The original run of Image Comics and their creators deserve a lot of credit for the current state of the comics industry. Taking their individual talents and moving from the “Big Two” of Marvel and DC was a bold choice to make in 1992, especially when you consider the amount of money Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, and especially Rob Liefeld had been making at the time. However, after that big initial splash, the only launch titles that are still going are McFarlane’s Spawn and Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon. Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S. is merged with DC, and Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood has relaunched to varying degrees of success every few years or so, almost like comics’ version of Pennywise. Well, the time has come once again for Youngblood to return, and this time the big marketing push is the return of Rob Liefeld both writing and drawing the series in a debut issue that feels like it’s 1992 again, for good and bad.
The Youngblood team drops in on the action quickly, attempting to prevent a global catastrophe started by Xerxes, a mysterious armor-clad enemy who is looking to attempt a mission with global consequences. Since he’s already laid waste to other government interference, it falls on the classic Youngblood roster to save the day. Chapel, Die-Hard, Badrock, Shaft, and Vogue descend on Xerxes’ yacht base and start to lay waste to his forces, cutting a brutal path on their way to stop his plan before it goes any further. But as the arrows and lasers fly, the team gets overpowered, until Supreme arrives to help turn the tide of the fight.
Alright, so let’s get to the good of this issue: it’s quick! Youngblood #1 doesn’t waste any time with set up or backstory. Instead, Rob Liefeld drops us right into the action and gives us pieces of the mission and backstory as Youngblood destroy and fight everything in their path. This is a comic that is essentially one 32 page fight scene that ramps up and up as the battle goes on, and if that’s something you want out of your comics, then you are in for a great time. However, if you want things like say, interpersonal team dynamics, any type of characterization, or explained villain motivations, you will probably want something a little more involved than what Youngblood #1 is offering you.
This is a comic that is wanting to get to the cool stuff faster than actually explaining the cool stuff, so when a random character literally drops into the fight and starts speaking in riddles, you just have to go with it. Youngblood‘s script is also so serious that it ends up being a self-parody, but then you remember it is supposed to serious, which makes how simply insane it is even funnier. Who are these side characters that keep popping up? I don’t know! The book doesn’t want to slow down to tell us, so you end up just surrendering to it and going along for the ride, leaving you with more questions than you had when you started it.
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Liefeld is more (in)famous for his art than his writing, and the art in Youngblood is pretty much what you’d expect from the artist. While he’s never been my cup of tea, there are moments here that are pretty cool to look at, even though he begins to lose steam as the issue progresses. The long running “where are the feet?” joke that the internet has made famous can’t be used here at all, at least. If anything, Liefeld shows a true command over his art with Youngblood, and he’s totally fine with resting on the style that made him famous. Could there stand to be more details in the faces and less grimacing? Yes! Should some of these characters still look like the Marvel ripoffs they were in 1992? Probably not! But this is a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” book from Liefeld, and if he’s not interested in changing up his style, he’s at least giving his fans what they want.
Youngblood #1 is an interesting comic as it feels like a relic from a bygone time, but also is trying to be modern and failing pretty spectacularly at it. The fact that you could just pick up this comic and read it is a great! Unfortunately, I’m not sure there’s a lot in the issue itself to inspire non-Liefeld devotees to pick up the next issue. But like Michael Bay and explosions, there’s really only one Rob Liefeld, and love him or hate him, no one else can really do what he does. It’s inexplicable, but he is one of the biggest names in comics, and has legions of fans who love what he does. It would just be nice for one of his recent books to not try to make it 1992 again and truly try something different.
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