Back in November of 2025 I reviewed Youngblood #1, the latest attempt by Rob Liefeld to kickstart his 90’s team for a new generation. It was…..not good. But when the opportunity arose to review Youngblood #5, I opted to check it out, if only for the morbid curiosity over whether the story has improved from that first issue. Now, I want to mention that I haven’t read a single issue between the first one and this one. After all, “every issue is someone’s first comic”, right?
Well, I can confidently say that not much has changed since November.
Youngblood #5 is mainly an extraction story, as Task and Vogue attempt to rescue Die-Hard. The cybernetic member of the team, he’s been kidnapped by The Keep and used as a router for their drones to attack the world (Rob’s description, not mine). They’re successful, and the three members make their way out of the Keep’s stronghold, only to be seemingly ambushed by some unseen forces right before we get an awkward smash cut to a wholly different location in Arcadia. Specifically the jungles of Arcadia, where Shaft and Badrock are on the hunt for a Tasmanian Rhino that I guess has some special abilities cause it looks pink and has big glowing red eyes. They take down the rhino and Die-Hard arrives with two new allies, Scarab and Genie, who were presumably the people that ambushed Die-Hard and the other two Youngblooders. Then there’s a page where all of the assembled Youngblood members announce to Shaft that they’re ready for battle.
“What battle”, you ask? Dunno, cause that’s never really explained and I don’t remember a big world threat being teased in the first issue! While yes, I’m coming into this story at the fifth issue after completely forgetting about the book’s existence, there’s not a lot of a catch up in here for anyone looking for it. With the exception of some admittedly strong fill in information on Die-Hard and why he’s being used by the Keep, Youngblood #5 keeps the awkward dialogue and scene transitions that made the first issue confusing, but now with an increase in the team roster to add to that confusion. Liefeld’s not interested in hand holding, and I suppose he shouldn’t be at this point, but even a simple recap at the beginning to explain why The Keep’s forces are attacking not-Namor, or what the Youngblood’s mission is, or why there’s a rhino with red eyes, would have been appreciated.
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At least the art is improved in this issue. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some truly weird and baffling artistic decisions, and the costumes for a lot of the members are still just single color body suits with miscellaneous pouches, but there are a few genuinely striking and interesting images peppered throughout for Die-Hard. But it almost feels like Liefeld is playing favorites with his own creations, as Die-Hard will get a really neat and interesting mini splash page, or Badrock and Shaft have some fun safari looks, but then you see other Youngblood members and they look like they went hog wild on a clearance sale at Under Armor and called it a day. Maybe some stronger coloring than what Juan Manuel Rodriguez can offer would have made the difference, or some stronger inking, but there’s three people on inks alone in this book, one of them including Liefeld! The visual language of Youngblood #5 is all over the place, and that, coupled with the strange transitions to other scenes at the turn of a page, makes for a very jarring reading experience.
Even with this being my second strike out for Youngblood, there’s clearly a market for this kind of insane action comic book, not unlike how Michael Bay continues to draw a crowd at the movies. The next issue touts that it will be Youngblood #100, a feat that truly is something when you consider how long ago Youngblood began, but I guess with the delays it would be at that number at this point. And Liefeld’s still trying some new things, like the A.C.R.O.BATS backup story that, while incomprehensible, is him trying to do something more all ages (I think). But that back up takes up a lot of narrative real estate that could have been used to make a stronger single issue for the main story. It feels like Liefeld got bored halfway through the story like a kid getting bored with his legos halfway through construction.
While he’s still not my cup of tea when it comes to comics, I still weirdly have respect for Rob Liefeld. He’s survived in the industry for decades and continued to put out work that’s entirely his own when his contemporaries have either gone fully corporate or semi-retired. There’s something to be said about continuing to carve out your own little niche in the comics industry. I just wish the end result made more sense.
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