KIRKMAN & LIEFELD ON THE RETURN OF YOUNGBLOOD

[FIG]

I think any character can have potential. Put an awesome artist on this book and let him redesign each and every character because the writer is already there and let the writer completely reinvent the concept.

[SuperginraiX]

Originally posted by Aquaboy
i guess for every creator out there, they have their respective fan bases. To those Liefeld fans out there, this is a good time for them. Enjoy!
For the rest of us, well, we can spend our cash on things we love.

I don't like you trying to be the voice of REASON in a Liefeld bashing contest! That's too sane! Too logical!

Seriously, if I don't like ONE comic that comes out a month, the industry has likely betrayed me and comics as a whole are completely doomed! EVERYTHING must be catered to ME!



Seriously, Aquaboy, your words made me feel better about the comic community. Thanks for breathing air.

And for the haters :

I'm sorry you placed such great trust in Rob Liefeld. Many people sound like they gave him rights to their first born child. Me? I just bought his books and either enjoyed them or didn't. I got frustrated when only two issues of this or that came out, but I also love to delve through all my back issues and read some pretty cool stories.

There or many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many reasons why we can dislike a man like Rob Liefeld (including the first born child thing, apparently). He's done a lot of stupid things. I've done a lot of stupid things. Thankfully, no one gets on the internet and posts how they hate me, I would most likely cry . Rob is different. Don't like how he does business? Don't buy his work. It just drives me crazy that someone who doesn't like Liefeld would actually read through this article in the first place. I don't understand that.

I guess you're here for Kirkman. That'll tear a man up inside to see his greatest nemesis and your forever friend locked in some unholy alliance. I'm... sorry you had to see that in this day and age.

In closing, I have terrible tastes in comics. I admit to that. I guess I might pick this up. I never picked up Bloodsport or Genesis, though, so we'll see.

X Force? I'm in. 5 issues by XMas since they're already in the bag.

[pfunk70]

Well, beyond Robert Kirkman writing, this series does have one other redeeming reason to buy... all the women have huge breasts!!

Ahh yes, feel the 90s nostalgia wave

[MightyDoom]

Originally posted by kingofcities
Straight from the dictionary: An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype: “‘Frankenstein’... ‘Dracula’... ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’... the archetypes that have influenced all subsequent horror stories” (New York Times).

Not necessarily a Liefield supporter or anything, but it gets old with the comparison of his characters to other established characters. Anyone ever read The Authority, Astro City, Supreme Power? Planetary does this regularly. Hell, for that matter, so does Invincible.

Not comparing the level of quality on Youngblood in general to these other books. Just pointing out the similarities. If you don't like Liefield's art, storytelling or continual lateness, that's one thing. Give him a break on this character rip-off thing though.

Unless you feel like bitching at Warren Ellis, Kurt Busiek, JMS and Robert Kirkman too.

It's all about intent and execution. Here's what I mean:

Intent: There are numerous comics that use existing super hero archetypes to explore the Fascist/Totalitarian motives and violent aspects of the genre. All of them are somewhat derivitive of Watchmen and the original Squadron Supreme (Supreme Power is merely a reworking of the latter) maxi series', both of which did an outstanding job, but most of them have a slightly different take. Astro City and Planetary are different case, as they're using the archetypes to either put a wildly different spin on the concept, or tell types of stories that the existing characters won't allow (this was also what Alan Moore managed to do with Supreme, so it really can work with Liefeld's characters).

Execution: Youngblood was ahead of Authority and the Ultimates, but unlike those books (which I don't really like either but for different reasons), Liefeld's take on it lacked any real insight or characterization. Also Youngblood suffered from a character design standpoint where he could have really made his mark. Why homages to the big icons like Samaritan, Silver Agent, Apollo and Midnighter, Doctor Spectrum and Power Princess work is that they take the familiar elements of the icons and put a different spin on them, and end up looking iconic in their own right. I don't see Liefeld doing that anywhere (OK, maybe with Badrock).

That being said, he can use Thor all he wants as long as he looks different enough from the Trademarked Marvel version, as Thor is a Mythological character and open to the public domain. Same with Loki, Hercules, or Gilgamesh for that matter. I'm actually surprised that Liefeld hasn't used more public domain characters.

Anyway, the book looks better than the other two recent Youngblood Projects, but I still don't see enough to interest me in buying it. Maybe if they called it Youngblood: Rob Lowe Returns...

[kingofcities]

Originally posted by MightyDoom
It's all about intent and execution. Here's what I mean:

Intent: There are numerous comics that use existing super hero archetypes to explore the Fascist/Totalitarian motives and violent aspects of the genre. All of them are somewhat derivitive of Watchmen and the original Squadron Supreme (Supreme Power is merely a reworking of the latter) maxi series', both of which did an outstanding job, but most of them have a slightly different take. Astro City and Planetary are different case, as they're using the archetypes to either put a wildly different spin on the concept, or tell types of stories that the existing characters won't allow (this was also what Alan Moore managed to do with Supreme, so it really can work with Liefeld's characters).

Execution: Youngblood was ahead of Authority and the Ultimates, but unlike those books (which I don't really like either but for different reasons), Liefeld's take on it lacked any real insight or characterization. Also Youngblood suffered from a character design standpoint where he could have really made his mark. Why homages to the big icons like Samaritan, Silver Agent, Apollo and Midnighter, Doctor Spectrum and Power Princess work is that they take the familiar elements of the icons and put a different spin on them, and end up looking iconic in their own right. I don't see Liefeld doing that anywhere (OK, maybe with Badrock).

That being said, he can use Thor all he wants as long as he looks different enough from the Trademarked Marvel version, as Thor is a Mythological character and open to the public domain. Same with Loki, Hercules, or Gilgamesh for that matter. I'm actually surprised that Liefeld hasn't used more public domain characters.

Anyway, the book looks better than the other two recent Youngblood Projects, but I still don't see enough to interest me in buying it. Maybe if they called it Youngblood: Rob Lowe Returns...

Good points there. I personally would pick any one of the examples I listed every day of the week and twice on Sunday over an issue of Youngblood. I just thought it weird that Liefield got singled out so much for doing it versus those other creators I mentioned. Go to the video store and some people will rent Dumb and Dumber. Others will get Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. See my point? Entertainment is of course very subjective.

[TTROY]

my problem is with liefeld is that he failed to deliver through on project...the comics guide are littled with the remnants of started but never finished Liefeld properties....


if i had a dollar for every time he restarted or tried to redo the Youngblood property i could bail out Cross Gen

now that should be the quote of the month...

[PhillipVargas]

Wow. Strong opinions.

Anyway, I plan on giving this book a shot based on KIRKMAN'S track record. He's a great writer and I'm interested to see what he does with Youngblood.

[antpicnic]

I missed the memo proclaiming where 90's
comics are hot again - could
someone tell that memo is?
are kids breaking down the doors
of comic stores for vintage 1994
image titles?

[TTROY]

Like most of the early 90's Image comics output (and the 10th LOL anniversary hardcover) the memo has been delayed....

it will be resolicited at a later date..

[Cray_ws]

I would love to see Rob hand YoungBlood to someone like Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer and let them have free reign. As long as Ellis doesn't kill off all his characters

But seriously Rob needs to let todays talent do the work for him, Robert Kirkman is a step in the right direction, now he needs a more relevant artist than Marat Michaels. No offense to him personally, but he just doesn't cut it in today's market. Especially the genre that Youngblood is in. There are ton of out work artist that are extremely popular, I'm sure Kirkman has a few ideas of who he would like to work with.

Change the artist and you might actual get some pretty decent sales.

[Aquaboy]

i just realised every time i have enjoyed a rob liefeld property.... he hasn't directly had a hand in that project. of course, i am talking about alan moore's writing and steve skroce or chris sprouse.
i just thought of that cos i remember in the 90's i collected a good chunk of the extreme comics stable. only memorable appearance that i can even remember was the superpatriot limited series and that was done under the Image Larsen stable. the last issue guest starred the Die Hard robot and it was the only time i thought the character was kewl.
i agree with the posters that he should let other creators into his playground.

[stlfan79]

Ill buy anything done by Kirkman, but this is good news-I am a Liefeld universe fan and can't wait to see what Kirkman will do with it. Also Marat has been a pretty good artist of late, these pages look good and I can't wait to see his Shatterstar mini also.

[Angry Monkey]

I can't bust the guys balls for continuing to want to do comics. He obviously loves comics, and he obviously loves his characters. So he's made some serious errors in judgment... So what? Who hasn't?

I'll buy this book. I love Kirkman's stuff on unknown characters he creates, so I should quite enjoy his work on characters I'm already familiar with from a decade past.

And the art ain't too shabby either!

[OMNIPOTENT OMELETTE]

Originally posted by Angry Monkey
He obviously loves comics,

Well that's one abusive relationship. Walk away comics. Walk away. You deserve better!



That art's not so bad, though. But with the coloring all I can think is,


"MOOOOOOOORRRRTAAAAAALLLL KOMMMMMBATTTT!!!

The gore is so overstated with splatter that it is very unaffective.
MAybe they'll tweak it a bit before publication.

[Kurt]

Doesn't it look like M. Bison is hitting Cammy with the Thing in one of those panels?

[protonik]

Originally posted by SRBuell
I think it's something to do with Youngblood. Or Liefeld. Look at Bloodsport. I bought it at Comic-con last year, out of nostalgia's sake. Then, after reading it, I remembered what a stupid kid I was back in the 90's. I love Mark Millar's writing; Wanted is one of my favorite titles these days, but good christ this thing was bad.

Just out of curiosity, has there ever been a Youngblood series that reached 12 issues? Does anyone know how long that very first series ran? Can we start a pool and bet on that last comment about having 5 issues of this and 5 issues of that out by December?

Team Youngblood was well over 12 issues, actually 22 or so... Youngblood vol. 1 was 10 issues, vol. 2 was 13 issues, vol. 3 failed due to the loss of financing for Awesome but got 3 issues... Actually, most of Rob's books got well over 12 issues, at least the major ones...

Jason

[protonik]

Originally posted by Vyper
Whoa, whoa, I'll let a lot of crap fly by, but this is ridiculous. Did you ever actually read Alan Moore's run on Supreme? He wrote about a year-and-a-half worth of issues, and it was brilliant. Sure, Supreme the character is a Superman knock-off, and no one's saying differently - what Alan Moore did with Supreme was take all the great stuff that works with Superman, and told it in a way that was almost magical.

And kindly do not diss Steve Skroce's work - I've always felt that his two issues of Youngblood (also by Alan Moore) were his best work.

Alan on Supreme was two years... and Moore turned Supreme into a Superman rip off. Before that he was anything but Superman...

Jason

[protonik]

Originally posted by Nat Gertler
Actually, Rob has been sued. Marvel went after him over Agent: America, an announced project that was transformed into the Fighting American project. And the original Image Comics project, a poster of a group with a big X in the name and seeming very much like a Marvel X-group of the time, never got released, seemingly because it was pointed out to Rob that such infringement would be responded to.

I should also note that Rob's references here to Kurt Busiek as the writer of Youngblood: Genesis is a usage that Kurt has disputed in the past. He has been quick to point out that he is merely the plotter of those books, that any scripting duties (a significant portion of the writing effort) have been done by someone else.

What is funny is that Rob won the case, all the judge said was he couldn't have Fighting American throw his shield and alter the gloves. The poster you talk about was actually for the Berserkers and was a joke, just to gauge reactions and test the waters. There were no legal threats at Rob until the Agent America thing.

Writer, smiter... so what.

[TTROY]

actually Supreme had been a thinly vieled rip off of Hero Alliance's Victor. all that was really changed to start with was the composition of colors on the costume..

[Dougie02]

This looks like crap. I really hope the 90s image over substance wave isnt coming back.

We have nearly a dozen X-titles, including X-Force.

Venom is back in a big way, and Carnage is coming.

Crappy, thinly veiled rip-off characters (but more exxxxxxxxxtreme!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

tasteless violence merely for the sake of having it

scantily clad trashy super-sluts (also to the exxxxxxxxxxtreme, see Chuck Austen's future project) just for the sake of having promiscuous women.

If it wasnt for the sucess of comic movies, I would really be worried about the industry. I was too young to worry about it the first time around, but this looks a lot like the trends I have read about/seen in back issues.

[rob liefeld]

Please don't go trying to sell that Victor crap here...after Superman, they're all imitations. Only one original and about a dozen original concepts to begin with.

Anyway, A Liefeld thread...flamin' posters....hostile reactions...who'd ever imagine that?

Hope everyone interested in Youngblood:IMPERIAL by Robert Kirkman drops by the Arcade booth at San Diego and purchases a copy of the complete first issue.

#0 will be available at Wiz World Chicago.

Rob

[darthsamuel]

i give liefeld at lot more time than most but this does look at bit on the sucky side. it looks like hes has a rush of blood and start tryin to crank out too many books. i think with liefeld its more of a case of his hearts in the right place but the execution lets himself (and the fans) down.
dependin on how i feel when it drops i might pick it up (as long as the arts better than some of the preview pages)

[rob liefeld]

For the record, Arcade has solicited about 6 comics to date and has printed 4 of them so far. By San Diego we should be up to 5 out of 6 books. Once Bloodsport is completed, we're soley focused on Youngblood Imperial for the remainder of 2004 and possibly early 2005. I'll leave room for a one shot, but otherwise, we're small and staying that way. Not enough time or available talent to do, otherwise.

rob

[TTROY]

hit a nerve with the Victor thing huh...must be something to that since the Hero Allaiance orgin is very close to Supreme issue #1 & 2 but if you are both ripping off superman it is okay right?

and what about the 20 other Maximum/Awesome/Extreme titles that just stopped midway-- or you lost interest on???

Come on Rob you give interview after inter saying Series A will be 4 issues long and it'll be out in a certain ammount of time and 2 years later you shorten the length of the series and say we should be happy....

and announce another series that will run for a certain ammont and so on and so on.....

rinse wash repeat...


i ask WHY SHOULD WE LISTEN TO YOU CRY WOLF NOW?

[BriGuy]

Originally posted by rob liefeld
For the record, Arcade has solicited about 6 comics to date and has printed 4 of them so far. By San Diego we should be up to 5 out of 6 books. Once Bloodsport is completed, we're soley focused on Youngblood Imperial for the remainder of 2004 and possibly early 2005. I'll leave room for a one shot, but otherwise, we're small and staying that way. Not enough time or available talent to do, otherwise.

rob

Smart move there. Don't wanna end up like CrossGen. Seriously, who's the guy with the stars on his shoulder pads? Fighting American?

[Kintoun]

Originally posted by The_Adventurer
Again, I would agree if it was Rob doing the art, the man can't keep a deadline. But he's only doing 16 pages and it looks like he's nearly done with his part as it is.

According to the Robert Kirkman quote, Rob Liefeld is only providing the art for 12 interior pages in Youngblood: Imperial #0 not 16. If the zero issue really does have so few story pages and a $3.99 U.S. cover price, I sadly can't justify buying it. I was planing to collect all the upcoming Arcade comics but this vital bit of information has forced me to change my mind. Now it looks like I'll be avoiding Bloodsport, Genesis, and Imperial.

Even though I consider myself to be a loyal Liefeld fan and I'll definitely be purchasing the new X-Force #1, a comic book with 12 pages of content and ten pages of adds is not worth $3.99 U.S. to me no matter how good it is.

Kintoun

[TTROY]

Funny how in one of those pravious interviews brandon thomas clained that most of the art for the Genesis series was completed.....guess that was a "lie"feld as well

Seriously --if a past his prime comics creator makes a noise on a message board does anyone hear......



or care?

[Kryptokid]

I loved the "Awesome comics" stuff and gave both new Youngblood miniseries a go. Unfortunately however I recently re-read the Awesome stuff (Supreme, Alan Moore's Youngblood, Coven and Kaboom) and just realised how many storylines never got resolved (Awesome Adventures #1 cliffhanger ending....for example).

Being a completist I can't stand it when they don't wrap up loose ends. Unfortunately with the high price and the chance that they won't finish Imperial...I can't give this one a go.

[Janin]

This is hilarious! Liefeld is hyping another Youngblood series without actually finishing his other two! I'll bet we only see one or two issues of this one before it goes right into Liefeld Limbo!

But, don't despair, another incomplete YB series will be on its way!

[TTROY]

Comic Law #434 At no time can Rob Liefeld finish a comic Called Youngblood --he must leave it incomplete and then announce plans for an all new direction or an mini trying to revive the comic that he left hanging.....if he ties up plot lines and story lines from said comic the industry will face disaster...