The Fellowship was fortunate enough to obtain a copy of YOUNGBLOOD
#71 from Image Comics. John McLaughlin wrote the story with art by John Malin
and Rob Liefield.
Things have changed since we have seen the team: Team
leader Shaft has resigned and replaced by another who the team calls “Not-Shaft,”
Photon is no longer a man, and we don’t know about Badrock. “Entertainment Now”
reporter Gail Cook is brought in to do a story in an effort to repair the
team’s damage reputation. She joins them in a mission that is resolved rather quickly. On the way back to
Youngblood headquarters, Gail brings up the question: “Whatever happened to
Badrock?” Apparently we’ll find out in the next issue, and it doesn't look good...
Youngblood is a superhero team that is sanctioned by the
United States government. They are Liefield’s version of THE AVENGERS (even
though it came from a TEEN TITANS idea he had that didn’t happen). I read the
YOUNGBLOOD books when they first came out YEARS ago and enjoyed them. McLaughlin does a good job
of introducing some of the characters to new readers and creating intrigue to find out what has happened since the “previous”
issue. There are a lot of fans who do not like Liefield's work (he's hit or miss with me), but the art in this issue looked really good. Overall, this is a nice start back for the series.
YOUNGBLOOD #71 is in stores now and available at www.imagecomics.com
~ Thomas
