2016 Comic Challenge 185 Secret Origins #028

TITLE-Secret Origins #028
PUBLISHER-DC Comics

I have loved this title since it first hit the newstands. And at least for me the issues with lesser known characters were the better ones.

Nightshade gets the first story. Robert Greenberger,no idea who this is,is the writer. And in what has to be one of his earliest published pro work the penciler is Rob Liefeld. You can see small pieces of what would later become the major flaws in Liefeld's art. At the first time I read this I knew nothing about Nightshade. Now years later,hell almost 30,I have read a handful of her Charlton stuff and a bit of her in Suicide Squad. This is a decent origin/revamping for a very underrated Charlton heroine.

Midnight is the latter story. Roy Thomas is the writer,so you know unlike hacks like Geoff Johns,he will try his best to keep the character in line with his Golden Age stuff. Then the great Gil Kane handles the art. I knew of Midnight thanks to Who's Who. But this was the first I read of him. And he is a 3rd rate Spirit clone. Which is why he has barely been used since DC got the rights to him.

Overall an average issue of Secret Origins. But then for me at least I want to own every issue.

Secret Origins #028 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 140 Youngblood Super Special #01

TITLE-Youngblood Super Special #01
PUBLISHER-Maximum Press

Yep I am back with more Youngblood.By the time this issue came out,cover date winter 1997,I had just gotten back into comics. But was ignoring everything coming out that was superhero related. Then a few years ago I found a big stack of Liefeld stuff. And it was cheap,average issue was costing me a quarter. When I bought it I flipped thru the comic,saw that Chris Sprouse was doing the art. And the comic ended up getting filed away in a longbox.

So about 2 weeks ago I was going through some of my boxes of comics. And pulling out stuff that I had either never read or had read but was wanting to read again. I flipped through this comic again and wanted to read it since the art by Mr Sprouse looked damn good.

This issue is about Sentinel going off with a team mostly comprised of new recruits to the Youngblood program. They get attacked and now this team of new and untested heroes has to prove they have what it takes to be part of Youngblood.

The story,written by Eric Stephenson,is kind of an average story. But compared to lots of the other Youngblood stuff I have read it is so much better. What really made the issue stand out to me is Chris Sprouse's artwork. I had gotten use to either Liefeld art on Youngblood or art from one of the many Liefeld clones on Youngblood.

I am guessing not many people read this issue. By 97 all except the diehard Liefeld fans had given up on all the stuff he was putting out. Plus when this came out Alan Moore was busy writing Supreme. So that title seemed to get all the attention.

Youngblood Super Special #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 139 Youngblood Vol 01 #08

TITLE-Youngblood Vol 01 #08
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Studios

Set right after Team Youngblood #11,this issue gives us the battle I wished had happened in the Team Youngblood issue.

Shaft and most of the Youngblood team go to capture/kill the villain who killed their teammate. And on the way there we get introduced to some new members. None of whom stand out.

But there is another story in this issue. We are taken to the alley Spawn is living in. And who happens to show up but Chapel. The man who killed Spawn.

I was surprised when I looked at the credits and saw that Liefeld actually drew this issue. I figured by this late in Extreme Studios run he wasn't doing much besides recruiting more talent. And Liefeld and Eric Stephenson wrote the issue.

I am kind of tempted to go dig out the next issue and read it. Mostly to see the continuation of the Chapel vs Spawn stuff.

Youngblood Volume 01 #08 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 138 Team Youngblood #11

TITLE-Team Youngblood #11
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Studios

Yep once again into the early 90s with another comic from Extreme Studios. Team Youngblood was a spin off of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood. Each series was suppose to focus on the home or away team. But that was never really stuck too.

Rob Liefeld and Eric Stephenson seem to have wrote this comic. With Chap Yaep doing the pencils and Danny Miki/Marlo Alquiza/Jonathan Sibal handling the inks. I don't mind Yaep's art. He is the best of the many Liefeld clones that worked at Extreme Studios.

The issue starts with the Sentinel lead team. They have just lost a team mate and need help. Then a quick cut to Badrock. He is on vacation off in Colorado. When he gets attacked by the cyborg hitman Overtkill. So a many page battle happens. And near the end Shaft shows up and grabs Badrock. And they head off to take care of whoever it was that killed one of their teammates.

The fight between Badrock and Overtkill is ok at best. Lots of huge panels and what all. I would have rather that part was skipped and we got straight to the battle that I am assuming happens in the next issue.

Team Youngblood #11 gets a pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 137 Extreme HERO

TITLE-Extreme HERO
PUBLISHER-Hero Illustrated/Extreme Studios/Image

And it's another comic that I forgot I owned until when last year  I started thinning out my collection.Extreme HERO is a preview comic that came packaged with an issue of Hero Illustrated. In it is 8 short previews of upcoming comics from the Extreme Studios part of Image.

The cover is by Rob Liefeld and Danny Miki. And I am guessing the guy on the cover is Cybrid. And that is just based on that fact that Liefeld and Miki did both the cover and the Cybrid preview on the inside.

The first preview is Cybrid by Liefeld and Miki. We get 4 pages of a cyborg man running around fighting stuff.I looked all over online and could find not evidence that Cybrid got it's own comic. I don't remember him showing up in any of the Extreme Studios stuff I have read. And after reading this 4 page preview I can say it is no loss if Cybrid never showed back up.

Preview number 2 is Law & Order. No not the long in the tooth tv show that has infected too many channels. This was instead created by Marat Mychaels.Who also writes and draws this 2 page preview. Like Cybrid I don't think this set of characters appeared outside of this preview comic.

3rd preview is Code 9. Again you get 2 pages. This time with Eric Stephenson getting credit for script. And the infamous Chap Yaep credited for creation,story,pencils and inks.I have no clue what the lead in this preview is called. He talks about being a good man until he was changed by Code 9.The art is decent for Yaep. But really 2 pages isn't enough to let me figure out if I want to read more of this character. But it doesn't matter cause once again it looks like Code 9 never appeared again.

L.A.N.C.E.R.S. is the 4th preview. Again it is 2 pages ARRGGGHHH. Richard Hornie is credited as creator and for the story and pencils.And Danny Miki did the inks. This at least is somewhat connected to the Extreme branch of Image. With a footnote telling you to read Extreme #0. I haven't seen Lancers appear outside this issue,and know he didn't get his own series.

RISK is the 5th preview. And again,I am really starting to hate this,it is 2 pages.Chuck Jones,not the guy who worked on Looney Tunes,gets credit for everything but inks. And the 2 pages of story is shit.I seem to remember Risk showing up in a future comic from Extreme.Which is better than the previous 4 characters showcased in the increasingly annoying comic.

6th is Meta-Force.Created by Jeff Matsuda and Eric Stephenson,am I the only one who loves how Stephenson started off as Liefeld's jack of all trades and moved up to being a big part of the business side of Image.It seems to be about a kid that can bring stuff out of his dreams into the real world. The art is nice. But then I like Matsuda's art. Sadly I am pretty sure Meta-Force didn't show up again.

Up next is two pages of hype for whatever Extreme Studios titles were coming out the month this shipped.With a spotlight on the Jack Kirby created Phantom Force.

Then 2 profile pages of Dan Fraga's Black Flag. I know they show up again. Pretty sure there was a Black Flag one shot or extremely short lived ongoing series.

And our final preview is of Art Thibert's Black&White. I am sure they appeared again cause somewhere in a longbox I got at least 1 issue of their series. The art is nice. Thibert was a great artist but so slow that he rarely did pencils.

The rest of the issue is just full page ads for various Extreme Studio titles. I really like the Jae Lee art on the Bloodstrike ad.

I have always loved Jae Lee's art. But seems like he is another artist that is too slow to do a regular series.

Looking around online this comic seems to be uncommon. But worth at most 2 bucks. I got mine with an issue of Hero Illustrated. And most issues of that I got for free or for 3 bucks tops.Unless you are trying to collect everything from Extreme Studios I see no reason to go out of your way to track this down.

Extreme HERO gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 134 Bloodstrike #01

TITLE-Bloodstrike #01
PUBLISHER-Image Comics/Extreme Studios

There are times you want a great comic,say something like Grimjack or Badger. Other times you want crap. And thanks to the early 90s huge print runs there is so much crap you can get for cheap or even free.

Well after having read 3 good books,2 biographies and a entertaining book about 80s and 90s horror zines,I was ready for some crap.And it is hard to find more entertaining crap as the swill Rob Liefeld was putting out in the early days of Image.

Bloodstrike is a team of mercenaries. Most of which have ties to either Brigade or Youngblood. So in this issue,which I am pretty sure is their first appearance,you get an issue long battle. Which some what lets you know who the various members of the team are.

So who created and produced this turd? Let me check the credits page. Liefeld gets credit for Creator/Plot/Layouts. Dan Fraga does the pencils.Eric Stephenson is credited for script and as the editor. And finally Danny Miki is doing the inks.

Oh forgot a few things. Looking around it seems like this issue sold right at 1 million copies. Think about that,big titles like Batman would love to sell 1 million copies currently. Plus it has one of the most unique cover gimmicks I have seen. The blood on the cover will disappear if it gets heated up. Yep rub your finger across if and it goes away.

Bloodstrike #01 gets a pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 128 Supreme #06

 TITLE-Supreme #06
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Comics

Yeah been a while since I read more of Liefeld's anti social version of Superman.

Last issue left us off with Supreme fighting Khrome near DC. Quickly Supreme realizes his punches are not effecting Khrome and uses his super vision and hearing to detect an energy signal. Seems Khrome is boosting his abilities using some kind of power source that happens to be in his ship. Supreme flies up destroys the ship. And comes back and traps Khrome in a wacky science fictiony gadget thingy.

Liefeld gets credit for story.Brian Murray gets credit for Pencils,story,script and colors. And Chris Ivy get Inks credit. The art looks like the last few issues so that is good. I kind of doubt Liefeld had more to do with this than saying "yeah Supreme figures out how to beat Khrome."

The fight between Supreme and who we are told is his arch-nemesis is kind of boring and flat. Only two things stand out from this issue.

Since Thor is public domain,Liefeld created his own version. Who looks like a Liefeld character but armed with a huge hammer. And the hammer IIRC hangs around for much longer than Thor does.

Look at the extreme gore in the page above. This is from right after Supreme defeats Khrome.I just double checked and this issue has no Comic Code Authority seal on the cover. I couldn't remember if Image bothered at all with the CCA.Thinking they might have at the beginning when you were finding Image stuff on newstands and in grocery stores. But nope. And really I doubt if even in 1993 if the CCA would have approved the above page.

Supreme #06 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 122 X-force #02

TITLE-X Force #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

The comic opens up with Deadpool being attacked by Kane AKA Weapon X.This is back when Deadpool was just a bad clone of Deathstroke the Terminator.After a short fight,which the highlight of it was Kane shooting off his fist like one of the Shogun Warrior robots,Shield Agent Bridge shows up.

On the X-Force side we see them out in the woods training.Doing a version of Tag. Their target is Feral. Who quickly outsmarts Cannonball. And uses him to take out Warpath.The rest of the team shows up. And Feral steps over the line and claws the shit out of Cannonball. So she is knocked out and they all head back into their new HQ.Oh and in the last few pages Tom Cassidey and Juggernaut show up.

While Rob Liefeld isn't the best artist,he isn't the worst. The art in this issue looks rushed and unfinished. With some pages looking more like a 10 minute sketch Rob did at a con and not finished artwork ready to be published.

X-Force #02 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 084 X-force #01

TITLE-X-force #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Travel with me back to the summer of 91. New Mutants had just been cancelled and replaced with X-force. Rob Liefeld is one of the hottest comic artist in a long time. And of course since this was around the time the comic speculation boom started issue 01 was bagged with a trading card. 1 of 5 cards to be exact. And yes I did buy 6 copies of this comic. So I not only got all 5 cards but I had a copy to open and read.

Even though this comic is pretty much a direct sequel to the New Mutants series,they spend over half the issue introducing us to the various X-force members and setting up their history.

When I read this when it came out I loved it. Liefeld's art was so different from what I was use to getting from the big 2. And I liked the idea of taking the New Mutants,who were always pretty much X-men Jr,and making them this pro-active more military style team. Going back and re-reading it...well it doesn't hold up that well. The art I loved back then cause it was so different,but now when I see it all I see is all of Liefeld's faults. The story could have been told in 5 pages.

But you know what,even though the art isn't that good. And the story is kind of a big cliche,I still had fun while reading this. I brought me back to a time when I just wanted something to read while bored in Algebra II class.

X-force #01 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 062 Supreme #05

TITLE-Supreme #05
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Well once again we got Liefeld listed for story,then Brian Murray listed for pencils,story,script and colors. Chris Ivy returns on the inks. I have heard that besides Liefeld giving 2 or 3 pages of story ideas Brian Murray did most of the writing on the early Supreme stuff.

The fight from last issue continues. Most of Heavy Mettle is either half dead or so damaged they can't do anything. Khrome starts a reaction that might destroy the world. And Supreme and Skyracker are prepared to sacrifice themselves to prevent this.

Wow this was just bad. The art looked dark and muddy. The story read way fast. Like I doubt it took me more than 5 minutes to read this comic.

Supreme #05 gets a pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 061 Supreme #04

TITLE-Supreme #04
PUBLISHER-Image

This issue we got Liefeld credited for plot. And then Brian Murray credited for pencils,co-plotting,script and colors. And finally Chris Ivy on inks.Oh wait Editor Eric Stephenson gets credited for script assists. So that means 3 people possibly writing this issue. Yeah I get the feeling I am in for some bad writing.

Supreme is heading to outer space. To confront Khrome. From various things said in the past 3 issues I have been lead to believe Khrome is Supreme's arch villain. His Darkseid/Lex Luthor/Joker.

But seems Khrome is on the Earth and Supreme waste a bunch of time and effort fighting a clone of Khrome.Heavy Mettle,yeah there was a group named that it was the early 90s,try to fight Khrome. But he decimates them. And then Supreme heads back to Earth after realizing he was fooled.

All the bad parts of early 90s comics is here. SO MANY DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS. Wonky anatomy,horrible names for the heroes and villains. And some especially bad dialogue. But I still enjoyed it. Sometimes I want a comic that doesn't require me to think much if at all. And Supreme #04 filled that need.

Supreme #04 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 012 Supreme #3

TITLE-Supreme#03
PUBLISHER-Image

Supreme is now leader of Heavy Mettle. Hostage situation. Bloodstrike,remember Feel the Blood on issue #1?,are also brought in for what seems to be crowd control.

Supreme uses his eye power beams to microwave some bad guys head. And generally the art this time is Liefeld clone good.

I am actually kind of liking this series. Over the course of about 5 cons I built a set of whatever wasn't out in trades.Most of the issues costing me at most 50 cents.

I don't know or understand why.But I enjoy seeing Rob Liefeld being not only the Stan Lee  but also the Jack Kirby of his corner of the Image Universe. So who does that make Ditko and Heck? Chap Yaep and Mayrat Michaels?

Supreme #03 gets a buy,but don't pay more than a buck. Really try to find this for under 50 cents and know going in you are getting Liefeld's 3rd rate versions of silver age DC and Marvel characters.

2016 Comic Challenge 009 Supreme #2

TITLE-Supreme #2
PUBLISHER-Image

Once again Rob Liefeld is writing and Brian Murray is handling the art chores. Like with lots of the early Image stuff there is a 2 page spread to show the reader how vast and connected the titles of Image are.

Supreme goes to visit his arch villain Grizloc.Who is currently in jail.Grizloc keeps on taunting Supreme. Which just causes Supreme to try to kill Grizloc. Sadly he is stopped by the superhero team Heavy Mettle. And the rest of the issue is a big brawl between Supreme and Heavy Mettle.

Like lots of the early Image stuff there is way too many single and double page splashes. And this time the art has this weird muted colors thing going on.

And while I know the first issue had the highest print run of any issue of Supreme,issue 2 is the one I am always finding copies of. Since 1997 any time I have looked in the cheap bins,be it in a comic shop or at a con,I always seen piles of copies of Supreme #2.

Because of the muted colors and the very little story development in this issue,Supreme #2 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 007 Supreme #1

TITLE-Supreme #1
PUBLISHER-Image

In fall of 92 Supreme started. Written by both Rob Liefeld and Brian Murray and with Murray doing the pencils and Liefeld doing the inks.

When it was coming out I grabbed the first 3 issues. Read them and that was it.While I did enjoy the series at the time I wasn't able to get to a comic shop that often,so I pretty much stopped reading most comics.

The premise is what if Superman was an asshole. Yeah that is pretty much the basic plot. Supreme is all powerful like Superman. But decades ago he left the Earth. And in this issue finally returns. And he is a total dick.

It wasn't until about 5 years ago that I started re-reading Supreme. I had just read most of the acclaimed Alan Moore run on the title. And wanted to see how bad the  pre-Moore stuff was. Cause every review I saw called this the worst of the Liefeld created early Image stuff. Between my local con and the late Torpedo online comic shop I managed to get an almost complete pre-Moore run for around 25 cents an issue.

Having now read the entire series it is kind of obvious that Liefeld was heavily influenced by Moore and Gaiman's runs on Miracleman.And that is what the pre-Moore issues of Supreme are. Miracleman for a younger audience.

Really the only bad parts of this comic are the same ones that were plaguing most of the early Image stuff. IE way too many single and double page splashes. And back up stories that have nothing to do with the main story. They mostly fill like they are there to fill up space.

Supreme #1 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 006 Supreme #0

TITLE-Supreme #0
PUBLISHER-Image

From the summer of 1995 here is Supreme issue zero.Even though it actually takes place between issues 30 and 31 of Supreme. Which means unlike most other zero issues,this one doesn't happen before the first issue of the series. So why is this issue zero instead of say issue 31? I am not really sure. Normally zero issues tell the past and/or the origin of the lead hero. And Supreme #0 does do both.

Written by Eric Stephenson with Todd Nauck doing the pencils and Norm Rapmond and 2 others handling the inking duties. All contained within a cover done by both Stephen Platt and Rob Liefeld.

In the issue we have the current Supreme being taken to an abandoned Army base. Where he is told the origin of Supreme as the general public knows it. Plus the real origin of Supreme. And while most people will tell you that Supreme wasn't worth reading until around issue 41,when Alan Moore took over writing it,for me the stuff before the Moore run is worth reading. Because of how oddball and out there the ideas are.

Supreme #0 gets a buy.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 043 Battlestar Galactica TPB from Maximum Press

TITLE -Battlestar Galactica

AUTHOR-Rob Liefeld & Robert Napton

FORMAT-Trade paperback

FIRST TIME READING-No

COST-$2

Being a young child when the first Star Wars film hit theaters I became a huge space opera fan. So when Battlestar Galactica started airing I had to see it each week.Even going as far as getting my parents to set the vcr to record the show.I managed to convince them to let me keep 3 tapes of BSG. Which was huge back then cause blank tapes were like $10 bucks each.So once we got a new vcr, a VHS model. That's right I was recording BSG on a Betamax vcr.But once we got the VHS my parents let me move the Betamax to my room. And for years I would watch those BSG tapes over and over. Even now that I got the entire series on DVD,I would love to still have those worn out old Betamax tapes.Just getting to see those old ass commercials again would be a time trip to my childhood.

In 98 I had found  a great comic shop. Was talking to the owner about BSG and he jokingly mentioned that Rob Liefeld had published a BSG comic. This sent me diving into his back issue bins to find the dozen of so BSG comics published by Maximum Press in the mid 90s. I found a couple of issues of the anthology title Asylum. Which had a 5 to 8 page black and white BSG story in each issue that I found. But what I really wanted was the first four issues from Maximum Press. I had seen a online review of those 4 issues.They seemed to provide a good resolution to the first season. And a good start to more stories. Sure I could have ordered them years ago from Mile High,Mycomicshop or one of the many other online shops. I am sure I could have gotten all the issues off Ebay fairly cheap. But I wanted to find the issues in a shop or at a con. I do enjoy the "hunt" for back issues. And keeping fairly cheap but not that common stuff on my want list makes sure that at almost any comic shop or con I can find 10 to 20 bucks worth of comics I don't own and want.

After close to a decades worth of searching all I had was an almost complete set of the Asylum comic. And 1 issue of a later series from Maximum Press.I was looking for the dvds of Galactica 1980,yeah I have finally seen this horrible series,and below it I saw a BSG trade published by Maximum Press.I clicked the thumbnail and found out it reprinted the first 4 issues that I had been searching for all these years.And it was $2. But I was conflicted. I really wanted to find this at a shop or a con.I thought about it for a bit.And decided that the price was better than I would more than likely ever get at a con or shop. Plus I had "hunted" for them for right at 10 years.

So after waiting all this time how  is the comic? Well the art is your normal mid 90s Liefeld hacked out clone art. I do not hate Liefeld art. Sure isn't amazing and more often than not has horrible layouts and anatomy. But it has a weird funky energy to it that reminds me of the energy Creeper era Steve Ditko artwork has.The art isn't good enough to add to the story. But also isn't bad enough to subtract from it either. Then there is the writing.I wonder how much of it is from Rob's mind and how much is Mr Napton. I have never heard of Napton before. Sadly like the art,the story isn't good or bad. It is just there. Was I entertained? Yeah,I was. But I am a huge original BSG fan and will read and be at least slightly entertained by any media that continues the story from that one single season.Well not any media, FUCK GALACTICA 1980!

Battlestar Galactica trade paperback from Maximum Press gets a 2.50 outta 5.

HeroTV episode 2 with an interview with Rob Liefeld

Hero magazine was a short lived competitor to Wizard magazine. I remember hearing about how they were gonna get their own TV show. But as far as I know it never aired on TV. They did release at least 2 episodes on VHS. This is the second episode and has an interview with Rob Liefeld.