Youngblood #74
Written by John McLaughlin
Art by Jon Malin
Colors by Ross Hughes
Letters by Russ Wooton
Cover by Rob Liefeld & Ross Hughes
Image Comics
Release Date: September 19, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Youngblood #74 is a little lite compared to the past few issues of the rebooted series. But, it still manages to maintain in a fun, nostalgic way. All your favorites are here and they’re fighting a bunch of kick butt bad guys. What more could you want?

I’m not sure if it’s John McLaughlin‘s writing that hooks me or just the overall experience of reading this book. Yes, there’s a definite nostalgia factor when reading this book, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Plus, add to the fact that it’s been updated for current times and trends and you have one solid comic. I have to be honest, I don’t care for the other Liefeld reboots. I’m glad that they stuck with the “normal” superhero formula for this one. It’s what works and, in my opinion, what the title should be. You can change whatever you want to about the other books, Youngblood is best when it’s just straight-up superhero team vs. super villain battles. And, there’s a great deal of intrigue and mystery withing the book itself, so we ALL win! At its core this book is what it should be. A superhero team book. And it excels at that.

Yes, Jon Malin has a very Rob Liefeld-type style. Would you want it any other way? I sure wouldn’t. He’s a good, not great yet, artist who really seems to nail down the basic of how to draw super heroes. What I’d like to see is a little most of his own style when it comes to page layouts. Let’s just say they’re not my favorite. Otherwise, I have absolutely NO problem with his art, I think it fits the book perfectly and he’s the one that should be drawing this title, hands down.

There are a lot of different kinds of Image books on the stands today. You have everything from high art to what Image started out to be. Super heroes done by great creators. This book is vintage Image Comics!!! Everything you loved about Image when they first hit can be found in this comic. Great stuff!