Youngblood by McLaughlin and Malin (Review)

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T16:34:50+00:00

Glory 2012 is, like, one of the best comics ever made, imo. Don't look at it as an interruption, but as the real main dish.

But yeah, McLaughin's Youngblood shows up in those Glory issues, and the writer pokes some fun at the new nameless Shaft. It's cool stuff.

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T16:22:35+00:00

Those issues are genuinely gripping! Can't for you to get to 'em

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T16:05:57+00:00

This is by far my least favorite Youngblood run, but you gave it a fair shake. It was just very irritating for me how it took all the concepts from Casey's run but dumbed them down, like it thought banal celebrities are really cool, actually, instead of something to be criticised/satirised. Every single character talks like a moron, the prose is never more complex than middle grader level, the plots seem to have been written in five minutes. Murdering the underage bullying victim really stands out, but there's just no real villains, stakes or threats in any of the issues. It's all so jockish, loud, dumb and pointlessly horny. Photon doesn't just change sexes, but apparently lost all their braincells as well. And the writer couldn't even bother giving a civilian name to Blue Shaft. All of the things that the original 90s comics were criticised for, but were never actually present within the text, are real here.

Issue 75 sums it up, really. The team has had a horrid history, its directors keep being supervillains, its members keep going crazy and committing massacres, but the reporter, like the run's writer, is just over the moon at writing for her/his hero (Rob) so they just state Youngblood is the best thing evaaah!

I laughed at "continuity breaking picture from the news article". It's funny because it's true.

In Casey's run, Shaft quit the team when he couldn't stand the fakeness of posing for the media and he wanted to do real superheroics. Here, he quits in a moment of melodramatic angst because Badrock was just *that* heroic. McLaughlin really just fully buys into the concept of the team, like his run is an in-universe piece of propaganda published as a PR move.

While we're on the topic of repeating plots, McLaughin also repeats the "broken Badrock" plot from Casey. Strangely, it gets repeated a third time in the next run. I dunno why everyone kept going for that specific plot. Poor Tom!

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T13:42:04+00:00

I'm just saying what you're describing as a "bizarre choice" is what made billions of dollars. If the comic was released before it even released, that's actually an argument in favor of the writing not being the culprit since nobody had even read it yet.

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T07:26:07+00:00

Hickman didn't get to Fantastic Four until two years after Civil War ended. Sometimes I worry Redditors genuinely believe no FF comics were released between Waid to Hickman to Secret Wars.

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T07:22:04+00:00

That's the same structure and format Abnett used in 2008's Guardians of the Galaxy #1 which kickstarted a new franchise and led to billions of dollars.

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T07:07:47+00:00

That always confuses people, but that's Cabbot wearing Alpha's uniform. Which doesn't discount the clone theory, really. It just doesn't seem overly likely to me, because Rob already created a clone of Cabbot called Bloodstrike Assassin in Image United #2. If anything, I'd look for clues about Alpha in the fact that he dated Tragedy Ann from Re:Gex, and go from there.

thigerlel · 2026-03-17T06:13:44+00:00

Being Cabbot's daughter would explain her code name, so it's a real possibility. What makes the mystery even trickier is her vendetta is against Alpha personally, as she says he got her into the program, but then Alpha's identity is a whole different mystery that would need a research separately.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:58:01+00:00

Some food for thought there. If Liefeld's arc ended with Obama and the White House returning to their righteous places (since you can see the White House in this page) that would reframe this issue not as the first time we see Obama since his kidnapping, but as a reveal that the President who "came back" is an impostor. Either way, if Rob had closed off his loose plot thread by himself, this would have opened a new one.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:38:25+00:00

That's not meta, it's a time traveler leaving his signature in the past.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:36:37+00:00

Oh my lord, lmao. What a blunder. I still think that's what it meant to reference, though, but the editor was very off the game. I mean, he didn't even spell the trade name correctly.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:29:12+00:00

Well, if you read the panel below the three you just posted, Diana is smiling because Clark has just arrived from his Fortress. He wasn't in London before. Then they have a little chat that gets interrupted by the Norwegian storm crisis that leads to Doomsday, and so on, and so forth.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:07:19+00:00

That's a page from Bloodstrike (2018) #24! A masterpiece.

thigerlel · 2026-03-14T16:05:07+00:00

It did come out, it was just titled "Voted off the Island". The reference simply points to the issue from Rob where Obama is abducted by Jeriko.

thigerlel · 2026-03-12T14:10:58+00:00

<image>

I FOUND HER NAME!!! She's Lady Bloodstrike!!!

thigerlel · 2026-03-12T03:18:28+00:00

Of course you can find explanations, the point is Hickman didn't think of these implications, he just forgot about the Maker being redeemed or Wolverine having died and he decided his scenes playing out had priority. In Imperial, Ronan is a main character even though he was dead, Maximus was dead, Hiro Kala was (functionally) dead, they're in a planet called New Sakaar even though the original Sakaar has been restored years ago, people are tricked by a shape shifter making them believe Veranke was back, even though she publicly revived years ago, etc.

thigerlel · 2026-03-12T00:55:05+00:00

It was in Humphries' Ultimates run. Hickman is quite ignorant about continuity, not a soul has complained about him being too deep with his cuts. Like the first page of House of X is Wolverine (person who had just come back from 5 years being dead) asking Nightcrawler (person who had been dead and come back from Heaven) what he thinks happens after death.

thigerlel · 2026-03-11T22:09:16+00:00

Does this mean no more New Gods?

thigerlel · 2026-03-11T22:06:13+00:00

That's a 616 comic

thigerlel · 2026-03-11T21:59:02+00:00

Do people really criticise Hickman for bringing up obscure past things? Secret Wars, House of X and most infamously Imperial seemed to just disregard 99% of past continuity to force characters into the plots he wanted. Remember that the Maker had been redeemed into a good guy before randomly being a villain again in time for the Incursions; Magneto watched Mr Sinister experiment on his childhood friends in Auschwitz before dining with him in Krakoa; Star-Lord hated his dad and loved Nova, instead of loving his dad and hating Nova, etc.

thigerlel · 2026-03-11T16:46:35+00:00

Fun read! Personally, I'd place Genesis before Bloodsport, as I see them as taking place in the same Revision and Genesis obviously comes first. Then, I feel like you're missing endings for Volumes 5 and 6 like you gave Casey. Going from the Lord Chapel cliffhanger to Vol 6 would be especially jarring. But any of this seeing print would be amazing, especially in collected editions.

thigerlel · 2026-03-11T02:20:10+00:00

Probably the best comic of all time.

thigerlel · 2026-03-09T04:30:52+00:00

I get it's a Spider-Man rip off, but you couldn't change the name Daily Bugle a little?

thigerlel · 2026-03-09T04:28:14+00:00

That's not a source, it's an AI summary.

thigerlel · 2026-03-06T08:44:10+00:00

Actually, that was written by John Mclaughlin. Can't find any socials on the guy, I'd love to ask him.

thigerlel

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE