Published Jun 2004 by Arcade Comics
by Robert Kirkman & Marat Mychaels
32pgs, Full color

From critically acclaimed writer Robert Kirkman (Captain America, Invincible, Walking Dead), this is the first issue of a monthly, 12-part maxi-series. This issue, Shaft leads an "all star" team of Youngblood members, safeguarding the globe for American interests. But how long will it be before this Brave New World clashes with their British counterparts, The Crown?

Last week, I wrote about the creative flexibility that is available on an independent comic. The writer doesn’t have to pretend that his book takes place in our world if he doesn’t want to. For Wildcats, that meant that Christos Gage could have an Armageddon and write about the heroes after the end of the world. For Youngblood, that meant that Robert Kirkman could take aspects of the concept to their logical conclusion. The original Youngblood was a government-sponsored super-hero agency. They were involved in putting down threats of both a domestic and an international nature. In the very first issue, the “away team” even took out a Saddam Hussein stand-in. An America that sponsors a super-hero team and uses it as a form of international policy is an America that could easily become expansionistic. And an expansionistic America could just start a modern arms race in which nations race to develop not ships or tanks or guns but costumed heroes. This is the world of Youngblood Imperial. The US of A and China are involved in a rapid race of expansion, gobbling up smaller countries on the American and Asian continents and using super-human agents to do it.

The first scene is of a patient receiving an injection from a doctor. The two of them are in Montreal and they’re discussing what it’s like for them now that Quebec has become part of the US of A. We soon learn that the doctor injected the patient with a serum that will give him superpowers for the next 48 hours. At that point, Youngblood breaks down the wall. The doctor turns on his own Hulk-like powers. In the ensuing fight, they come across a scene of another doctor drawing blood from a superhuman for use in the serum. They stop the first doctor and arrest the rest. Back at the base, Shaft pleads with Graves to allow them to add the superhuman donor they just arrested to the team. Graves turns him down. Die-Hard and Vogue return from an operation in South America. A team of villains returns from another mission. Shaft is surprised but Die-Hard explains that they’re all being controlled by Youngblood’s telepath Psi-Fire. Meanwhile, Graves gives another team their mission. China has been expanding as quickly as the US. Graves wants to avoid direct confrontation, so he sends them on a mission to assassinate the person heading up China’s superhero program. Shaft and his squad respond to a call and get into a fight with the Gamma Grenadiers. A second squad led by Free Agent quickly arrives as back-up. The bad guys are blown up and Free Agent helps Shaft back to his feet. Across the ocean, a team of British agents watches. And that’s the end.

The concept is outstanding. I love the idea of an expansionistic America squaring off against an equally expansionistic China. I like that the United Kingdom, despite being a traditional ally of the US, doesn’t like the rapid expansion anymore than China does. And I love that all of the countries are using super-humans to pursue their aims rather than traditional military forces. It seems completely plausible yet still unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It’s like reading a really good Harry Turtledove alternate history novel, but set in the present day and featuring super-heroes.

Marat Mychaels does a good job with the heroes’ entrance in the final battle scene. Kirkman does a great job of establishing the concept using conversations rather than exposition. The doctor chats about things with his patient like they were sitting in the barbershop; Shaft finds out what his friends have been up to as he welcomes them back to the agency; Graves gives us the rest through a military briefing.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t do quite as good a job with the individual characters. With several dozen characters appearing in the book, there’s no way he could introduce all of them. And he shouldn’t. The scope of this Youngblood is supposed to be overwhelming- Graves mentions to Shaft that they have hundreds on the payroll- and having numerous unnamed characters in the background or even in the foreground of action scenes adds to that feeling.

A half-hour Youngblood animated series was planned for the 1995–96 season on Fox as part of an hour block with a proposed Cyberforce series. The series was being developed by Roustabout Productions, a newly formed animation company. According to Nick Dubois, creative director and co-founder of Roustabout, the series would take a lighthearted approach with tongue-in-cheek humor. A clip was created but the series was never produced. The clip aired in commercials for Youngblood action figures.

A Youngblood video game, an isometric action game similar to Crusader: No Remorse but incorporating RPG elements such as experience points and character stats, was in development by Realtime Associates for the PlayStation and PC in 1997, with GT Interactive as the publisher. It was never released.

In 2009, Reliance Entertainment acquired the feature film rights to the comic book, reportedly for a mid-six figures, with Brett Ratner attached to direct. As of December 2019, no such film has materialized.

Bleeding Cool has been chronicling the exploits of Terrific Production LLC, the new publisher owned by Andrew Rev which recently acquired the rights to Youngblood and several other Rob Liefeld creations, against Liefeld's own wishes. Back in August, Liefeld said of the change:

"So, I currently have questionable access to Youngblood characters, characters I created and shepherded for nearly 3 decades. As a result, I shut down the storyline that would take Youngblood to issue #100 and beyond. A decidedly new approach is necessary, which I believe is paramount in this post-Avengers: Endgame world we find ourselves in. Youngblood will no longer be published by Image Comics or with my involvement at this time, a first in the 27 years since it launched. It's all really weird but I've settled into the realization that this is the way it is going to be. I held it together for 23 years since doing the deal, until now. A film company rang me up last week seeking the rights to Youngblood but it required my involvement and I cannot at this juncture go forward."

And indeed, all Youngblood comics were pulled from ComiXology and Image Comics' website.

Since then, Terrific has been actively recruiting on Twitter, even offering to take young up-and-comers like Ryan Stegman and turn them into stars. Terrific has even made overtures toward Alan Moore, as well as David Lapham, James Tynion IV, and Evan Dorkin, amongst others. Terrific's most recent attempt to recruit creators online targeted Brian Wood for a series of Youngblood prose novels. And this week, the company announced plans to relaunch Youngblood with Youngblood Unchained #1, though no details were shared on the story, release date, or creative team.

But while Terrific may be moving forward with a new Youngblood comic, Liefeld took to Twitter to share details on the film company mentioned in his August statement, revealing that after he told them he couldn't be involved, the studio said they're not interested either.

robliefeld
In regards to Youngblood, back in July an exec from a big movie studio called & asked me what it would take to bring me on board doing a Youngblood movie, they threw a really big number at me, the biggest I’d ever seen. I said I couldn’t be involved with Youngblood any longer 1/2
4:02 PM · Sep 5, 2019

robliefeld
I told them that I no longer had publishing rights and as a result I would no longer involve myself. He was like, well, if you aren’t involved in Youngblood we aren’t interested in pursuing it. I told him I could only invest my time in the creations of mine that I participate in.
4:04 PM · Sep 5, 2019

However, the studio did contact Liefeld again, he said, to see if he'd changed his mind. But Liefeld wouldn't budge.

robliefeld
This studio has recently asked again if I could somehow come on board. I said I could not, my mind won’t be changed. My producer contacts have also said they they would spread the word that I would not be involved. It’s just how it is now that Youngblood publishing rights left me
4:06 PM · Sep 5, 2019

robliefeld
Studios want the involvement of the creator, especially when looking to launch a property. It’s crucial to them.  You can sell rights to Youngblood without informing me to an untested publisher, but you can’t convince a creator’s involvement in any way.  We are in a different age
4:09 PM · Sep 5, 2019

Liefeld also responded to a fan asking if he had any plans to try to get the rights back.

robliefeld
I won’t even investigate it. Sometimes you gotta just leave it behind you.

Tony Karnowski
Replying to robertliefeld
And I guess there's no way of getting them back? Nothing the fans could do to help with that?
4:10 PM · Sep 5, 2019

Onward to the next thing! Liefeld's best days may be yet ahead, if the fantastic Major X was any indication.

As for Terrific Production LLC,  who have recently learned how to thread their tweets (but not how to do it correctly), as far as they're concerned, Liefeld is welcome to join them at any time…

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
REPEATED: THE CREATOR OF YOUNGBLOOD IS IN GOOD STANDING WITH TERRIFIC PRODUCTION. HE IS A GREAT ARTIST. WE WELCOME HIS DECISION TO RETURN WHILE TERRIFIC PRODUCTION, LLC IS PUBLISHING YOUNGBLOOD.
subject to termination at will of this privilege. We wish him the best in LIFE
5:43 PM · Sep 5, 2019

The publisher also expressed interest in following in Marvel's footsteps to partner with a book publisher to make Youngblood and Supreme more popular with children, a move which they ultimately say will make Liefeld more famous.

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
We have Youngblood which competed in 1992-97 head to head against the top Marvel characters. Marvel is partnering with Scholastic and Youngblood +Supreme+ plus hundreds of other IP
#1)
10:36 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
Scholastic is partnering with Disney for school kids. Terrific Production Is seeking a joint-partner. We do not want to later withdraw our IP & compete.
#2
10:48 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
We need the Terrifically Legion to reach out to your contacts and find us the people who can make "younger" versions of our Characters: Youngblood, Supreme for school age readers
3)
10:53 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
At Terrific Production, we move fast and new readers will drive new customers to stores that carry our titles. If are not a threat to any school publisher but an opportunity.
4)
10:59 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
This new business will have its own corporate entity and profit center and Publisher to indicate its significance. Send inquiries and CV's to licensing
5)
11:04 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
IF ARE AN ARTIST OR MANAGER USED TO WORK ON DC'S SCHOOL AGE DC INKS THEN WE HAVE WORK FOR YOU. IF YOU ARE COMPETING FOR SCHOOL AGE MARVEL BOOKS sendto submissions
11:11 AM · Sep 6, 2019

Terrific Prod. "THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN COMICS"
WOULD ROB LIEFELD POSSE AGREE THAT IF SCHOOL KIDS KNOW HIS NAME AT AGE 10 AT A SCHOOL BOOK FAIR THEN TERRIFIC DID MAKE HIM BETTER KNOWN THAN HE IS KNOWN TODAY ? The Truth is Liefeld is a Great Artist and Creator and Terrific Production can hold its own as a Leader to save comics
11:21 AM · Sep 6, 2019

What do you say, posse?

The saga continues…

Rob Liefeld
about 2 years ago
Where is YOUNGBLOOD?

This is the question I get asked repeatedly, at every store signing or comic convention I attend. Inquiries about Youngblood as a film, a comic book, all of it. The truth is they are in the midst of an ugly custody battle and I currently don’t have any interaction with them for the first time in over 22 years.

In 1997, at 29 years of age, I took on an investor named Scott Rosenberg, he of Malibu Comics. I had a previous relation with him but this was different, Jeph Loeb brought him to the table as a potential partner and after a few discussions, the time felt right to make this move. We made a fancy press announcement and we birthed Awesome Comics. It was meant as a temporary adjustment, If I did not find another partner, Scott would foreclose and own everything, I eventually found another partner, a gentleman named John Hyde and he stepped in to finance Awesome Comics until he and Scott had an issue and Awesome went into freefall and I shuttered the label permanently in 2000.

Scott, John and I agreed to a split of my Extreme catalogue in 1999, we each received 8 titles and could exploit them in media. The environment at the time was not kind to comic book material and I wasn’t selling any of my catalogue picks and neither were John and Scott. Through it all, I maintained publishing rights, bringing you the comic adventures of my creations with different and various creatives under my oversight and until now there were no hiccups whatsoever.

Long story short, after failing to come to terms on 2 movie deals in recent years, including a movie deal in 2017 that I was so certain was moving forward, I contacted Hank Kanalz and informed him that he should expect some participation, Scott informed me last summer, during 2018 comic con, that in order to raise capital he had sold or partnered with someone for Youngblood comics and toys. I was stunned but not surprised, these are the most important assets that Scott possesses and he needed to raise funds. The man he partnered with is named Andrew Rev, someone unknown to me and he informed me a number of times over the past year that he could make me a big success in comics, the next Todd McFarlane even, and told me I could audition for producing Youngblood comics. You can imagine how well that went over.

So, I currently have questionable access to Youngblood characters, characters I created and shepherded for nearly 3 decades As a result I shut down the storyline that would take Youngblood to issue #100 and beyond. A decidedly new approach is necessary, which I believe is paramount in this post Avengers:Endgame world we find ourselves in. Youngblood will no longer be published by Image Comics or with my involvement at this time, a first in the 27 years since it launched. It’s all really weird but I’ve settled into the realization that this is the way it is going to be. I held it together for 23 years since doing the deal, until now. A film company rang me up last week seeking the rights to Youngblood but it required my involvement and I cannot at this juncture go forward.

Thankfully, my other partner, John Hyde has chosen to go a different path as he realizes the value that I bring to my creations and we have partnered on his selections with Prophet going forward having just set up the feature film and we are currently pursuing Glory in all media. 2/3 of my catalogue receive my involvement and participation.

I have BLOODSTRIKE, BRIGADE, BERZERKERS, BLOODWULF, Re:GEX, KABOOM, AVENGELYNE, CYBRID and others in my portfolio, completely under my domain. As I informed everyone last year, I walked away from Netflix because I felt it was not the best opportunity at this time in our ever changing world. I’m a finicky cat.

I share this with you now following an unexpected conversation with the Andrew Rev guy about publishing. In short it was very disrespectful and I had to put distance between me, these people and my creations which were now in a foreign domain. I had to convincingly wash my hands of this corner of my imagination. I have a pretty fertile mind and many new projects yet to advance, many making the media rounds that will be known soon enough. This was a much needed update and hopefully explains the current situation.

Youngblood represented some of my finest work, I’m proud of all the work that was produced. Sadly, film companies will be reluctant to invest the time and money in a venture without the support and blessing of its creator.

Upwards, onwards! To the Extreme!