Deadpool: Til Death Do They Part

“If these two crazy kids can’t make it, what chance do the rest of us have?”

Okay, it seems unlikely that anyone’s thinking that about Deadpool and his wife Shiklah. In fact, they should be more concerned about all the collateral damage that will come from the huge, monster-filled “Til Death Do Us…” crossover running through DEADPOOL, SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL, and DEADPOOL & THE MERCS FOR MONEY.

Like all good crossovers, this one involves a ton of creative folks like writers Gerry Duggan, Joshua Corin, and Christopher Hastings, artists Scott Koblish, Salva Espin, and Iban Coello, and editors Jordan D. White, Heather Antos, Devin Lewis, and Allison Stock. We sat down with all three artists to see how the event will play out and which monsters and guest stars they had the most fun with!

Marvel.com: At the heart of this story is a relationship that’s falling apart between Deadpool and Shiklah. Does this add different layers to the conflict on a visual level?

Scott Koblish: Most definitely; they’ve already had a pretty challenging relationship before the events of the last few months—I’ve even helped to draw some of their ups and downs—so it’s been a really wonderful opportunity to play with some of the emotional beats. They really do love one another, it’s just that a marriage becomes more challenging when one of the partners in the relationship is trying to conquer Manhattan with a vast monster army.

Salva Espin: I think that the relationship between Deadpool and Shiklah always has been a tug of love. Well, love and passion. And in this crossover we can find some scenes talking about it. Performing this in the panels is a great challenge for an artist.

Iban Coello: The relationship between Shiklah and Deadpool makes this conflict very personal for them. I try to reflect these feelings in the way I draw these characters. It’s complicated but it’s necessary for the plot.

Marvel.com: “Til Death Do Us…” features some of the most classic Marvel monsters around. How was it paying tribute to the original designs while also putting your own spin on them?

Scott Koblish: Who can deny the pure joy of drawing Frankenstein? I can also say that drawing Jack Russell—in his current situation—was tremendous fun, and one of my favorites is Marcus, the Diabetic Symbiotic Cybernetic Werewolf Centaur; he’s a real gas.

Salva Espin: As Scott [said], I think that Frankenstein is the [funniest] to draw. Other than that I especially like to draw the Mummy. I like this classic monster with bandages very much. Mack the Knife—the mummy guy—is my favorite character in the 90’s videogame “Captain Commando.” For Dracula’s minion-vampire army I always try to draw vampires based on the classic Nosferatu.

Iban Coello: I’m drawing Dracula in my pages and I’m enjoying it a lot! He has a different look from the classic Bela Lugosi style and it’s very fun to draw him like a badass!

Marvel.com: What was the process like coming up with some of the new monsters seen in the crossover?

Scott Koblish: I relied on a lot of what [past Deadpool artists] Reilly Brown and Mike Hawthorne established as far as drawing the monsters who associate with Shiklah. I felt it was important to keep that visual through-line. Reilly’s continuous cover over the first three issues was also a great inspiration.

Salva Espin: In my case, I return to the designs of most Shiklah soldiers that I have drawn in previous issues where Deadpool had scenes at the Monster Metropolis and the [limited series] MRS. DEADPOOL AND THE HOWLING COMMANDOS.

Iban Coello: I had a list with examples of monsters I can draw in the pages, but I’m adding some Alien type monsters because I love the movies. Reilly’s cover is a great inspiration too!

Marvel.com: Being a crossover, the story brings in some other costumed characters that don’t usually appear in the regular books. Did you have a favorite you were excited to draw?

Scott Koblish: I really enjoyed drawing Gorilla-Man and Hit-Monkey. I’d thrown Hit-Monkey into a panel of Deadpool’s wedding issue, and Gorilla-Man is on that cover, but I’d always wanted to draw them some more. It was really nice to revisit Masacre again; he’s a really tall, bulky guy and it’s fun to contrast him with Domino and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. I’ve also had a lot of fun with Marvel’s current version of Dracula too.

Salva Espin: Drawing Spider-Man is always spider-great! Spidey and Deadpool are cool characters and a great team in the panels. A gift for an artist. Oh! And Ben Franklin! The scenes where this character appears are really funny!

Iban Coello: Drawing Spider-Man is like a childhood dream for me and I’m enjoying every panel where he appears!

Marvel.com: Overall, was there a lot of communication with the other artists and writers about how to present the most cohesive story possible?

Scott Koblish: Jordan, Heather, Devin and Allison have done a great job of keeping everyone in the loop. They’ve sent me the artwork from the different chapters, so everyone is on the same page. There are a lot of characters running through this adventure! It’s exciting to see Salva and Iban’s versions of the story. It certainly makes me want to work harder whenever I see how great their artwork is!

Salva Espin: Yes, in my experience I can say that I’ve always had good communication with editors and writers, especially for these kinds of crossovers, where sometimes the artists are producing the pages in parallel. In addition to this, and thanks to the Marvel gods too, Gerry Duggan’s scripts are so clear and visual that is really easy to do a cohesive story without problems.

Iban Coello: All the editors are doing a great job maintaining communication for all of us. I have a lot of pages from Scott and Salva that I use as reference when I’m lost, and they’re doing a great job!

“Til Death Do Us…” kicked off with DEADPOOL #28—available now—before moving into SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL #15 and then DEADPOOL & THE MERCS FOR MONEY #9!