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Youngblood #0 Gold Edition, At Auction – But What Is Its Story?

Published Mon, 13 Sep 2021 11:27:13 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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It's 1992. Rob Liefeld has published Youngblood #1 from Image Comics. However, orders for Youngblood #2 are half those of Youngblood #1, and schedules are biting. What's the boy to do? Why solicit Youngblood #0 – which is like a Youngblood #1, with artists Dan Fraga and Danny Miki helping him with the schedule. Set before Youngblood #1, pinning off a few new Youngblood characters and ideas, and maybe helping boost Youngblood #3 orders in the process. And in the early days of premium and variant covers, a gold-embossed logo. It also helps that this issue was published with a coupon for Image Comics #0. The coupons could be found in direct market editions of Brigade #2, Savage Dragon #3, Spawn #4, Youngblood #0, Cyberforce #1, Shadowhawk #1, and WildC.A.T.s #2. and, for some reason, this copy is currently up for auction from Heritage Auctions at a 9.8 CGC slabbed grade never had its coupon clipped.

Youngblood #0 Gold Edition, At Auction – But Why?

Youngblood #0 Gold Edition (Image, 1992) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages. Embossed gold foil logo. Rob Liefeld story, wraparound cover, and art. Overstreet 2021 NM- 9.2 value = $3. CGC census 9/21: 44 in 9.8, 1 higher.

The comic is set four years previously, in the summer of 1988, as Iraqi forces approach the border of Kuwait, and the US President agrees to send Battlestone's Youngblood team to stop it who, alongside US troops, defeat Iraq easily. However, Colonel Boggs is killed by a booby trap while searching for munitions. With Battlestone blamed by Boggs's death by Lieutenant Gamble, Battlestones punches Gamble, accidentally killing him. Chapel and Diehard subdue Battlestone, and the team returns to the US. The government fires Battlestone from Youngblood while, Cougar and Sentinel introduce their new leader of Youngblood #1, Shaft.

Youngblood, created by Rob Liefeld and Hank Kanalz, was the first publication by Image Comics and later by Awesome Entertainment. Upon Rob Liefeld's return to Image Comics, it was revived in 2008, 2012, and 2017. In 2019, Liefeld revealed that he had not owned the rights to Youngblood for several years, initially part of a number of rights divided between him and Platinum Studios' Scott Rosenberg and then later sold by Rosenberg to Andrew Rev, who has repeatedly promised a Youngblood revival over the last couple of years that has yet to come to fruition.