2024 Deadpool & Wolverine: So what's the deal with DP's creator, feet, and that joke?

Source: Collider 2024.10.06
So What's the Deal With Deadpool’s Creator, Feet, and That 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Joke?

The running gag since the 1990s is that Rob Liefeld doesn't like drawing feet for his characters, and their feet are always out of frame. If you examine Liefeld's interior pencils and cover artwork for his superhero books, it's a recurring trait. Now, you can certainly find instances of the feet of the characters Liefeld draws appearing in his comic book panels and covers, but the criticism became so widespread that it followed Liefeld throughout most of his career.

After she joins the new X-Force team, Deadpool opines, "Luck?! What coked-out, glass pipe-sucking, freak show comic book artist came up with that little chestnut? Probably a guy who can't draw feet!" ... There was a shoe store in the background before the big climactic battle scene where Deadpool and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) are about to take on the Deadpool Corps. The store is called "Liefeld's Just Feet."

Reynolds pitched the Deadpool 2 feet joke directly to Liefeld, and the comic book creator was one hundred percent on board with it, "Ryan calls me and says, 'Rob, we have this joke, I wanna run it by you. Please share your thoughts.' I said, 'Ryan, I absolutely love it.'" ... Liefeld considered the joke an extreme form of flattery. "There’s no greater shout-out in the world. I love it; I love taking the piss out of people. I love people taking the piss out of me. I got three kids who make fun of me all day long, so if my characters are making fun of me, all my kids are trashing me. I love it."

During the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, "I was laughing hysterically when the Marvel business affairs people called me. They were laughing, too." Liefeld is well aware of what fans say about his artwork, and he owns it. Critics joking about how a comic book artist draws feet probably seem trivial when that artist's creations are grossing billions of dollars at the box office. However, Liefeld can appreciate a good joke and doesn't mind any witticisms being made at his expense, recognizing that it's all good fun. He once joked about his artwork for Marvel Comics Presents #85, "Hi, I'm Rob Liefeld, and I have never known Da Feet….I mean defeat!!"