What’s the Future for Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood?

I’m Steve Gustafson and thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget to check out 411mania’s Comic Book Review Roundtable, every Thursday! Read up on the best reviews and let us know what you’re reading as well. Click to read the latest Comic Book Review Roundtable! Last week we covered Powers of X #1, Green Lantern Annual #1, and more!

On with the show!

Last time we asked Did House of X #1 Live Up to the Hype?. Here’s what some of you had to say:

BillyBlaze: “I picked up House of X on the weekend, I really really liked it, I liked the change of the status quo of the X-Men, playing from a position of strength rather than weakness. Even the shift with Xavier where before he took the Ghandi approach, but now its almost acceptance that mutants are the superior being and its inevitable that the human race will be wiped out, but he’s willing to prolong their existence with these miracle cures derived from the Krakoa plant”

Trump_card: “I was simply blown away by House of X. It made me more excited than I have been for any Marvel property in years.”

“Filthy” Jake Fury: “Really enjoyed it.”

Cami: “I thought it was OK, but I want to see what happens next.”

Gil: “Honestly, I’m still upset about the characters killed off in the Uncanny run before House of X. But I’m on board to read where this will take us.”

Eddy Chang: “Is pretty much like X-Men, I guess run out of ideas how to make up new superheroes.”

To read all of the comments go HERE! As always, thanks for the input!

This week we ask…

What’s the Future for Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood?

This whole matter impact more than just Youngblood. As you’ll see, Andrew Rev just became one of the biggest stories in comics.

Last week, creator Rob Liefeld posted a lengthy explanation about the situation currently surround his creations, including Youngblood. It dropped a number updates and made a number of the people in the industry sit up and take notice.

It’s long but very worth it…

“Where is YOUNGBLOOD?

This is the question I get asked repeatedly, at every store signing or comic convention I attend. Inquiries about Youngblood as a film, a comic book, all of it. The truth is they are in the midst of an ugly custody battle and I currently don’t have any interaction with them for the first time in over 22 years.

In 1997, at 29 years of age, I took on an investor named Scott Rosenberg, he of Malibu Comics. I had a previous relation with him but this was different, Jeph Loeb brought him to the table as a potential partner and after a few discussions, the time felt right to make this move. We made a fancy press announcement and we birthed Awesome Comics. It was meant as a temporary adjustment, If I did not find another partner, Scott would foreclose and own everything, I eventually found another partner, a gentleman named John Hyde and he stepped in to finance Awesome Comics until he and Scott had an issue and Awesome went into freefall and I shuttered the label permanently in 2000.

Scott, John and I agreed to a split of my Extreme catalogue in 1999, we each received 8 titles and could exploit them in media. The environment at the time was not kind to comic book material and I wasn’t selling any of my catalogue picks and neither were John and Scott. Through it all, I maintained publishing rights, bringing you the comic adventures of my creations with different and various creatives under my oversight and until now there were no hiccups whatsoever.

Long story short, after failing to come to terms on 2 movie deals in recent years, including a movie deal in 2017 that I was so certain was moving forward, I contacted Hank Kanalz and informed him that he should expect some participation, Scott informed me last summer, during 2018 comic con, that in order to raise capital he had sold or partnered with someone for Youngblood comics and toys. I was stunned but not surprised, these are the most important assets that Scott possesses and he needed to raise funds. The man he partnered with is named Andrew Rev, someone unknown to me and he informed me a number of times over the past year that he could make me a big success in comics, the next Todd McFarlane even, and told me I could audition for producing Youngblood comics. You can imagine how well that went over.

So, I currently have questionable access to Youngblood characters, characters I created and shepherded for nearly 3 decades. As a result, I shut down the storyline that would take Youngblood to issue #100 and beyond. A decidedly new approach is necessary, which I believe is paramount in this post-Avengers: Endgame world we find ourselves in. Youngblood will no longer be published by Image Comics or with my involvement at this time, a first in the 27 years since it launched. It’s all really weird but I’ve settled into the realization that this is the way it is going to be. I held it together for 23 years since doing the deal, until now. A film company rang me up last week seeking the rights to Youngblood but it required my involvement and I cannot at this juncture go forward.

Thankfully, my other partner, John Hyde has chosen to go a different path as he realizes the value that I bring to my creations and we have partnered on his selections with Prophet going forward having just set up the feature film and we are currently pursuing Glory in all media. 2/3 of my catalogue receive my involvement and participation.

I have BLOODSTRIKE, BRIGADE, BERZERKERS, BLOODWULF, Re:GEX, KABOOM, AVENGELYNE and others in my portfolio, completely under my domain. As I informed everyone last year, I walked away from Netflix because I felt it was not the best opportunity at this time in our ever changing world. I’m a finicky cat.

I share this with you now following an unexpected conversation with the Andrew Rev guy about publishing. In short it was very disrespectful and I had to put distance between me, these people and my creations which were now in a foreign domain. I had to convincingly wash my hands of this corner of my imagination. I have a pretty fertile mind and many new projects yet to advance, many making the media rounds that will be known soon enough. This was a much needed update and hopefully explains the current situation.

Youngblood represented some of my finest work, I’m proud of all the work that was produced. Sadly, film companies will be reluctant to invest the time and money in a venture without the support and blessing of its creator.

Upwards, onwards! To the Extreme!

Rob Liefeld”

A number of you are probably asking yourselves, “Who is Andrew Rev?”

I’ve been looking into him and surprised that I haven’t noticed him more over the years. In 1990 Rev, a financier, bought indie comics publisher Comico who promptly turned around to fire the staff and making plans to relaunch the company.

Rev lost the rights to Matt Wagner‘s Grendel, with the ensuing court battle holding up any new comics for Grendel for years. Rev went on to establish ownership of the rights to Bill Willingham‘s eighties’ superhero series The Elementals.

A quick word about The Elementals. Probably one of the most underrated comic books out there. It dealt with a more serious themed superhero before that became cool and the norm. Find it and see for yourself.

After getting The Elementals, Rev simply republished the series until 1995. Several attempts have been made to bring back The Elementals, most notably by Dynamite, but Rev is a hard guy to find, making business matters next to impossible to conduct.

Now Rev is back in the picture and has his hands on several of Liefeld’s creations. It was announced that he is starting up a new publishing company called Terrific Production LLC but little else is known on what’s going to be printed.

Then there’s the matter of Dynamite Entertainment and The Elementals trademark.

A trademark for The Elementals was filed for in 2005 for ‘Printed matter, namely, comic books; graphic novels; books featuring stories in illustrated form; books relating to comic book characters; periodicals, namely, magazines featuring illustrated stories for children and adults; posters; art prints; lithographic prints; seriographic prints; limited edition prints; collector’s cards featuring comic book characters; trading cards’ by IP lawyer Michael L. Lovitz in behalf of Comico, and registered in 2010. That was cancelled in March 2017, but its last listed owner was Dynamite Characters, LLC.

In the following month of April, Lovitz applied for a new trademark for The Elementals for ‘Comic books; Comics; Graphic novels; Posters; Printed stories in illustrated form; Prints; Art prints; Graphic art prints; Lithographic prints; Printed stories in illustrated form’

Later that year in October, Comico Entertainment filed for a trademark for Elementals for ‘Art prints; Comic magazines; Comic strips; Comic books; Comics; Decals; Drawings; Giclee prints; Graphic novels; Graphic prints; Graphic prints and representations; Illustrations; Lithographic prints; Lithographs; Paintings; Posters; Stickers; Collectible trading cards; Graphic art print’ claiming a first use in 1984.’ Family member Steven Rev is the legal correspondent for the claim.

Dynamite Entertainment has taken action and opposes Comico’s trademark claim, and Comico has launched opposition to Dynamite’s claim. Until they work it out, things look to be in limbo.

Bleeding Cool just interviewed Rev and for a lengthy interview, Rev really didn’t say much to confirm or deny anything. Or even mention names. Bless the interviewer because while Rev spoke for hours, he did little to make sense of what was going on.

What’s your take on things? Will Terrific Productions actually come together? Has Liefeld lost Youngblood forever? What really happened with Extreme and Netflix? So many questions!

That’s all the time I have. Check out our Comic Book Reviews tomorrow and see you next week!