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Youngblood:Bloodsport
#1
An Arcade Comics first issue review
By
Corey Henson
Writer:
Mark Millar
Pencils: Rob Liefeld
More
Info: www.arcade-comics.com
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Buying
a Rob Liefeld comic is kind of like driving slowly past a
car wreck: You know it's going to be ugly, but you can't help
but take a look. For proof, look no further than his latest
Youngblood revival, Bloodsport.
I
knew going in that the book already had a strike against it.
It is, after all, a Rob Liefeld comic. But it's also a Mark
Millar comic, so I held out hope that it wouldn't suck TOO
hard.
Millar's
fingerprints are all over the opening scene, which depicts
former Youngblood members Seahawk and Battlestone sitting
in a hot tub debating heroism while getting blown by teenage
X-Men look-alikes with mullets. Two MALE teenage X-Men look-alikes
with mullets. I don't remember seeing THAT in Alan Moore's
version.
Next
we catch up with former team leader Shaft as he battles zombie
60s civil rights leaders with rocket packs. (I think Millar's
been getting into Grant Morrison's stash.) Shaft has fallen
on hard times. To make ends meet, he's signed a contract to
beat up super-villains and let fellow hero Troll take all
the credit and glory.
The
other Youngblood members are having problems, too. Badrock's
TV show (oy... ) has been cancelled. Johnny Panic and Doc
Rocket - two of the characters from Alan Moore and Steve Skroce's
short run, which means they're actually interesting and don't
look like Marvel characters - are broke.
But
opportunity comes in the form of a Youngblood revival, spearheaded
by 999 parallel realities, all looking to create a universal
protectorate to guard trillions of lives. But there's a catch
- each dimension only needs ONE guardian, meaning all the
former Youngblood members looking to join the new team must
kill each other Highlander-style until there's only one left
standing. The lucky survivor gets the fame, fortune and glory
that comes with being charged with the protection of an entire
universe.
It's
not really as ridiculous as it sounds. These heroes all miss
the prestige and adoration they used to enjoy during Youngblood's
glory days, and some of them are more than willing to do what
it takes to regain them. It doesn't take long for the first
body to hit the floor...
It's
easy to pick on Liefeld. Let's face it, if there's anyone
in the comic book industry who deserves to be called a hack,
it's him. But the initial concept behind Youngblood was solid,
otherwise Peter Milligan wouldn't have swiped it for X-Statix.
But Liefeld's ability to execute that concept has been lacking
until now. Granted, Millar and Liefeld are just ripping off
Battle Royal and X-Statix. (Is Rob Liefeld ripping off a comic
that ripped off a Rob Liefeld comic ironic, or not? I can't
decide.) But I'm a firm believer that it's okay to swipe from
someone else as long as you do a good job at it. This isn't
Millar's best work; but then again, I doubt he was trying
to reinvent the superhero genre when he wrote this. He's just
trying to make lemonade out of Liefeld's lemons.
Liefeld,
for his part, turns what is arguably his best work since Hawk
and Dove. Granted, that's not saying a lot. He still can't
remember from one panel to the next what his characters' costumes
look like (a problem his colorists seem to have picked up,
too - maybe it's contagious). And his storytelling capabilities
have only grown marginally since the wee nineties. But his
anatomy skills ARE much improved, as is his sense of proportion.
It's hard to believe this is the same guy who drew the atrocious
"Heroes Reborn" Captain America comic. All in all, Liefeld's
art on Bloodsport isn't the total embarrassment the Newsarama
trolls were predicting. (Though I can't believe he didn't
at least correct the misspelling of "Youngblood" in the promotional
pic of Shaft that was released to the net months ago, and
reprinted here. I mean, c'mon... )
For
all my initial misgivings about this project, I have to admit,
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. If nothing
else, there's sure to be a bit of schadenfraude in watching
all these horribly ill-conceived characters off each other
in the creatively gruesome manner someone like Millar is sure
to imagine.
Corey Henson is the Senior Marketing Coordinator for ADV Films,
and a Contributing Editor for Newtype USA. He wants to marry
Meg White someday.
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