Youngblood #71
Written by John McLaughlin
Art by John Malin & Rob Liefeld
Colors by Ross Hughes & Matt Yackey
Letters by Russ Wooton
Edits by Eric Stephenson
Covers by Rob Liefeld & Matt Yackey, Ryan Ottley & Jordie Bellaire, and Chris Giarrusso
Image Comics
Release Date: May 23, 2012
Cover Price: $2.99

Astonishingly, Youngblood #71 is something that falls into the “things I didn’t know I wanted or needed category,” like Rocky Balboa — who knew we needed an official ending to the Rocky story? Not me, but it sure was awesome. Also, the film Rambo. The last scene where John Rambo walks down the driveway to his family’s farm was, again, an ending that I didn’t know I needed. But again, I was surprised and satisfied that I got it. Truth by told, I stopped paying attention to Youngblood about a couple years after it started coming out, so why then was I excited for this issue? Some would say nostalgia (who, me?), but most of all, it’s because I have been impressed by the other Image titles that have came back for the 20th anniversary that have been fantastic! And out of all those titles, Youngblood was the only one that I cared about originally.

A report via the LA Times was floating around the internet yesterday that Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Taylor Lautner was being weighed as an option to star in Paramount’s superhero teenager property, Max Steel. This didn’t take long to develop into a factual story as Deadline Hollywood was able to confirm with Paramount that they had indeed cast the 17-year-old Lautner for the lead.

Max Steel originated as a CG-animated series that debuted in 2001 and went on to become an internationally popular toy line for Mattel, though it is not so well-known here in the states. And though it’s not the Transformers and G.I. Joe-level title that’s already making Paramount massive amounts of money, the studio is hoping that Lautner will rake in the majority of the planet’s female population and a strong percentage of the male population — for whatever reason might snag them. Steel tells the story of a 19-year-old X-Games-type athlete who is badly injured in an attack that sees millions of microscopic nanomachines known as Nano Tech Max infest his body and die, which in-turn eventually kills him. In order to save him, he is subjected to a heavy amount of special energy that revives the machines, saves his life, and gives him superhuman abilities.

In a move that just may confirm that he only signs on to direct movies as opposed to actually directing movies, Brett Ratner has signed to direct an adaptation of the comic book Youngblood. Reliance Big Entertainment acquired the rights to the property and signed a deal with Ratner and his Rat Entertainment while at the Berlin Film Festival.

Youngblood is about a team of superheroes that has been assembled by the U.S. government, which also oversees the team. Members include Badrock, who is all rock like The Fantastic Four’s The Thing, as well as a former FBI agent named Shaft and an assassin named Chapel. A second team also exists and one of their enemies is called The Four, which consists of four baddies.

The comic originated in 1987. No word on the time table for the movie.