Review by Win Wiacek

Introduced as a threat to the New Mutants in 1991, Deadpool was given a confusing solo outing in 1993 in the four chapters of The Circle Chase. The Merc With A Mouth eventually won through against a gaggle of threats, but during the mayhem it was revealed that Irish arch-villain Black Tom Cassidy was slowly turning into a tree. Really. Follow-up story Sins of the Past addresses that problem.

Desperate to save his life the bad guy and his best bud Juggernaut manipulate Wade by exploiting the mercenary’s relationship with Siryn, a sonic mutant, daughter of X-Man Banshee, and Tom’s niece. Believing that Deadpool’s regenerating factor holds a cure, the villains cause a bucket-load of carnage at a time when Wade Wilson is at his lowest ebb.

This time it’s Mark Waid placing the manic dialogue in Deadpool’s word balloons, accompanied by three pencillers, Ian Churchill (sample art), Lee Weeks and Ken Lashley, and no less than six inkers, indicating a project completed in a hurry. Despite that, this guest-star packed hyperkinetic race against time is heavy on explosive action, and cannily exploits its X-franchise connections to concoct a shallow but immensely readable piece of eye-candy.

Sins of the Past is available as part of several other collections. In the UK Panini combined it with The Circle Chase to coincide with the first Deadpool movie in 2008. It’s also in the first Deadpool Classic volume, and most recently in the Epic Collection of Deadpool: The Circle Chase.