Youngblood #1

Superheroes as celebrities

Rob Liefeld built Youngblood on one idea: if superheroes really existed, they would be treated like movie stars and athletes. His roster was split into two squads, a Home Team and an Away Team.

Some of the material had a history at other companies. Liefeld said he developed a 1991 pitch for a new Teen Titans series at DC Comics, co-written with Marv Wolfman, but he and managing editor Dick Giordano could not reach an agreement, so he merged those ideas into Youngblood, a property he already owned. One review notes that the character Cougar began as an unused design from Liefeld's time on Marvel's New Mutants.

A sneak preview ran in The Malibu Sun #1 in February 1992. Youngblood #1 followed with an April 1992 cover date, the first comic to carry the Image name.

Seven artists walk out

Liefeld was born on October 3, 1967, in Fullerton, California, and grew up in Anaheim. He became penciler of Marvel's The New Mutants with issue #86 in 1989, turning the lowest-selling X-Men title into a hit, co-creating Cable with Louise Simonson and Deadpool with Fabian Nicieza. In 1991 his X-Force #1 sold roughly four million copies with the help of variant covers and polybagged trading cards.

Despite those sales, Liefeld and other star artists had grown unhappy at Marvel. In 1992 he left with Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino and Whilce Portacio to found Image Comics. Their charter said the company would not own its creators' work and that partners would not interfere with each other's projects.

Image had no publishing machinery of its own at first. Malibu Comics supplied administrative, production, distribution and marketing support, and the indicia of Youngblood #1 reads "An Image Comics title published in cooperation with Malibu Comics." Within months Malibu held nearly 10 percent of the North American comics market.

Two covers, two teams, no clear story

The issue is a flip book. One side opens on the Home Team, led by Shaft, a former FBI agent with a high-tech bow, alongside Badrock, Chapel, Die Hard, Photon and Vogue; in an 11-page story they try to stop a jailbreak by members of a group called the Four. Flip it over and the Away Team of Sentinel, Brahma, Combat, Cougar, Psi-Fire and Riptide go after a Middle Eastern dictator named Hassan Kussein in an 18-page story. A two-page team illustration and a Rob Liefeld fan club ad fill out the book.

Reviews were harsh. In Hero Illustrated #4 in October 1993, Liefeld himself called the first issue "a disaster," blaming production problems and weak scripting by his friend Hank Kanalz, whom he later let go. The book also shipped late, a problem that continued with later issues.

None of it hurt the launch. Pre-orders reached 930,000 copies, a record for creator-owned and independent comics, and Image followed in May with Todd McFarlane's Spawn #1 and its print run of 1.7 million.

Identifying a first printing

The first printing has Chapel in the corner character box on the main cover and a 50/50 split with a Riptide cover; a variant lists Riptide in the character box. Each copy carries two bound-in trading cards, and the cards may vary from copy to copy. The second printing puts the cover art on both sides surrounded by a gold border, which makes it easy to tell apart.

Because the book was pre-ordered in such numbers and saved by speculators, CGC 9.8 copies are plentiful. Through 2025 and 2026 many changed hands online for $100 to $140, though some sold for less than $60.

Boom, bust and a long afterlife

Youngblood is credited with helping trigger both the 1990s speculator boom and the bust that followed, as well as the industry's push toward building entire superhero universes. Liefeld left Image in September 1996 after conflicts with his partners and founded Awesome Comics in 1997, where Alan Moore relaunched Youngblood with a three-issue run.

In 2009 a film company acquired the movie rights, with Brett Ratner attached to direct. In August 2019 Liefeld revealed that he had not owned Youngblood since the late 1990s and that the rights belong to Andrew Rev of Terrific Production LLC. In 2010 Image reprinted the debut as Image Firsts: Youngblood #1.

The numbers

Pre-orders

930,000 copies

Page count

36

Stories

Home Team, 11 pages; Away Team, 18 pages

Cover price

$2.50 U.S., $3.00 Canada

Timeline

1. 1989

   Rob Liefeld becomes penciler of The New Mutants with issue #86.

2. 1991

   X-Force #1 sells about four million copies; Liefeld pitches a Teen Titans revamp at DC that falls through.

3. 1992

   Liefeld and six other artists leave Marvel to found Image Comics, publishing through Malibu Comics.

4. Feb 1992

   A Youngblood preview appears in The Malibu Sun #1.

5. Apr 1992

   Youngblood #1 is published as the first Image comic, on 930,000 pre-orders.

6. May 1992

   Image follows with Spawn #1.

7. 1993

   Image becomes independent from Malibu.

8. Oct 1993

   Liefeld calls the first issue "a disaster" in Hero Illustrated #4.

9. Sep 1996

   Liefeld leaves Image after conflicts with his partners.

10. 1997

    Liefeld founds Awesome Comics; Alan Moore relaunches Youngblood.

11. 2009

    Film rights are acquired, with Brett Ratner attached to direct.

12. Mar 2010

    Image reprints the issue as Image Firsts: Youngblood #1.

13. Aug 2019

    Liefeld reveals he has not owned Youngblood since the late 1990s.

The world in 1992

• Jan 26, 1992

  Washington beats Buffalo 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI.

• Apr 29, 1992

  Los Angeles riots break out after the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King case.

• May 22, 1992

  Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time after 30 years.

• Aug 11, 1992

  Mall of America opens in Bloomington, Minnesota.

• Aug 24, 1992

  Hurricane Andrew strikes south Florida.

• Nov 3, 1992

  Bill Clinton defeats President George H. W. Bush.

• Nov 25, 1992

  Disney's Aladdin is released and becomes the year's highest-grossing film.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Youngblood #1 is number 92 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (83 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Youngblood's creator called his own first issue "a disaster" a year and a half after it came out.
• Parts of Youngblood began as a Teen Titans pitch for DC that Liefeld co-wrote with Marv Wolfman.
• Every copy came with two trading cards bound inside.
• Image did not print its own first comic; Malibu Comics handled production and distribution.
• Rob Liefeld has not owned Youngblood since the late 1990s.
• Alan Moore wrote a Youngblood relaunch in 1997.