Lewis Lovhaug: Linkara, 90s Kid

Quotes 

• Linkara : As if you didn't know already, "Youngblood" sucks! A lot! How bad do you have to be that not even your books' own creator can be bothered to finish off the opening storyline? "Youngblood" bad! It really blows my mind. Image was started because several artists and creators felt like Marvel didn't respect their work, nor gave them proper compensation for their work, especially since they often claimed they were doing more writing on the books than the actual writers. So, what does Rob Liefeld do with "Youngblood"? Half the time, he doesn't actually script the things, and the other half, he doesn't draw them! The big conclusion to his arc was drawn by Chap Yaep, and it was a confusing mess on top of an already confused mess. If you include the issue 0 as the actual start of the series, the book had six issues spread out over twenty months! Almost two years to release six comics! It's even more horrifyingly ironic that the storyline was also supposed to be paying tribute to Jack Kirby, a man who was legendary for his ability to finish multiple quality comic books on time when no one believed he could! Oh, but most certainly, things are gonna get better for the scheduling delays now, right? I mean, how much worse could they get?

  [laughs, then frowns] 

  Linkara : Issue 6 came out a year later.

• Linkara : Now, to be fair, I'm basing this off of the cover months, which is more a sign of when they should be taken off the newsstand, but that's usually pretty consistent across the board. In addition, the remaining four issues of "Youngblood" - this volume of it, anyway; counting spinoff books like "Team Youngblood", there have apparently been about 165 different "Youngblood" comics - all came out in 1994, so they at least were improving the schedule a little bit. But still, was there anybody who cared at this point? I know nothing about Youngblood's characters! Last year, I talked about the difficulty of difficulty of Devin Grayson's Teen Titan team trying to balance a book with ten team members. Now imagine trying to balance a book with *twelve* team members who all have the same sneering expression on their faces all the time and whose opening arc in their book is not even about them, but a completely different character and associated team! How much character development did they get, you ask?

  [Cut to a clip of "UHF", showing Kuni, played by Gedde Watanabe] 

  Kuni : NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

  Linkara : But hey, maybe in this issue, they finally turn it all around and make me give a crap.

  [pauses briefly] 

  Linkara : And maybe the comic book I'm about to lift into frame will suddenly become a ham sandwich. So let's dig into...

  [holds up... not the comic book, but a ham sandwich] 

  Linkara : ..."Youngblood #6"...

  [stops as he realizes what he's holding] 

  Linkara : I still don't think it's gonna be any good.

• Linkara : If you ever wanted to cosplay an early '90s Image character, just buy a muscle shirt, sneer a whole lot, and strap painted Coke cans to your body in random places. And if anybody asks who you are, you can just give them any name and it'll fit.

• Linkara : It seems I spoke too soon about how Youngblood wasn't published for a year. That's technically true for this book, but apparently, in between issues 5 and 6, there were nine issues of a book called "Team Youngblood"! Well, it was really important for them to distinguish between the two books. It's not like the regular Youngblood book had a team in it. Just like those two.

• Colonel Bravo : Around 2 AM this morning, I left Honduras. Loaded up on enough supplies to last me, hopped on my bike and left.

  Linkara : [as Bravo]  Whoo! Road trip!