Hey, folks! Welcome back to Comic Deep Dive! During these COVID-related comics dark times, I’ve taken the opportunity to do some strange and exciting comic book reading to fill the time. This week, I’m talking all about Rob Liefeld’s contribution to the Image Universe, Extreme/Maximum/Awesome! Here’s the run-down:
The Story
- It was the 90s
- Image was formed as an alternative to DC and Marvel
- Rob Liefeld was a big name and was an original founder
- Liefeld is one of the most controversial creators in comic history
- Youngblood launched the company
- The studio renamed several times and titles rebooted nearly every year
- Ran (off and on) from 1992 to 2000
The Titles
- The Alliance
- Asylum
- Avengelyne
- Badrock, Badrock and Company
- Berzerkers
- Black & White
- Black Flag
- Blindside
- Bloodpool
- Bloodstrike
- Bloodwulf
- Brigade
- Cabbot
- Chapel
- Christian
- Combat
- The Coven, Lionheart
- Crypt
- Cyberpunx
- Cybrid
- Devlin
- Doom’s IV
- The Fighting American
- Glory
- Kaboom
- Kid Supreme
- Knightmare
- Lady Pendragon
- Lady Supreme
- Law and Order
- Lethal
- Menace
- Passover
- Priest
- Prophet
- Riptide
- Sisters of Mercy
- Supreme
- Team Youngblood
- Troll
- Vogue
- Youngblood
- Youngblood: Strikefile
- Warchild
- Warcry
The Events
- Extreme Prejudice
- Extreme Sacrifice
- Babewatch
- HATE!
- Extreme Destroyer
- Judgment Day
The Crossovers
- Marvel: Gladiator, X-Force, Cable, Mojo, Major Domo, Shatterstar, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Rhino, Green Goblin, Venom, Carnage
- Todd McFarlane’s Image: Spawn, Jason Wynn, Angela, Overtkill, Clown, Violator, Maelbolgia
- Jim Lee’s Wildstorm: Union, Stormwatch, Wildcats, Grifter, Warblade, The Maxx, Wetworks, Void, Lord Emp, Daemonites
- Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow: Cyberforce, Velocity, Ripclaw, Witchblade
- Image: Shadowhawk, Vanguard, Super-Patriot, Pitt, Mighty Man, Savage Dragon, Omni-Man
- Valiant: Turok, X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, Shadowman
- Warrior Nun Areala
- Shi
- Weirdly enough, no DC crossovers
The Good Stuff
- Early Jeff Matsuda art and character designs
- Alan Moore completely revamped and made Supreme and Glory great characters
- The crossovers and events were fun
The Bad Parts
- The birth of comic book speculators
- Rob Liefeld cannot draw and most of his studio tried to emulate his style
- “Extreme” for the sake of being extreme, often times detrimental to the story
- Essentially a terrible amalgamation of the DC and Marvel universe’s top characters
- Very few truly original characters and plots
- Constant upheaval at the studio led to delays
- Tons of comics never actually happened as advertised
- Spelling errors in just about every comic (proving editorial was nonexistent)
The Creators of Note
- Jeph Loeb, Alan Moore, Marv Wolfman, Ed McGuiness, Ian Churchill, Alex Ross, Jeff Matsuda, Jae Lee, Jim Lee, and Todd McFarlane
Characters Off the Page
- Trading cards
- Action figures
The Returns
- The 2010s tried (and failed, miserably) to bring these characters back
- Rob Liefeld worked (briefly) for DC and Marvel again
- He remains the worst
Overall Thoughts
- This deep dive is something I had always kind of avoided because Liefeld is the worst, but were very easy to attain as most comic shops have an over-abundance of copies due to high order volumes of the speculator boom
- I’ll keep the Jeph Loeb, Jeff Matsuda, Alan Moore, and crossover comics
- My final grade: D
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See you next month for another comic deep dive! In the meantime, share your thoughts on Rob Liefeld’s Image Extreme/Maximum/Awesome imprint with us on social media. We’d love to hear from you.
