Youngblood #1 - Atop the Fourth Wall

[@matthancox7608]

Thanks to this show I understood the joke about how Domino “sounded like a character made by someone who can’t draw feet” in Deadpool 2. So thanks, Lewiskara!

[@hiruyabebaw807]

Lol

[@shadowspider9]

This is way old but I just realized. Vouge is a Russian gymnast and master martial arts who defected from Russia and joined the American government due to the KGB. In over words: Hello not Black Widow.

[@huh98]

I feel bad saying this because he was super nice to me when I met him but he's not very creative. All his characters he created for Image were ripoffs of other people's characters and stories.

[@zacharypreval3186]

Facts!

[@Archon3960]

Well, she finally got the movie she should've had years ago! x/

[@brandongreen4439]

I haveto give credit where credit's due...I DO like the BASIC CONCEPT of Badrock: A large, muscular and somewhat comical momma's boy that fights crime and always eats his greens. If this were more of a parody comic, I'd like that more, but as it stands and as what I see of Badrock later, any hopes are dashed of a good exploration of this concept.

[@DoctorSkepticus]

Plus the character concept was stolen from Bill Willingham's _Monolith_ of his _Elementals_ series (which ran 3 volumes of wildly popularity for Comico before the eventual owner of Comico took the rights and after destroying Comico went into hiding.).

[@littleloud8283]

Brandon Green You should read Paul Chadwick's 'Concrete'. It's the concept of Badrock done a million times better, with a guy learning to adjust after being transferred into a massive rocky body by aliens. It's really intelligent, emotional and has gorgeous artwork. It's a perfect antithesis to all those other dark 'gritty' superhero comics.

[@rorylumley4727]

I also like the idea of diehard a cyborg who see himself as expendable but still tries his best to help people. A book focousing focousing on badrock and die hard with their different ideas and experiences and both teaching each other.

[@leephillips4402]

Yeah he should have just turned it into a parody comic like he did with new mutants, still not sure if that was intentional but the point still stands

[@autobotstarscream765]

@@littleloud8283 Sounds cool, is it anything like the story of The Thing? :1

[@bowenorcutt78]

You know, it's only since I started watching atop the fourth wall that I've come to appreciate just how on the nose Bill Waterson was when he'd parody superhero comics in Calvin and Hobbes. There's an entire Sunday strip that could've been ripped straight out of an issue of Youngblood, though I think my favorite example would be this exchange between hobbes and calvin: "Is Amazon Gal's power the ability to squeeze that figure into that suit?" "Nah, they all can do that." That one went COMPLETELY over my head as a kid.

[@Dreigonix]

“I could *FEEL* my spine shatter. It *HURT.* A *LOT.”*

[@furioussherman7265]

I remember that. Like everything else from Calvin and Hobbes, it's just as great now as it was then.

[@ramirezthesilvite]

One of my favorite exclamations from Linkara ever was thanks to this video. "By Die Hard's crotch!"

[@RavenStarver]

Shaft is searching the body, using RPG video game logic.

[@jeremyneill227]

Honestly the concept of a government superteam is interesting and makes a kind of sense in a world with supervillains, but why is it half of them only have the superpower "owns a big gun?" You'd think this government superteam wouldn't be 90% non powered people.

[@rorylumley4727]

Jeremy Neill its werid the away team has the oppisite with only sential being the only non powered one two technically because combat is an alien.

[@starwarsnerd100]

I know you're talking about Youngblood, but this works so well as a dig against the Suicide Squad movie.

[@bdpickett]

Even to this Day, the Wiki for Image Comics has ZERO data on Youngblood's history.

[@Aqua-Marine-UK_1991]

+Kevyn The DevylMan really? wow

[@jakebryant3445]

Tisk tisk such laziness

[@CapricornMediaProducts]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youngblood_(comics)

[@bdpickett]

+Pablo D. Martinez Still no actual history or backstory of the characters, just the publication history.

[@CapricornMediaProducts]

+Kevyn The DevylMan Then add the info on it and shut up about it. In other words, do the research yourself.

[@darkmanstudios3828]

In the 1st episode of Malcolm in the Middle, when Malcolm finds Youngblood #1, he says, "No I don't want to read it, I want to wreck it".

[@wdcain1]

This comic and the Dark Age of Comics in general really comes off as fascinating if you read Alan Moore's _Youngblood: Judgement Day_ where it revealed that this world was originally a much better place but a villain came into possession of a reality altering object and twisted the planet into the dark super-hero dystopia shown here. Great comic, A+ stuff.

[@komickid833]

wdcain1 thank you now I can get into Youngblood

[@Dreigonix]

So... if I am getting this correct, Alan Moore wrote what is basically a Youngblood fanfic that provides an origin for why everything sucks so much in Youngblood, and it’s actually GOOD. I need to see this.

[@DankeDummkopf]

The idea of having two stories in the same comic would work well for showing the same story but from the perspective of other characters. Like a war story that shows what happened from both sides of the battlefield or a mystery story where one side shows the detective work while the other shows what happened or what the culprit is up to.

[@nobody4248]

The second exist, they are not called detective stories as those are about the whodunit, while a story like this ask the question of "who wins?"

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

I don't think the split book idea is inherently stupid. In the hands of a better writer, it could've been a fun way of parallel storytelling.

[@vollsticks]

The lettering is the best thing about this comic. The lettering is pretty damn good.

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

4:58 - "I've read somewhere that every line you draw on a character's face increases their age by one year. In that case, Shaft is approximately 90 million years old."

[@SpeedyEric1]

The coloring of the titled team looks like it was originally done by a 5-year-old with a coloring book. Diehard is no Vision of The Avengers. Deadlock's mask, minus the ponytail, looks almost like that of Wolverines; which makes this ANOTHER one of Rob Liefeld's Wolverine knockoffs. From what I've read in the past, Shaft's bow doesn't have a bowstring, but some sort of electro magnet. Um, that's still bullcrap for not drawing a simple line to make a bowstring. Green Arrow and Hawkeye have hi-tech arrows, but they still use bows with bowstrings. Hassan Kussein = Subtle and original. Go to Hell, Liefeld. Sentinel looks less like Iron Man and more like Colossus, Psi-Fire looks like Spider-Man without his mask, and Riptide looks like Ice from DC. THE NEXT GENERATION OF RIPOFFS!

[@carnut015]

Ah, the classics. How they never cease to entertain us.....

[@MrEmpoleon2010]

20:33 “Chapel gives people AIDS!” I’m surprised that line flew over people’s heads (including mine) for a decade, given what happens in #10

[@maddog.monkey]

A small boy,, so young, so innocent,, no spaceships, no entities, just riffing and references

[@genesismultiverse4896]

My god that is how people who love comics had to survive in the 90s god i never knew it was these hard and terrible

[@donatelloi6710]

You know this old when this doesn’t have the phelous continuity joke

[@adambesley4455]

I'm so used to the "Die Hard .... with a vengeance" joke I forgot about the "Die Hard-on" line and burst out laughing. Yes it may be a little immature of me but it's funny.

[@alichino3263]

The funny thing about this is that nowadays Image is nothing like this anymore. They have a lot of great books by talented creators and according to some comic fans routinely publish more interesting and creative stories compared to Marvel and DC.

[@ripleyjlawman.3162]

Alichino He did briefly touch upon this.

[@TheOnlyTherazan]

The Youngblood had weirded me out FOREVER!! I was the comic book kid at my elementary/middle schools, but I had NO context on them. It felt especially strange since 1) they're a whole TEAM, and 2) I had the issues of the Spider-Man/Badrock teamup where JJJ is an absolute fan of them (in hindsight, I think we can guess who wrote this issue... 😏) So when I heard Shaft was supposed to be Roy Harper, things FINALLY made sense! After TWO DECADES, it finally makes sense!!

[@PedroBenolielBonito]

WHOA! I've been watching more recent episodes and HOLY YOUNG-SOUNDING VOICE, BATMAN!

[@TheLowBrassDude]

After watching the Youngblood 10 review I'm actually kind of shocked by how "restrained" Rob's balloon man artwork is here. Of course that's like saying a Mallet is just a restrained Sledgehammer.

[@io6741]

5:27 Press F to loot

[@starwarsnerd100]

2:17 Washington DC dosn't have skyscrapers, because of regulations about buildings being higher than the monuments.

[@Revenge-fm9tt]

That bugged me too! I thought "maybe it's Arlington and the caption's just simplifying" except a different scene was labeled as Arlington!

[@jaylittle6465]

Your review was really helpful. The founders of image were a big part of my upbringing, so the standards I apply when looking at this comic are a little different. You used logic to really take a look at what Liefeld was up to and that opened my eyes a fair amount. I always just sort of excused his comics for being the way they were because of the conventions that were being followed at the time and the amount of excitement they gave my young brain. The fact that you and a ton of others are willing to look at those conventions with a critical eye helps me to apply higher standards to my own creations, because I know that there are intelligent people like yourself who read comics and demand higher standards. Thank you.

[@danebarrett237]

Comics should be fun. A Was it fun when you originally read it? If yes... B Can you read it now and give yourself up to the joys of having fun? If no... C You're thinking about it too much. I love bad b&w sf movies, shitty Italian Hercules movies, and old comics. I give myself up to the fun. Not at all sorry.

[@Grace-ir8er]

"I can't see you anymore!" "Why?" "Because I have NO EYES."

[@kimifw58]

"Hey, Youngblood! Doesn't it feel like our time is running out? I'm gonna change you like a remix, and I'll raise you like a phoenix."

[@jakebryant3445]

XD

[@Dreigonix]

Ths cmc scks!

[@travismalarkey3668]

Brahman is actually the name of a certain type of cow. So yeah, I’d say that blondie is a cow.

[@MrDman21]

There's only one Shaft, and it sure as hell ain't this ginger guy 😂

[@krankarvolund7771]

"Image Comics put the emphasis on the artwork more than on the writing" Why is the artwork so ugly then? XD

[@Luka1180]

I miss the black hole crotch joke that Lewis had made in the original written review.

[@Tareltonlives]

"Good use of his area!"-MST3k, Zombie Nightmare

[@autobotstarscream765]

18:20 To be fair, Brahma is likely named after the Brahma Bull, so that may have been the very joke that they were going for.

[@Salixa456]

What does they have against drawing eyes? And proper anatomy?

[@Ghostwalker2061]

Rob Liefeld once admitted that he had not taken any proper anatomy class, nor a proper drawing class that had him draw an actual human model while in art school. However, he did stated that he once used his He-Man figures as references to help him draw his comics. Which explains why the eyes look squinty, the heads are so tiny, placed on bodies who are so muscular they could barely move. Find any picture of a He-Man action figure from the 80s and you'll see where he gets his inspration from.

[@jeniferjoseph9200]

Ghostwalker2061 Yeah, that does explain a lot. Still, at least He-Man was NICE.

[@Ghostwalker2061]

Jenifer Joseph Yes, on a figure, a small one inch figure, it's understandable why the eyes are small. But what we like about the He-Man figures, doesn't look great in actual comics or other visual media. I mean, even in He-Man's cartoon, we could at least see the eyes. And they had expressions beyond constipated angry.

[@victorjimenez7738]

Ghostwalker2061 indeed

[@teaartist6455]

He doesn't even need an anatomy course! Just...some porn or going to the beach and drawing the people there and such would help. I mean, he's not even that bad at the anatomy itself as much as the proportions.

[@cameronstevens3185]

Anyone else notice the that Combat is on the cover for the home team but in the comics he's on the away team.

[@SeanDDaily]

I would actually love to have that "wysiwyg" t-shirt. Like, seriously and unironically.

[@SammEater]

Suddenly felt nostalgic for this episode after looking at a Youngblood issue in a comicshop close to my home. lol

[@florinivan6907]

Rob Liefeld is the kind of comic book artist who would watch The Boys and think Homelander is cool.

[@SammEater]

To be fair, Homelander is cool... in his evil megalomaniac way. lol

[@jeffdebie1495]

Rob leifeld: I AM AN ARTIST!!!! Me:🤨🤨🤨

[@snakes3425]

Suppose to be worth 2 million dollars in 2015 I got one in good condition for 49 cents at a used book store

[@DoctorSkepticus]

Does anyone know what book snakes is talking about here?! Obviously this was a reply to some one else but Google's KZbin is nothing if not dysfunctional.

[@Genevieve1023]

Wow! Not even two whole quarters. 😂

[@Genevieve1023]

DoctorSkepticus They're making fun of the fact that comic book speculators bought tons of copies of shitty comics like the one featured in this video, back in the 90s. They thought those comics would be worth a ton of money later on, especially if they were #1s. And now Youngblood #1 is worth less than 50 cents.

[@DoctorSkepticus]

Genevieve1023 That was happening in the 1980s as well (remember the "Black and white BOOM!"?) but my question was literally : Which specific book was snakes3425 was worth two million dollars that he got for 50 cents?

[@leephillips4402]

DoctorSkepticus I do not remember black white and boom

[@mudkipzfan545]

Have you seen the Image-pastiche Earth from Grant Morrison's Multiversity yet? Youngblood was reinvented as the Nimrod Squad.

[@a-dub6434]

They should be badblüddguns

[@snakes3425]

To be honest the only Youngblood member I even remember is Chapel and that's only because of his connection to Spawn

[@YellowRose7935]

90s kid feels a little more tamed, then the current one.

[@chaz9824]

Funny story, I recently found this comic in my local thrift store (I didn't buy it) in good condition, with the trading cards still in the comic for $1. This comic was being sold for 2/5 of the original price, really showing how worthless it is.

[@overlordpichu5577]

6:30 i think that lady is living in an Orwellian nightmare because JESUS that face is terrifying.

[@justanotheranimeprofilepic]

See i could see the backup story working as a 4 page piece of a story while the home teams story gets resolved in 18 pages. That way you could get continued full adventures of the home team while slowly piecing together away team missions

[@carlosalmonacid8958]

Krusty:So this Youngblood team, they're proactive, huh? Rob Liefeld: We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm. Co-writer: Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"- aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important? Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that. .... I'm fired, aren't I? Rob: Oh, yes.

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

The type of oversimplification that lead to The Dark Age of Comics kind of parallels the type of oversimplification that is leading to cinematic universes in Hollywood.

[@DoctorSkepticus]

Imaad Shahrukh Listen I understand that most people have their preferred eras, decades, tastes in characters, art styles etc. but seriously your post is without justification. Calling the 1980s to 1990s era "oversimplification" contradicts facts in many if not most cases and also contradicts the primary arguments espoused by other haters of the whole Frank Miller/Alan Moore/'gritty'/'dark'/whatever-you-are-calling-it era in that they traditionally contend that the stories of this era were not the good old *way* oversimplified heroes and villains that they have a nostalgic crush on. Fact is the best writer to ever work in comics is Alan Moore and it would be quite a feat to change that. His stories were as far from "oversimplification" as a comic writer can get! Cinematic universes are simple because we are talking comic book superhero fans here. They seem unwilling to admit that every single one of these superheroes and TV shows is repeated crap with some costume changes. The script for the first Sam Raimi Spider-man movie was lifted page for page from 1989's Batman and none of the superhero movie fans ever caught on. That is just one of hundreds of similar facts that Superhero fans are unable to see or process or admit to. Marvel & DC have the scam so wired that they follow the same pattern: Release movie based on popular character(s). Release a sequel. Release another sequel. If there is any life still in this particular franchise then do a spin-off movie featuring a strong supporting character. As box office for this franchise dips reboot franchise with remake of the original film which may have been released just a dozen or less years ago.

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

DoctorSkepticus I am referring to how the entertainment industry tries to cash in on something successful without realizing what made it successful in the first place.

[@DoctorSkepticus]

Imaad Shahrukh I know that but you referenced an entire era of great comic books (and some not-so-great comics) as "The Dark Age of comics" as if that were an accurate or anything but insulting label. THAT is what I was addressing. There is no "Dark Age of comics". All eras have their (what some would consider) 'Dark' comic books. The frequent and common usage of "Dark age of comics" asserts baldly that the period from the release of Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" (Sorry. I normally italicize titles but KZbin is on the fritz again and is treating the underscore character as if it were a minus/subtraction symbol) - some even say it began with Miller's "Daredevil" run - until the industry collapse in the 1990s was characterized by nothing except gory-violent Miller copycats and they call this "The Dark Age of Comics". You yourself echoed this idea when you asserted that this alleged "Dark Age" was the result of "oversimplification" when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

[@andreworders7305]

19:18 An eye! It’s a miracle!

[@nine_tails137]

11:16 Ah! So that's where that goofy looking Super Hero image in the intro came from!

[@Tareltonlives]

IT BEGINS

[@TheJovian16]

It took me almost 8 years (I started watching the show around 2011) to realize that what Diehard was actually doing is a double uppercut. It's just that the lack of background combined with the poorly drawn movement lines and Diehard's contorted backwards body gives the perfect impression of him attacking someone with his crotch.

[@justanotheranimeprofilepic]

My God, I've been watching since this review and am currently going through every youngblood review, how did it take me that long

[@perrilewis180]

The concept of Badrock is good. A rock monster who's a momma's boy and eats his greens. Another boyscout to add the troop that Superman is leader of. I would add that his mom is a scientist and he had unfortunate accident in her lab which caused the rock like appearance. A Frankenstein story where the monster is loved by his creator

[@JaelinBezel]

I hope youre proud kf yourself, Linkara. Because now I can't disassociate the words Youngblood and Disease, just like Chagas' Disease

[@Tareltonlives]

Makes me wonder-was Youngblood EVER popular? Even in the 90s?

[@xavier8951]

Why you ask?

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

Awww old Linkara was soooo cute.

[@rorylumley4727]

Rod liefeld has a werid thing for drawing lines on everything except for things that should have them like spider-man coustume webing or shafts bow string.

[@pious83]

It's funny that I grew up with 90's comics and missed all of this _extreme_ stuff. Back then, being a kid, money was naturally limited. So I could only afford to follow one comic. That would be X-Men (sometimes Uncanny, even Unlimited on rare occasions) throughout the entire decade. I don't regret that choice, especially in light of "gems" like this.

[@gabrielreyesjr7852]

Whenever I hear people mention rob liefeld they always talk about how he can't draw feet and I never noticed it until after seeing the art from this book.

[@CNWhatImSaiyan]

11:15 *BY DIE-HARD’S CROTCH!!*

[@SmithOfGear92]

8:01 Oh god... Oh god oh god oh god... THAT LEG... THAT LEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGG!!!!!! D:>

[@thecomicnation1085]

OH MY GOD!!! BURN IT!!! BURN IT!!!!!!!

[@БогданГоранов-п9х]

The only iconic thing about Chapel is the stolen from Dr. Voodoo facepaint

[@MrBanditheart]

I loved jt you learned there was another issue to review it was like someone told you nope can't clock out till 4 instead of 3

[@ilopominecrafter]

It’s a shame we never had a book like youngblood with the split book for linkara to review... something about that yiipee is hilarious

[@lsgreger2645]

DC was so extreme that they did Zero Hour and reset all their comic to #0 for one month. Who bought them all? This guy. They were all origin type stories and most were crap. Well, Starman #0 was really good.

[@andreworders7305]

You need one team for just Washington D.C. and another for the entire rest of the world. Makes perfect sense.

[@sanny8716]

18:55 oh man, why did you skp the huge case of randomly disappearing shoulder pads? It's the funniest thing in the entire comic!

[@leephillips4402]

Was leifeld just watching tv when he named these characters

[@oscarramos5681]

Youngblood #1 appeared in the first episode of Malcolm in the Middle.

[@johnathanclark79]

Why doesn’t anybody talk about Alan Moore writing for Liefeld and Lee in Image? Nobody talks about Supreme, Moore’s WildCats, and even 1963.

[@nathanexplosionn]

Right! And that was when no one wanted to hire Alan Moore. But Liefeld kept him working.

[@waynetech10]

Where can I get a clean copy of the Youngblood song?

[@dracocrusher]

I kept waiting for Linkara to pull out a Chuggaaconroy reference and shout "... and Oh My Gawd, Your Feet Are HUGE!!!" Based on the artwork they've shown so far, huge feet woudn't be too out of place....

[@capmar-vell9243]

Actually, there are people who thinks Liefeld's drawings are ''classic'', like that douche RealRemyLebou from ComicBookMovie.

[@dracocrusher]

Mattia Garavini This really dissapoints me....

[@TheBestComicKing]

Is that Carnage Rule by Green Jellÿ at the beginning of the video?

[@jamescarter6468]

Wait, Chapel as in the Spawn Chapel? A hero? Oh I’ve gotta get this

[@eddihurta7173]

I can't believe i liked DIEHARD the hero from a comic that it was attached to !!

[@TheAdrift]

6:05 oh god, don’t go dragging my home state into this mess, Liefeld! 😒

[@ev_artwork6443]

Not that I'd consider him good, I think Rob made one halfway decent character, sorta, for this in terms of Bed/Badrock, at least based on initial impressions. Yeah, he's absurdly huge and muscular, but then he... well, I don't really know WHAT he is, but he is kind of a stone creature, so he can kind of get away with it, and his face has a distinctive look. Though, it's close enough I suppose you could consider him an off-brand Thing. At the least, based on THIS comic, not later ones, his initial characterization as being a young boy despite his size, being humble and respectful toward his Mom, hell, even having a parent he responds to, he is the closest thing to being able to be a decent super hero in terms of personality compared to all the rest, who are far more generic. Then again, he is in permanent scowl face, and if I remember correctly, whatever potential there was is squandered in later comics. That's just me though. And, let's face it, Rob has managed to make a few lasting characters, even if they tend to be that way due to his absence, not his presence.

[@byronwilliams2856]

Youngblood being Image's first book and your first text review isn't ironic. It's a coincidence.

[@TheRogueEmpire]

ill take this art over frank miller art anyday

[@happyhellday3]

18:15 Holy fuck was that Joe Swanson lol

[@ghostwarrior3878]

What's Chapel doing on this team I thought he was a spawn villain?

[@toma8283]

i like to call youngbloods disease extreme 8 ball fractures

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Wait that Chapel is the same as the Spawn's enemy?

[@DeathGodRiku]

90's kid feels really held back. Was this the first time you used him?

[@crystalvoodoo91]

No

[@Isolder74]

Hmm..Strongarm and Gage…Do they turn into cars too?

[@nemesis3587]

Is anybody know which issue is Superman's speech from?

[@jessewilley531]

Wait... why are Brainwave Junior and Dr. Fate fighting?

[@gonk4509]

17:34 As a nirvana fan, this just hurts my heart.

[@noahmagana137]

TEN YEARS OF YOUNGBLOOD REVIEWS!

[@foxb5974]

The 90s were weird times ey Linkara

[@Johnlindsey289]

On the dark age of comics, do you believe such successful acclaimed mature readers comics like Heavy Metal Magazine, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Sandman, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, the 1988 US release of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (the comic before the movie came to the US in Christmas 1989 then played throughout 1990 in many cities in the US/canada), Killing Joke, etc. worked as they had substance besides dark/edgy stuff and imagination unlike the imitators and those imitators took the wrong lessons?

[@declaration14]

weird question, do we currently have a name for the "age" of modern comics?

[@declaration14]

oh, cool, cheers

[@CosmoShidan]

It's pretty generic. This age is simply called the modern age of comics.

[@101Draico]

YOUNG BLOOD. AKA Sleeping, the comic

[@RandoChrisYT]

Was this the first appearance of 90's Kid?

[@crystalvoodoo91]

No

[@helixaether872]

haha now i have Brock's diagnosis

[@theAngryscotman]

To think the only decent thing Rob Liefeld designed was Deadpool. And even then he had to rip off Deathstroke to come up with him.

[@TheSMLIFfilms]

I wish there was a normal people strike sometime soon, and a bunch of comic writers just angrily made their own company.