Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Youngblood #1 Review - having fun with Rob.

Lets start out with the covers...

The front Cover...


Ah, here we have the classic Leifeld team standing right behind some round thing so I do not have to draw feet group shot. For Rob, this actually isn't too bad of a drawing. The proportions are out of whack sure...but not as much as say 95% of his other work.Muscles are bloated beyond human belief, and Shafts ankles look like they wouldn't support one of his legs, let alone the rest of his body...but not bad for Robbie really.

Then there's the Flip Cover...


Depth perception was never one of Robbies strong suits and this cover showcases that perfectly. Sentinel, front and center, extends back past the two running on the ground. Guy on the left is freakin huge. His arm is bigger than the entire body of the flying guy next to him. And his thigh is about as big as the entirety of Sentinel.

It's hard to tell what everyone's actual "size" is supposed to be here.

Props to Robbie for drawing a few feet on this cover, although seeing them...maybe he should have lade a bigger wound thing for everyione to hide their feet behind.

While the front may not have been too bad (for a Liefeld cover), this one more than makes up for it.

I actually like the front cover (leaving out the whole 'round thing to avoid feet' which we know now is a Liefeld truism). Looking at it I can see (and remember) why Rob gained popularity. The art POPPED and was certainly different.

The second cover is where he gets WAY out of hand and went so far over the top he's in outer space. Looks awful.

Front cover looks like he spent some time on it, second one doesn't.

And YOINKS-- $2.50 in the EARLY 90s?!?!

And here in 2010 some comics are still $2.99.

When Rob switched from X-Force to Image Comics, he knew already he was a superstar and he knew what made him popular: shoulder pads; giant guns; grotesque biceps on men and barbie-to-the-extreme women; "angry eyes". Looking at those above, all of these things are taken to the even more extreme.

Rob's "Brigade" and "Bloodstryke" are the comics that had the most Wolverine and Cable copies, but you can still see similarities here. Chapel is basically a black Cable. There's Domino on the cover. (To be fair, Rob created Cable, Domino and Deadpool and was angry he would never get royalties for them--so he basically copied himself and started over).

The side (A) cover isn't all that bad and like Lash says, shows a somewhat still restrained Rob Liefield that was still trying. Side (B) however, is just over the top and here we see a young Rob realizing: "I have no editor; I have no art director; I'm my own boss! Jillikers!". The dude on the left of the back cover is so grotesquely over sized that I can't decide if I want to laugh or vomit.

On Side (B), take a look at the guy running towards you. Snapshot in your mind that pose. You will see it over and over and over and over again. Rob still uses it to this day, repeatedly. He must have a pic of it on the wall in his studio and just copies it.

Something else else we need to remember is the real criticism of early Image in general was the story. Only Rob had the double-whammy of heavy criticisms on his art. Chapel, within, is a full-on serial killer. I think its implied he's been a rapist at some point. The troll dude typically decapitates people in battle. It was a rough time for comic books. (Let's remember, Shatterstar was already chopping off people's limbs in X-Force via Rob, so Marvel helped kick this off).

Now recall a specific factor: Rob was the best-selling artist of the entire 90's. He made MILLIONS. I'm quite certain, he never has to work again. Incredible.

PS - one thing by Rob that I liked? The Image "i" logo. That was nifty and designed by Rob in a pinch.

I like that first one. The colors were so vibrant. I bought it, hoping that Rob would be hugely successful at Image, and never come back to Marvel, to further sully my beloved New Mutants with his awfulness.

On the other hand, the second cover has Riptide and Psi-Fire, both of whom were more interesting characters than half of the feebs on the first cover. Every now and then, he had a neat idea, like the character of Masada, buried amidst all of the copycats (like that awful Gambit wannabe).