So in my recent fallback into reading older comics, I've been hitting up old Image comics (and related studios). I went through all my old Youngblood comics over the weekend. Even though they are mostly derivative characters, I've always liked them. The early stuff is not well written, hence my getting through them fairly quickly. However, I found a gem thanks to a friend. Youngblood: Genesis saw only 2 issues, and is sadly incomplete. Based on a script by Kurt Busiek, Genesis is Youngblood from the beginning. Think of it as Ultimate Youngblood. It starts with the screw up of Knightstrike, and how that leads into the creation of Youngblood. It's probably the first Youngblood comics I've read that was actually written well. I thought it was better than even the Alan Moore Youngblood (though his work on Supreme is still awesome in my book). If only Liefeld had someone to write like this in the early days of Image. Oh, and he doesn't do the art either, just inking, so the art is good too.

From there, I started reading Planetary. I had only read the first 3-4 issues before, but my friend loaned me his copies of the trades. I'm sure most of you have read these before, so I won't go into detail about it. I will say that it's wonderful, and full of story seeds for adventures.

I'll be finishes Planetary at work tonight. Then I'll read the most recent Youngblood series that came out in 2008, then likely hit up The Authority, as I've only ready one storyline from that comic (and it was post-Jenny Spark, so I want to get a feel for the team from the beginning)

John wrote on Sep 13^th, 2011 at 9:33pm:


Actually, as I was reading the series, some stuff reminded me of your game. I remember when I loaned you a copy of The Authority rpg that you mentioned being a fan of Planetary as well. Between Planetary and Lovecraft, you've come up with some crazy stuff to throw at us.

I finally read the first story arc of The Authority, then started hitting up the first volume of Stormwatch. Having never read much Authority before, it was a treat. Some of the Stormwatch stuff I've read so far I had read before, but I'm now getting into issues I had not read previously. It's interesting to see what came before The Authority existed, and to see how much better Wildstorm became.

I would recommend starting with Warren Elis' run on Stormwatch before reading the Authority.   Its a great, truly great, run and it sets up the Authority.

I'm so old and behind the times. Part of me still thinks of Image as the new guys on the block trying to break out.