Agent X (Marvel Comics) - Publication History

Publication History

Agent X was born out of Marvel Comics' long-running Deadpool series, whose sales had slumped to cancellation point, with experiments including the "miniseries within a series", (Deadpool: Agent of Weapon X and Deadpool: Funeral for a Freak, where the main series' numbering was demoted to secondary status below the "miniseries" numbering), having failed to stymie the leak. The decision was then taken to run a "final arc" to close the series, then restart it from #1 with an X in the title in an attempt to more closely identify it with their popular X-Men franchise (as part of the same effort, Cable was changed to Soldier X and X-Force was changed to X-Statix). Rumors circulated amongst fans that the title relaunches at this time (including Deadpool to Agent X) were due in part to a royalty dispute with Rob Liefeld; the rumors were dispelled by Liefeld himself. Online humorist Gail Simone was chosen to write both Deadpool's final arc and the new series, with the UDON studio, who had recently revamped the Taskmaster in a well-received miniseries, to supply the art.

Agent X replaced Deadpool with a similar protagonist, while including ambiguous hints as to the nature of his relationship with the original character. Agent X was well received by critics but wasn't a sales success. Some felt this title suffered due to Marvel's lack of support for both this and Soldier X as neither title enjoyed house or trade support. Simone publicly clashed with Marvel's editorial staff as the relaunched title struggled to find a foothold. Simone left the book after issue 7, with the protagonist's true identity still unrevealed.

The book's sales further suffered, prompting Marvel to cancel the book. The company then changed course to publish a series of fill-ins, to mixed reviews. Towards the end, two of these fill-ins were published to small fanfare: those by noted author Evan Dorkin and the acclaimed art team of Juan Bobillo and Marcelo Sosa. Soon after, Agent X was canceled with issue #12. However, shortly after this announcement, Marvel decided to launch a Cable & Deadpool book as a change in direction, which ended up being a much more successful consolidation of the two characters into one title. This allowed Simone and UDON to complete their initial vision as part of a three-issue arc tying up the loose ends and restoring Deadpool for use in the new book, which was published after a month's hiatus as Agent X #13-15.

Agent X also appeared in Cable & Deadpool #11-12. He would make another appearance in #38-39, where he was captured on a mission against HYDRA, who were able to give him arthritis using new technology, then morbid obesity so he wouldn't notice the arthritis. He was subsequently rescued by Deadpool, who was hired by Sandi and Outlaw. After being rescued, Agent X decided to allow Deadpool to run Agency X until he was cured of his disabilities.

In the 'Dear Deadpool' section of #37, the writers jokingly hinted that Agent X may receive a new ongoing series sometime in the future.