Youngblood Volume 1

I remember in the early 90's when Image Comics was the "IT" thing. Forget Marvel and DC. It was all about Image and the legendary artists they had on their roaster. My taste always leaned towards Jim Lee (obviously), Marc Silvestri, J. Scott Campbell, Michael Turner, Brett Booth, Art Thibert, Whilce Portacio, Tony Daniels, Ian Churchill, and others. For some reason, I always tend to skip Rob Liefeld even though his covers blew me away and caught my attention. Everything he drew just popped. From the super hero outfits, to the poses, and the colors of the covers, but it was just never enough to actually make me buy the book.Here we are 20 plus years later and I am finally getting around to purchasing my first Youngblood comic book. I love trade paperbacks (everything should be trade paperbacks) and so thankful this was released so I can have all the issues of the original mini series in one place instead of individual issues. I can start the entire story arc from the very beginning since the originals are no longer in print. I am slowly reading from issue one and onward so I cannot say much about the plot except it involves a villain trying to take over planet earth (no surprise) and a team of young covert operatives that work for the government called Youngblood. I do have to say there are way too many characters just from reading the first 2 issues that my head is spinning trying to figure out who is who and what their names are. Some of the superhero names are silly, but that's comic books for you.The artwork here has been completely re-mastered meaning the color has been updated to reflect what's en vogue at the moment. If it was kept in its original color from 1992, it would seriously appear and read "DATED" and scream 1990's. I am glad this release included an update on the color scheme and additionally the story/language has been tweaked as well. I cannot compare it to the original in terms of identifying if there were substantial changes since I never read the original.The book is a solid hardcover with high gloss, fancy paper where one can truly feel the great quality of this particular print. Unfortunately, even after this purchase, I am still not a die-hard fan of Rob. With that being said, there is no doubt that he is a truly talented individual whom has a passion for comics, art, and creating solid visuals that are quite pleasing to the eyes. When someone has talent and ambition, there is no denying that. The results are in the final product. I truly feel his love for comics come through in every single page. It is pure dedication. Many comic book collectors have said this before about his problem or struggle with drawing human anatomy and yes, that is true. He does get a bit sloppy or lazy when it comes to the hands and feet and certain poses that just don't seem right. However, underneath these 100 plus pages is a person born to create, draw, and share his artistic vision with the world. I am truly happy with this purchase and recommend any comic book fan to pick this up and wallow in the awe of Rob's immaculate conception.Note: The book says it collects the entire mini series from issue 1 to 5, but it is just 1 to 4 unless I am missing something. Also, please enjoy the photos I uploaded.

great version of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood series. the only reason i did not give it 5 stars is the cover shown is not the actual cover of the HC book. i was greatly disappointed that Youngblood's first issue cover was not used.

This is for everyone.I mean this because I already own Youngblood first print comics from the 90s. I wanted to own a paperback in a format where I can pick the book, read it all over again at hand. This works beautiful as the print has been remastered, high quality paper and even more dialogue.If you are not familiar with Rob Liefeld, GET THIS. He is one of the best comic book creators ever. You will love the character design and as much as people criticized his work, his drawing is great.

Youngblood, the comic that launched Image Comics in 1993 sold more than a million copies and kicked off a revolution in comics that finally broke the DC-Marvel duopoly.It was also... not very good.The first issue was overcrowded attempting to introduce a dozen or more characters in the Youngblood Home and Away teams. Then it went to introduce other characters like Prophet or the Bezerkers without ever stopping to introduce the supposed stars of the book. But it was colorful and energetic and had its moments.So in 2008 writer Joe Casey and original creator Rob Liefeld revisited the series. They edited it, moved pages around, rewrote dialogue and added new art and the result is... much better.It's not the Watchmen, it's still Youngblood, the characters and art are the same, but it shows what could have been had Liefeld collaborated with a writer and editor when it initially came out.Call me an unrepentant 90s fan boy if you will, but I kind of liked it. It's a shame this is not more available, either in print or digitally, but it seem that rights issues (Liefeld apparently lost the rights to the group in the 90s) may keep it unavailable for the future. Ah well.