Creation of the series Youngblood was inspired by creator
Rob Liefeld's idea that if superheroes existed in real life, they would be treated as celebrities, much the same as movie stars and athletes. The series, therefore, depicts the superhero members of Youngblood not only as they participate in adventures fighting crime and evil, but navigating the world of celebrity endorsement deals, TV show appearances, agents, managers, and the perceived pressures of celebrity life. From 1985 to 1987, Liefeld did pinups for Megaton Comics, including one of the character Ultragirl that would see print in
RAMM #1 (May 1987) and
Megaton Comics Explosion #1 (June 1987), a "
who's who"-type reference book featuring individual entries of characters in the style of an encyclopedia or handbook. This gave Liefeld an opportunity for his own creation, Youngblood, to see print in this form. The two-page entry featuring the team (consisting at that point of the characters Sentinel, Sonic, Brahma, Riptide, Cougar, Psi-Fire, and Photon) was the team's first appearance in print. Two months later, the team appeared in an advertisement in
Megaton #8 (August 1987) indicating that it would next appear in
Megaton Special #1 by Liefeld and writer
Hank Kanalz, with a cover by artist
Jerry Ordway. However, Megaton Comics went out of business before that comic was printed. Liefeld has explained that the version of
Youngblood that eventually saw print in
Youngblood #1 was based partially on his 1991 plan for a new
Teen Titans series for
DC Comics to be co-written with
Marv Wolfman. According to Liefeld, he and managing editor
Dick Giordano failed to reach an agreement on the project, and Liefeld merged his
Teen Titans ideas with his previous,
creator-owned Youngblood property. According to Liefeld, "Shaft was intended to be
Speedy. Vogue was a new
Harlequin design, Combat was a
Kh'undian warrior circa the
Legion of Super-Heroes, ditto for Photon and Die Hard was a
S.T.A.R. Labs android. I forgot who Chapel was supposed to be, but I'm sure it would have rocked".
Original runs Youngblood #1 (April 1992) was an
anthology consisting of two separate stories published in
flip book format: each half of the book had its own front cover and contained one story, rotated upside-down from the other half. On March 13, two separate 5½" x 8½″ black-and-white
ashcan editions of
Youngblood began to surface, each featuring one of two separate stories from
Youngblood #1. Edition "A" featured the 13-page lead story, while Edition "B" featured the other side of the flip book, along with four extra pages of art that would not be included in the premier issue. According to Image Comics spokesperson John Beck, the print run on edition "A" was 1,000 copies, and edition "B" was limited to 500 copies. At the time of its release, it was the highest selling independent comic book published, despite receiving poor reviews from critics for unclear storytelling due to both Liefeld's art and the book's flip format, which some readers found confusing; poor anatomy; incorrect perspective; non-existent backgrounds; poor dialogue; and the late shipping of the book, a problem that continued with subsequent issues. In an interview in
Hero Illustrated #4 (October 1993), Liefeld conceded disappointment with the first four issues of
Youngblood, calling the first issue a "disaster". He explained that production problems, as well as sub-par scripting by his friend and collaborator
Hank Kanalz, whose employment Liefeld later terminated, resulted in work that was lower in quality than that which Liefeld produced when
Fabian Nicieza scripted his plots on
X-Force, and that reprints of those four issues would be re-scripted. Writer and columnist
Peter David pointed to Liefeld's scapegoating of Kanalz as an example of Liefeld's failure to take responsibility for his project, and evidence that genuine collaboration with good writers like
Louise Simonson and Nicieza, which some of the Image founders did not appreciate, had previously reflected better on Liefeld's art. Throughout its run at Image,
Youngblood and other books published by Liefeld's
Extreme Studios were attacked by critics for late issues and inconsistent quality. Although intended for monthly publication, issues #1–3, #0 and #4–5 of
Youngblood were published intermittently between April 1992 and July 1993. Four months passed between the publication of issues #3 and #0, and five months between issues #4 and #5. Ultimately,
Youngblood #5 was published in flip-book format with
Brigade #4 as its flip-side; Liefeld was also replaced with Chap Yaep as penciller. Various other Image Comics series were spun off or previewed in these issues: issue #0 introduced the team leader of
Brigade, the story arc in issues #2–5 introduced the main characters and central premise of
Prophet, and a backup story in issue #3 introduced the series
Supreme. An
anthology spin-off series
Youngblood: Strikefile began publication in 1993, featuring stories spotlighting various individual main characters from
Youngblood. Issues #1–3 (April – August 1993) were flip books, containing three-part stories starring Die Hard and Chapel; issue #4 (October 1993) contained a single self-contained story featuring Shaft, Badrock and Die Hard. A one-shot
Youngblood Yearbook (July 1993) featuring the "Away Team" was also published, effectively as an
annual. Liefeld solicited writer
Kurt Busiek for
Youngblood stories in 1993. Busiek wrote detailed plots for three issues and ideas for a fourth, under the proposed title
Youngblood: Year One. This was never produced, but the plot lines were revived amid controversy years later. Liefeld retained the creative rights to
Youngblood; however, the series was put on hiatus. In December 1996,
Youngblood #14 was published by Liefeld's company Maximum Press – its story picked up directly after #10, and no issues #11-13 were ever published. The ongoing story arc was intended to conclude with an issue #15, which was solicited but never released.
Alan Moore In 1997, Liefeld hired
Alan Moore to relaunch and revamp
Youngblood. Moore's run on the title began with a mini-series entitled
Judgment Day, which revolved around the mysterious murder of Youngblood member Riptide, the subsequent "super-trial" of teammate Knightsabre, and the all-powerful
Book of All Stories which dictates the order of the universe. Moore created a new, teenaged Youngblood group that was financed independently by millionaire Waxey Doyle, formerly the WWII superhero Waxman. The team was led by Shaft and was augmented by new members Big Brother, Doc Rocket, Twilight, Suprema, and Johnny Panic. Moore said he wanted Youngblood to be a "less sprawling, more dynamic team" and that "if you have more characters than [six], the action gets cluttered and it becomes increasingly difficult to establish each character as a real and solid person in their own right". All of the new team members and most of the villains featured in this series, including
Jack-A-Dandy, were Moore's creations.
Youngblood: Genesis officially ended after two issues, as the third and fourth issues would have used Image Comics characters for which Liefeld did not have the appropriate permissions. According to Liefeld: "I have the original issues #3 and #4 that Kurt wrote, [but] they can't be produced as is simply from the standpoint that they heavily feature prominent supporting cast members from
Spawn and
Wildcats, as well as John Lynch from
Gen13 and
Team 7". and providing the art for two
Youngblood series. The two new comic books involved
Mark Millar writing new issues of
Youngblood: Bloodsport and
Youngblood: Genesis written by Brandon Thomas. However, only one issue of the
Youngblood: Bloodsport was published, but in June 2008, Liefeld announced that issue #2 would appear in September. In 2004,
Robert Kirkman began writing a new series,
Youngblood: Imperial, with artist Marat Mychaels but left after one issue due to his busy schedule.
Fabian Nicieza was slated to take over. In 2005, Liefeld announced that
Joe Casey would be re-assembling and re-scripting the original
Youngblood mini-series into a more coherent and sophisticated story to be titled
Maximum Youngblood. On July 12, 2007, it was announced that Liefeld would return to
Image Comics to publish a collected "definitive version" of
Maximum Youngblood with a new ending written by
Joe Casey, illustrated by Liefeld himself. This was followed in January 2008 by a new
ongoing series (
Youngblood Volume 4) written by Casey and illustrated by Derec Donovan, with covers by Liefeld. Liefeld was slated to begin writing and art duties on Youngblood beginning in May 2009. No new issues have come out since then, with
Youngblood Volume 4 ending with only nine issues and issue #9 focusing only on the backup stories plot. In late 2011, it was announced that screenwriter John McLaughlin would write a revival of
Youngblood with artist Jon Malin and series creator Rob Liefeld for a May 2012 release, starting with
Youngblood #71, as the series reverts to its original legacy numbering. The series ran for 8 issues, concluding with #78 in July 2013. For the 25th anniversary of both Youngblood and Image Comics, in May 2017 a new
ongoing series (
Youngblood Volume 5) was launched, written by Chad Bowers with art by Jim Towe. It lasted 11 issues, a 12th issue was solicited but never published. In August 2019, Liefeld revealed that he has not owned the rights of
Youngblood since the late 1990s, and that they are currently owned by
Andrew Rev of Terrific Production LLC. In October 2024, it was announced Liefeld would be returning to write and illustrate a new
YoungBlood series beginning in 2025. It was also revealed that Liefeld would reunite with
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg for more
YoungBlood related projects including "a
Youngblood Vault Edition representing high resolution scans of the original art from the first
Youngblood series in a deluxe oversized hardcover, as well as a Facsimile Edition of
Youngblood #1 to mark the title’s 33rd anniversary in April 2025, both to be published by Image Comics." ==Fictional team history==