamer, I always played as a villain.

Who is your favorite character to play from both the Marvel and Capcom universes and why?

Sean Chen: Some of the Capcom characters have been around forever, such as Chun-Li and Ryu, so they are the ones I am familiar with from my younger days. As far a Marvel is concerned, Wolverine is always a favorite.
How does it feel to know your name is now cemented in this epic franchise that has spanned over 20 years?

Gerardo Sandoval: It’s one of my dreams come true. It’s a great achievement, but at the same time, not enough for me. I really had the dream of being part of something like this but not only with one art piece. I hope in the future I can produce more art for this epic series.

A huge thanks to both Sean and Gerardo for their beautiful work on the exclusive comic and giving their thoughts on the franchise! The all-new comic book is a must-have for collectors and fans of the series and tells the story of two colliding universes featuring some of the most iconic Marvel and Capcom characters in its 10 full pages of action packed story. To secure your copy of this limited release, you can preorder now at GameStop and EB Games.

The iPhone SE has been a quiet hero for small-handed folk ever since it launched in March of last year. The body of an iPhone 5 with an iPhone 6s's guts was a good proposition in 2016, but with an all-new iPhone 8 expected this year and Samsung stepping up its game, the iPhone SE needs some help to stay relevant.The latest signs all point to Apple changing things up in a rumored March event. According to MacRumors, Target began returning iPhone SE models to Apple this week, which is a big hint that something new could be just around the corner.According to a report seen by the site, Target was returning six unlocked models of the iPhone SE, including 16 and 64GB versions in Gold, Silver, Rose Gold and Space Gray. Two models locked to Sprint were also returned.It's possible that these recalls are completely unrelated to an updated iPhone SE. Especially since all iPhone SEs aren't being returned to Apple, it's possible that this is just a move to shift around inventory between countries, or to change out certain underperforming models.But equally, it could be clearing shelves before an updated version comes in. An update probably wouldn't look that big: if anything, we'll see an internal spec bump to equal the iPhone 7's guts, and possibly a boost to the camera and Touch ID sensor. Changing the form factor or adding features like a dual camera or 3D Touch would cannibalize sales of Apple's much more expensive smartphones, which is anathema to Cupertino.