After delighting fans for decades with his creation of the beloved Marvel Comics character Deadpool, Rob Liefeld has made the difficult decision to step away from the Merc with a Mouth. The 56-year-old artist and co-founder of Image Comics recently announced his retirement plans via Instagram, revealing that he will retire from Deadpool once he completes work on a book for Marvel. This book is expected to hit shelves in the summer, just in time to coincide with the release of Disney's Deadpool 3 in theaters on July 26.
Liefeld's decision to retire from Deadpool comes as a surprise to many, as he had always assumed he would continue working with his signature creation well into his later years. However, the toll on his eyes, hands, aches, and pains have prompted him to rethink his plans. Liefeld shares, 'About 10 years ago, I really felt like I was in a groove, and in my mind, I was going to do this till I was 70. But the eyes and the hands, and the aches and the pains — they have a different timetable, I've learned as I've gotten older. The last year's worth of work was the hardest to produce.'
