- I polished off the first graphic novel collection of "Afterlife With Archie", this past week, and I was VERY impressed by the melding of serious Horror storytelling, and imagery, to that familiar and cozy setting of Riverdale with Archie Andrews and friends. Not only do I really wish to continue on with this series, but I ALSO want to start exploring more of the recent general "Archie" comics. Hey, it can't always be about men-and-women-in-tights!
- This week's "Flash"... WOW! I can only hope the end episode tease will lead into next week's episode. And it was a LOT of fun to see a "Firestorm" character feature in the episode's content, along with a "Captain Atom" alumni!
- Upon viewing the blog's main dashboard page, I am not only proud to say that I am just a FEW WEEKS away from "issue" 100 of the blog, I've also FINALLY surpassed 5,000 blog views! I cannot thank you readers enough for making this passion project feel like it's truly enjoyed. In the next week or so, I should come up with plans of how the 100th blog post celebration will occur, but I have a feeling that instead of just having ONE blog reader reap the rewards for the celebration, I may go so far as to create THREE prize packages for three people that wish to throw their names into the "Contest of Champions" I will develop for entry 100. So stay tuned to this blog for further details.
On February 1st of 1992, I imagine I was probably not even entertaining the thought of an impending Valentine's Day. (Or maybe I was... I mean, I WAS still in Grade School by that point, when Valentine's Day celebrations was a mandatory class participation kind of thing. It wasn't until Junior High that I started learning how cruel that holiday could occasionally be!) And I'm fairly certain, by this point, the music phenomenon of the 90's, Grunge, was starting to show its unwashed head in the popular culture with the explosion of Nirvana. BUT there was another revolution taking place under a partial banner of the Malibu Comics company. It was, on simple glimpse, a side-branding, maybe akin to Vertigo Comics for DC. But it was the start of a brand new company, built upon a "brave rebellion" of artists that longed for "creative freedom" and "artist rights", and laid the foundation for what would be commonly known as Image Comics. (I use all quotation marks, because the REAL way to read that statement would probably be more along the lines of a company "built upon the money-grubbers of artists that longed for not being told what to do by editors, and MAYBE artists rights, as long as they can snag it for themselves.") And the opening salvo for the company was a project originally teased as a side title for "Teen Titans", and later "X-Force", then upon that rejection, taken over to Malibu under a suspicious X-Title heading. Then the artist company split from Marvel, and Rob Liefeld "gifted the masses" with "Youngblood #1" on the very date I quoted.
- The Home team's story opens up with Shaft (NOT-Hawkeye or Speedy) taking his girlfriend out to a mall, and foils a purse snatching... then an assassination attempt. (Against who is STILL a mystery.) He does so by throwing a pen at LETHAL TRAJECTORY at the assassin, making Shaft also NOT-Bullseye. Reporters go nuts. Cut to NOT-Ben Grimm/The Thing member, Badrock, as he eats lunch his Mom made for him. Because the gimmick about Badrock is he's a TEENAGER! WHOH! AWESOME! Cut to Die Hard, NOT-Captain America with Vision, who awakens from some kind of cryo-chamber. Cut to Chapel, our token cynical womanizing African-American member of the team, as he ends another "date" to answer the call for team action. Cut to NOT-Black Widow, Vogue... who must love Prince because she LOVES Purple, leaping on roofs to make the group meeting. Cut to Photon, NOT-Human Torch by way of Alf, manning the emergency console of Youngblood HQ to detail a prison break by the Four. (I won't even describe the Four, because they only appear TWICE in an initial series run of SIX issues, and even those appearances probably don't number 10 total pages.) Youngblood arrives on the scene, Die Hard a generic strong guy, and freeze-frame end on a Youngblood group action shot, with Shaft aiming his bow... that has NO STRING... Chapel flying in on an Anime-esque motor cycle with guns in both his hands, Die Hard just flying in, and Badrock just running around like a dope. That's it, we don't even get to see the main fight between the Four and Youngblood!
- What's our Away team up to? Well, according to the news networks, they're in Iraq for a military action against a character that may as WELL have been called Saddam Hussein, BECAUSE THAT'S WHO HE REALLY IS! Flying out of the helicopters with tons of "red shirt" soldiers, we have Sentinel, who is NOT-Iron Man, Cougar, who is NOT-Wolverine, Riptide, who is NOT Storm with Anime blue hair, Brahma, who is NOT-generic musclehead with a neck as big as his head, Combat, who is NOT a Klingon, and Psi-Fire, who is NOT a psychotic Charles Xavier. We then proceed to witness the Youngblood Away team wiping the floor with "Kussein's" grunt soldiers, until "Hassan Kussein" disables some of the Youngblood members with giant robots with neural disrupters. Cougar and Combat are apparently WAY far away from the disrupters, because they are still fighting the giant robots. (They also share the stupidiest "tough guy" cliché dialogue this side of 90's "Direct-To-Video" Action movie releases.) Psi-Fire... He doesn't jibe with mental attacks, because he's a LIVING mental attack, and he proves that by disabling the giant robot soldiers, and ending the battle by blowing up "Kussein's" head with a psy-attack. The press relates this finale as "Kussein" committing suicide upon the defeat of his forces in Iraq.
- Our Youngblood Away story opens with a group called the Berzerkers battling against the robotic Disciple hordes of Darkseid... er, I mean Darkthornn. The only member of the Berzerkers worth mentioning is Kirby, who is BASICALLY Jack Kirby, only Liefeld-ized. (Namely that he has the weird body proportions, and carries a lot of pouches and guns to look "KEWL" with!) Cut to Germany, where the Away team are looking into John Prophet, better known by his self-titled comic name of Prophet. Before the character concept became a REALLY unique trippy Sci-Fi series, John Prophet began his life as a Bible-passage quoting NOT-Captain America with swords. And to showcase how "different" Image Comics were from their former Marvel home... when Prophet is awoken from his cryo-sleep, he immediately begins a hero-VS-hero fight against Youngblood, until a group of Disciples show up to break up the party, and remind our heroes who they should be fighting AGAINST!
- The previewed character for this issue is Jim Valentino's "Shadowhawk". I often think out of all the Image Comics founding fathers, Jim Valentino is the one that falls below the recognition radar the MOST. In a way, he's almost the REAL founder of the current Image Comics, because outside of "Shadowhawk", with his Shadowline imprint, he began publishing comics that were of a more genuine "creator centered" spirit. One day I should REALLY take a look at Shadowhawk more in detail! But the gist of this preview involves the character, who started off as a NOT-subtle Batman riff with some Bane spinal trauma fixations, brutalizing a group of street thugs. Not especially special, but it did herald the arrival of a new Image character!
- John Prophet brawls with the Disciples, as he keeps talking to SOME kind of omniscient computer, while members of Youngblood and the Berzerkers are reenacting the Drowning Pool song, "Bodies on the Floor", with standard Liefeld agony faces and bloody mouths. Cut to Shaft and Badrock chatting with a PR guy about hairstyles and action figures. This is done while off to an interrogation of Strongarm, a member of the Four. Cut to outer space, where members of the alien races that Combat and Photon belong to exchange REAL pointless veiled threats against Earth. (You won't be seeing developments from them, again, until about 1997 or 1998, so don't get TOO excited.) Cut to the EXCITEMENT... of a press conference helmed by Shaft. Said press conference DOES feature a Clark Kent cameo, if that counts for anything. But also aforementioned press conference is interrupted by the news of ANOTHER jailbreak involving the Four, instigated by a mysterious woman in purple and green armor, with a V-Shaped mask-visor. Want to know who she is? SORRY! You don't get a name! Shaft, Chapel, and Badrock show up for the fight, because the mystery lady brings ninjas to help her out in the fight. Ninjas... who in the case of a jailbreak... wear BRIGHT-WHITE costumes. Maybe to showcase all of the blood spatters that show up when the Youngblood team basically massacre them? (And Badrock utters his supposed "catchphrase", "Yabba-Dabba-DOOM!" More like "Yabba-Dabba-DEUCE!".) The escape only snags Strongarm, because the NOT-Gizmo member of the Four is obviously SHOT IN THE HEAD by Chapel... but he still lives to utter threats to the team, until Die Hard shows up at the jail to notify the Home team about the events in Germany with the Away team.
- Our character preview features a Liefeld creation in Supreme. Even under the latter WONDERFUL series run by Alan Moore, Supreme still could not shake the image of being a PALE Not-Superman with an "attitude". The hilarious thing about Supreme's first comic's "appearance" is he does NOTHING in his story, aside from flying to Earth from the depths of outer space. Rather, this story is a showcase for the team Supreme would be temporarily hitched to for his initial first few series issues, the IMMINENTLY forgettable Heavy Mettle. (Just... don't waste your time looking up these losers.)
Our story begins in 1988, where we apparently are dealing with "Kussein's" incursion into Kuwait, and the insertion of a Youngblood team to combat that incursion. The team members for this mission include Chapel, Die Hard, Riptide... and a character you will hear a LOT more about, tomorrow, Battlestone. Y'see, before his semi-living corpse past was revealed in the "Blood Brothers" saga I've talked about in a previous blog entry, he was just the super-strong leader of the rogue hero team known as Brigade. Again, more on that, TOMORROW! Brawls ensue against the Iraqi forces, and a team of U.S. Army "tunnel rats" investigate a bunker, of which is booby trapped and explodes. A solider wants to try a rescue attempt for his fallen comrades, Battlestone disagrees, they argue, and Battlestone settles the argument... by punching the soldier so hard he clean snaps his NECK. Die Hard is NOT a fan of such disciplinary actions, and cue the in-team fighting! Chapel... of ALL people... breaks up the fight. (Maybe because it's cutting in on his time to mack with the Iraqi ladies...) Battlestone is transported back to the U.S. to undergo a military trial. Instead of, y'know, undergoing an actual PUNISHMENT for killing a fellow officer in the field of battle, the government just tells Battlestone if he "disappears", they'll forget the whole thing ever happened. Ah... Sense of responsibility... But that's BORING, says Mister Liefeld! So we end the issue with Shaft being introduced as team leader to the Youngblood Home program, with such highlights as Badrock reading an issue of "Wizard Magazine", and Combat greeting Shaft with a salutary, "Ugh!", and our meeting a character named Link... who we won't see in ANY comic until about 1997, so enjoy his two pages of existence until he shows up again in about 6 years!
The thing that REALLY derails the zero issue of "Youngblood" is that this story is told via a MAJORITY of double-page spreads. Seriously, I think there may only be about 3 pages of single page layouts. The rest... no matter how much they DIDN'T need the "widescreen" approach... of the issue details double-page spreads. So while we got somewhat of a complete story, along with a bit of Brigade background, the overall brevity of the issue serves to further muddy up the already muddled waters of the Youngblood pool. But will a change of paper stock, along with coloring techniques, save the day with the August 15th release of...
- The Home team is on the MOVE in their Quinjet! (All copyrights reserved for Tony Stark and the Avengers.) They've an emergency to respond to in Germany that involves the Away team, along with the unknown factors of Prophet and the Berzerkers. No way to find out until Die Hard and Badrock leap into the fray. (And Badrock... That "Yabba-Dabba-Doom" catchphrase is NEVER going to catch on, so please refrain from forcing the issue.) Badrock and Die Hard brawl with some Disciples, meet with Prophet, are caught up to speed about the whole killer robot thing, then they all team up for another extended brawl. (Die Hard ALSO showcases his SUPA-DUPA energy shield that he's NEVER USED before in the comic, but maybe is of ceremonial significance when dealing with homicidal machines.) Chapel and Shaft show up after the battle concludes, and they have a group meeting to update themselves on the situation. Then Vogue strikes a pose... actually, she shows up with a BADLY beat-up Sentinel. (Y'know, in the last issue, Sentinel was only just unconscious on the ground with a bloody mouth, but in this current issue, he apparently lost an eye?) Badrock and Die Hard investigate a NOT-"Boom Tube", and run into Darkthornn, who punches Die Hard so violently, he sprays blood from his FULLY COVERED BY A MASK MOUTH! The team watches with baited breath as Darkthornn emerges from the dimensional gate with a possessed Badrock in tow!
- Dale Keown would end up being another Image Comics recruit, after a VERY successful run with Peter David on Marvel's "Incredible Hulk". So, what did he want to bring to the Image table? How about the HIGHLY muddled, and not very interesting story, of an alien living weapon that seeks release from his wicked war-mongering masters on Earth, where he forms a bond with a little boy after a subway mugging attempt? If that's your bag, then you will LOVE the adventures of the coming title "Pitt"! But don't expect to be seeing too much of "Pitt"; if people thought Rob Liefeld was rather infamous for his comic book delivery delays, they had not seen NOTHING until Dale Keown decided to become his own boss! I think it's one of the VERY few "ongoing" Image Comics titles that has not even reached double-digits to this very day!
No comments:
Post a Comment