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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2022 9:06:33 GMT -5
Not a Liefeld fan, but count me among those who appreciate his energy. The launch of Image coincided with my starting to read comics as an adult. I bought, and enjoyed, a lot of the hyped-up books at the time, which I am a bit embarrassed about liking now. I purposely turned a blind eye to the obvious faults - I thought I just needed to acclimate myself to modern comics. So I got some enjoyment from early Youngblood, but it didn't last long. I do like reading people passionate about their comics (especially when I have some familiarity), though, so cool thread Icctrombone. Yabba-dabba-doom!
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,709
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Post by shaxper on Jul 29, 2022 9:44:13 GMT -5
I think the most important thing Image did was test McFarlane's (and, to a lesser extent, Liefeld's) belief that a popular artist didn't need writers, editors, nor managers to sell a book. It's very convenient that Valiant was hitting the stands at almost the exact same time, championing pretty much the opposite belief that a good writer and empowered editor were all you needed to sell a book; the art could come second. Sure enough, Jim Shooter at his micro-managing worst ultimately wiped the floor with Image until Steve Massarsky saw an opportunity to line his own pockets and sent Shooter packing.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 29, 2022 9:48:53 GMT -5
Liefeld was not satisfied with the script and I understand that it has been rescripted by someone else in reprint editions. According to GCD, the Image Firsts reprint of Youngblood #1, which had a cover price of $1.00, was rescripted by Joe Casey and also recoloured. The pages were in a new order, with the two stories merged into one.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 29, 2022 10:02:50 GMT -5
From different sources, I read that Youngblood 1 was in the million range and that Spawn surpassed it with 1.75 million units sold afterwards. Whatever and whereever the copies landed, It's a record. Comichron says Diamond Comic Distributors announced in its February 1992 edition of Diamond Dialogue that Youngblood #1 had an estimated total print run of 305,000 copes, establishing what it said was "an individual sales record for a non-licensed, non-DC/Marvel comic title" offered through Diamond. (Youngblood #1 sold 78,450 copies through rival Capital City Distribution; Diamond's sales would be a bit less than double that.) I was surprised to see Marvel's relaunch of Luke Cage was at #4 in that month's chart, two places above Youngblood. link
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Post by badwolf on Jul 29, 2022 10:13:37 GMT -5
Rob's art reminds me of how some classmates of mine drew in high school. And certainly, if the teacher saw it s/he would say he was really talented and to keep working at it. The thing is, Rob never progressed past that point. It is good for a high schooler, but not good for a professional.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 29, 2022 10:20:46 GMT -5
I agree... I was just starting having a pull list when Image came out, and I loved the idea of being there at the start... I got most of the first issues. I didn't stick with Youngblood past these two though.. it was confusing (Liefeld doesn't even know the names of his characters, they changed Bedrock to Badrock IIRC). The energy is there, sure.. if a non-professional posted something like that here, I could appreciate it and maybe offer feedback. For it to be the launch of a new line and pay real money, no thanks. I stuck with Stormwatch and Brigade until the 'Image for Tomorrow' thing, and ended up getting Shadowhawk in back issues, but none of the other stuff really ever caught my fancy. Rob got a cease and desist from Hanna-Barbera, over Bedrock, as he had promo art with the phrase, "Yabba-Dabba-Doom." So, Bedrock became Badrock. Now, within the comics, Rob had a memory problem of what he drew on the previous page, as costumes would change constantly. Someone in CBG proposed a drinking game, based on one of the Youngblood books, where you took a drink every time a costume or character changed appearance. If memory served you would have been pretty drunk about 6 pages in. I wonder if he was handing off pages for inking and just didn't have them, for reference, when he was working on the next page? I do recall looking at one book (Team Youngblood?) and a segment was supposed to be in WW2, with German soldiers, and they are in brown uniforms, with the red armband and swastika, with silver helmets. No idea if Rob dictated the coloring or if the colorist was solely responsible; but, man, that was some bad history! Even for comics. Maybe they were fighting an SA marching band or something. It kind of reminded me of this....
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 29, 2022 10:53:24 GMT -5
In the Liefeld article, he says the genesis of the series went back to 1985 and he mentions being a fan of X-Men and New Teen Titans and also about the negotiations, then-recently, about doing a Titans book (which was a proto-Team Titans), which fell through. Liefeld said,"Shaft was intended to be Speedy. Vogue was a new Harlequin design, Combat was a Kh'undian warrior circa the Legion of Super-Heroes, ditto for Photon and Die Hard was a S.T.A.R. Labs android. I forgot who Chapel was supposed to be, but I'm sure it would have rocked"
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 29, 2022 11:20:13 GMT -5
Youngblood # 3Writer , ArtistRob LiefeldInker Danny MikiColorBrian Murray Date of release: 10-9-92Synopsis:The book opens up as Prophet is the last man standing against the disciples from the previous issue. It is revealed that Prophet is powered by DOCC ( Direct Orbiting Communications Command). All the others are down and he is Tasked with defeating the robots by himself. The scene switches to the headquarters of Youngblood. First they talk to Strongarm who was recaptured at the end of Issue #1 and is in a holding cell. Shaft holds a press conference and while they are finishing up, there is an alert of the Four breaking Strongarm out. We are shown an interlude that deals with the character called Combat. There are ships from his home planet looking for Fallen Katellans and it is suggested by the Ambassador that Combat, whos real name is KHM’BT, is a traitor to their world. We go back to the jail break where the team is confronted by a woman who is unnamed and a team of Ninjas wearing white. They fight but the Four escape leaving the Villain Called Gage behind . It’s then where we get a double page splash of Diehard telling the team that they are needed in Berlin. Impressions:Prophet is still a mystery. The previous issue never makes clear if he saw battle time but it explains in this issue that he has an enemy called the Disciples and that he has a OMAC type power source. Maybe they plan to clarify in his upcoming series. The woman that frees the five is never given a name and we are left to guess whether she’s just a merc hired to break Strongarm out. The Ambassador who seems to hate Combat isn’t given a name either and she has 7 foot long legs. The scene where Diehard appears is a double paged vertical spread. We didn’t really need that. I never read Liefelds X-force. Does anyone know if this use of page count was often used? Inker Danny Miki is introduced as the new inker and the final results look a lot better than the first 2 issues. Bedrock is written yelling Yabba Dabba Do. It seems that Hanna Barbera had Liefeld change his name to Badrock. Maybe because of stuff like this. This issue is released in October of 1992 , three months after issue 2. Also- Clark kent ?
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
Posts: 3,944
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Post by Crimebuster on Jul 29, 2022 11:37:04 GMT -5
Everyone has 600 teeth!
The first issue came out during my senior year of high school. A group of us, all the comic nerds in the school, went to the shop together and bought it when it came out.
We all thought it was hilariously terrible, to the point where some of them wrote stuff in my yearbook that year about Shaft killing the guy with a pen.
Even the target audience though this was crap.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 29, 2022 11:50:01 GMT -5
Sure enough, Jim Shooter at his micro-managing worst ultimately wiped the floor with Image until Steve Massarsky saw an opportunity to line his own pockets and sent Shooter packing. Do you have any sales figures to support this?
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 29, 2022 12:09:04 GMT -5
Sure enough, Jim Shooter at his micro-managing worst ultimately wiped the floor with Image until Steve Massarsky saw an opportunity to line his own pockets and sent Shooter packing. Do you have any sales figures to support this? Yeah, I’m not sure this is accurate. Image was selling millions a month. You can tell by looking at back issue bins. Last year I bought many Image books from the early years for .25 each.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 29, 2022 12:20:59 GMT -5
What in tarnation happened to this guy's left foot???
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 29, 2022 12:34:01 GMT -5
The true shame is why didn’t the inker fix it?
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Post by majestic on Jul 29, 2022 13:43:04 GMT -5
I have never read this. The early Image stuff I read was the first 7-8 issues of Spawn. Wildcats #1-13 plus the 3 issues of Cyberforce it crossed over with. And Savage Dragon (about 6 issues). The only imprint I ended up following was Wildstorm. I did end up reading later Youngblood relaunches by Alan Moore and Joe Casey which I liked.
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Post by MDG on Jul 29, 2022 13:47:52 GMT -5
The true shame is why didn’t the inker fix it? Because there wasn't an editor to tell him to fix it.
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